Etna Hut

We booked the entire villa for our family for one week in July 2020. The owners Alessia & Mimmo are superb hosts. Mimmo walked us round the whole villa and showed us the short-cut walk to the village to avoid the road. You can't hear the road at all (there isn't much traffic on it anyway) as the villa is tucked away off a side street. The villa exceeded our expectations and looked huge ! Lots of space for everyone, with a large patio next to the villa which can be blocked off so safe for children to play and has a large roller-canopy for shade when you want it. Down the steps there is the large pool. It was a little chilly in the morning but fine in the afternoon, especially after sunbathing or a game or two of tennis (great quality equipment - 4 racquets and hundreds of balls). Lots of beds / chairs / sofas round the pool, all in great condition, and 2 huge umbrella sunshades. Clean toilet & changing facilities next to the tennis court, and even a drinking water fountain. The rooms are all large and clean with aircon and lots of storage space, each with a TV. Huge TV in main lounge (with Netflix if you have an account). The huts aren't quite as spacious. In terms of 'things to do', there are plenty. Etna is on your doorstep (literally - you can see it up close from the back veranda). You can catch a local bus from the village (25 minute walk downhill and 4.50 euros per person return) then cable car and 4x4 to the 'summit' (66 euros). This is exactly the same experience you can buy elsewhere as a formal trip, but doing it yourself saves at least 30 euros each and Mimmo provides you with a free voucher for lunch. Bus times are 9.30 leaving Nicolosi and 4.30 leaving Etna. Plenty of time and the bus will stop outside the villa on the way back if you ask them. We wanted to go on a 'Godfather' tour and rather than pay for a formal trip, Mimmo arranged a taxi and driver (Joseph) for the day (for 8 of us). He took us round the film location sites (Bar Vitelli is a must-see), then to Taommina for lunch, to Isola Bella beach (very busy, so take your own sunshade if you can), to a lovely seafood restaurant and then home again, for a fraction of what a formally organised trip would have cost. Each time we could stop where we want and for as long as we want. We had considered hiring cars and driving, but thankfully we didn't as the roads in Sicily are generally very narrow (especially in towns) and there are no apparent rules to lanes, indication, right of way, parking, etc. We wanted to visit a winery but all the ones we'd seen advertised for trips were at least an hour away. Mimmo suggested a local one (Serafica) just outside the village with tasting of wines and olive oils and lunch for 30 euros (you could have without lunch and with fewer oils and wines for less). The winery even picked us up for free (it was 10 minutes away). Lovely tour of the olive groves and vineyards and of the olive oil processing process equipment. Well worth a visit as the 2 white wines, 1 Rose and 2 x Red were delicious and the bottles were left for us to finish (there were 4 of us, so plenty for a sunny afternoon lunch !) The 8 flavoured olive oils were also delicious and there was no hard-sell on anything. Overall took around 3 hours. On one night, Alessia offered to cook us a traditional Sicilian meal in our own villa (40 euros each, including wine) which was absolutely delicious. Sicily is very unspoilt in terms of tourism so most restaurants do not have English menus or many English speaking staff. One night we had take-away pizzas which Mimmo was happy to order for us. We just sent him what we wanted and it turned up 30 mins later. Don't go for too many large ones, they are HUGE and lasted us for lunch the next day too ! They were all delicious. Apart from dogs occasionally barking early in the morning from nearby properties the only downside in the whole experience was a consequence of the wonderful views ... the villa is up a steep hill from the village bars / restaurants. If you have a car or are all young and healthy - no problem (we ranged from 18months to 54 and were OK - tough walking in the heat of the day but not too bad at night). If you have unfit / infirm / older people you will definitely need a car. To be fair, Mimmo had advised us of that well before we arrived, more than once, but we were a large group and didn't have enough people prepared to drive in Sicily and so we didn't have a choice. Everything else about the place is exactly as per the pictures and descriptions and nothing is too much problem for Mimmo & Alessia. A beautiful villa and perfect for large families (with a car ...)