Villa Sciare Modo is a dream come true for the young couple who own and manage the house, and indeed for all who have the chance to stay here. Giuseppe and Marilena have created a green oasis just a short walk from the otherwise unknown town of Scillichenti. It is approx. 300 metres to the nearest pizzeria and approx. 800 metres to the nearest restaurant and shopping facilities.
The villa's garden is beautifully landscaped and it is testament to how fertile Etna land can be. Lemon trees, olive trees, beautiful flowers and a vegetable garden are irrigated by an ingenious irrigation system that Giuseppe made himself. In the garden there is a lovely swimming pool and each apartment has its own parasol and sun loungers around the pool. Despite the villa only being 500 metres from the sea, there is only a slight sea view from one of the apartments on the first floor. Etna is however impressively present from all apartments, and that vision is far more exotic than the coast.
Read more about Villa Sciare Modo
Here you are on the doorstep of Etna National Park, a protected area around the magnificent volcano with many visitor centres and hiking trails. You can read more about it here. It is a natural paradise for nature lovers to explore. You will find beaches a little north at Riposto (approx. 6 km) where there is also a harbour and plenty of shops and restaurants in Giarre. Acireale, approx. 6 km south is an interesting historic town to explore with Byzantine and Arabian remains and a number of Baroque buildings. Approx. 35 km up the coast you will find Taormina which is a fascinating and beautiful city to explore and one of Sicily"s favourite tourist spots for good reason.
The apartments are all very spacious and decorated with tiles made locally. All kitchens have a four-burner stove and an oven, and the apartments are equipped with air conditioning, satellite TV and a furnished terrace. Each apartment has a parking space in the car park at the entrance to the property. Sofa beds are of good quality so that they can easily be used as real beds. If we were to be critical, we could only mention the plastic outdoor furniture, and then that the neighbour's house is in disrepair and not aesthetically pleasing ... but the latter is no fault of Giuseppe and Marilena.
It is possible to rent all the apartments and thus have access to the common area which has been decorated in the house's basement, where you go straight out into the garden without steps. The common room includes an open kitchen, a large table and chairs where all guests can sit together and a fireplace and a large flat screen TV. Here is also a bathroom with toilet.
Then house was a lovely place for a family cation for 8 adults and 8 kids in the age 0-7 years.
Well-decorated apartments with a great common room, where we could prepare and eat dinner together. Both apartments and the common room has everything you need.
A nice pool, where the kids spent a lot of time. Good sunbeds (better than showed at the photos) and there was plenty. There was no baby pool, but however there was a small playhouse, which the small kids loved.
A great view to Etna
The host family was nice and helpful.
We stayed in the villa's only three-room apartment. It was nice and clean, and the apartment was spacious. From the balcony on the south side (outside the 'master bedroom') you could see the ocean, while you from the kitchen/family room on the platform could see Etna and some beautiful sunsets.
In-Italia's pictures for the villa and the facilities lives up to reality. The pool is big and very well-kept, and there are a lot of sunbeds.
The best thing about the stay was actually, that there weren't a common "change-day", which made the 'flow' in the villa was calm. We actually had several days by the pool , where we were the only ones there. Both the villa and the garden around it, are very well-kept.
We have been very happy with our stay.
We spent a week at San Noto first (see review). San Noto is difficult to follow. We actually thought that we should've switched them around, so we finished with the best. But - when we arrived! When we left Saturday we were happy that we didn't switch. Sciare Modo is definitely on par with San Noto - just some other ways. The room we got was fine. It went OK, but with 3 adult "kids" (16, 18 and 19) and 2 adults. The view from one of the doors: 180 degree view of Etna. Yeah, there is 3 terrible cellphone masts in the way, but take 4 steps to the right and you are free of them and have an amazing view of the might volcano which spew its steam and red out 24-7. An impressive view. If you walk through the apartment to the terrace you have 180 degree view of the ocean - and see the Italian countryside. It is luxurious, as our 16 year old spontaneously said when we arrived. We made the mistake of not taking a trip down through town before the end of the day, where we sat down by a cafe and got an Aperol and just said and observed the city life. We should've done that way sooner. But we know that for next time now. We were spoiled with the various home made specialities during the week. Great! They speak very little English, but we don't speak Italian either. But with common will we could somewhat communicate. It has its charm - and if everything should go wrong, the internet and Google Translate can help. The pool area is both big, clean and well kept. It is also lovely to be able to clean your clothes. Short said: Lovely place. And - again - good hostess ! We would love to come back