Sicily - Siracusa - Da Mariano

When inspecting the beach side properties of Dario in Cefalù, we happened to get onto the topic of our next destination, Siracusa, Dario insisted that we must eat at his favorite Da Mariano, we naturally made out to find it as soon as we arrived, never to give up the chance of eating well... we were welcomed by Mariano himself, who sat us at one of the outdoor tables that line the narrow street. The waiter arrived immediately with a plate of wonderful complimentary antipasto, then we ordered the daily specials, which were pasta with ricotta and almonds followed by grilled swordfish with a salad of orange and red onion that had a hint of chili.... Incredible! .. He doesn't serve coffee, however a wonderful homemade almond liquer is served after the meal with ginger and almond toffee. Mariano has been cooking in his Siracusa restaurant for 12 years cooking his innovative cuisine from the area of Monti Iblei near Ragussa. It was one of those meals that we felt had to be repeated the next day for lunch...
Highly Recommended

Umbria - Castello delle Regine - A Labor of Love

I visited a wonderful location in Umbria today, only an hour from my home in the historic centre of Rome - Castello delle Regine, (Castle of the Queens) a 400 hectare wine & olive estate, with restaurant, 17 apartments located in various locations over the estate, 3 swimming pools, tennis court and the tranquility and views you wouldn't imagine were possible only an hour from Rome. (soon to be on our website)

We were given a tour by the very friendly Alessandro, who spoke wonderful English and is responsible for the touristic side of the estate.

The brief history of this estate, is that it was purchased 20 years ago by an Italian family who have invested the past 20 years into this project creating a 400 hectare vineyard and olive grove that launched it's first wine to the public only 3 years ago, two of these wines have been ranked in Italy's top 20 most important wines by Gambero Rosso for the past two years, so they certainly know what they are doing.

The tour of the estate was fabulous, this is offered to guests along with the possibility of a half day of grape picking in season and olive picking as well. Alessandro was very knowledgable about the processes and the tour taught us many things about winemaking.

We then went down to check out the Chianina cattle that are bred on the estate, these magnificent creatures and cared for in spacious pens with doorways to the outside area, where they can roam free, the cattle are fed only the best quality feed that is mostly grown on the estate.

After the tour, we settled down in the restaurant, which has a beautiful atmosphere and would be an excellent location for a reception or wedding, they actually have a private room for up to 15 people and we decided on the spot to offer this as another day trip for our guests, as it would be an ideal day out of Rome, being only an hour away from the historic centre of Rome.

We were then joined for lunch by the charming and energetic Maruizio who had previously worked with Italy's oldest vineyard but is now in charge of the complete operations and marketing at Castello delle Regine , and Fabio who was once the head sommelier at Rome's famous wine bar Ferrara in Trastevere who now works for the estate marketing the wines in Italy, we felt quite educated and entertained from these two charming men, and we ate an extraordinary meal of which all ingredients were from the estate, first a beef carpaccio with olive oil that was merely a week old - it almost burned the back of the throat, it was absolutely amazing oil , magnificent warm crusty bread, followed by a ragu with pappadelle, then a very tender chianina steak. This was topped off by a heavenly warm chocolate tart and finally a glass of golden grappa, which was really quite smooth, not the rocket fuel I've tasted in the past.
During the meal, we sampled the wines produced by Castello delle Regine and were suitably impressed. We were given a gift of 6 bottles of wine including their grappa, and have already the need to return to restock, especially for that oil! When I purchased a bottle of my usual medium quality extra virgin olive oil at my supermarket, I felt cheated that it wouldn't be at all comparable to the oil I had tasted at the estate. Fabio explained to me that true, fresh extra virgin olive oil of such we were sampling has strong medicinal qualities and should be eaten daily for good health. I'm in - I have already made an appointment to return for lunch with Angelina from our office, who organizes weddings for our clients as she will just love this location it's really made for events, it's so elegant.

A Weekend at Rocca di Castagnoli - by Angelina

It seemed as though winter simply did not want to arrive in Italy this year. On the last weekend in October the beaches near Rome were full of Roman's that were enjoying a beautiful sunny and warm day a the sea. Rome is famous for its Ottobrata Romana - the Roman October which can be described as an Indian Summer but these glorious sunny, warm autumn days rarely ever go all the way through to November. This year they did, however as if with a magic wand on November 1st autumn suddenly hit with a cold, windy and rainy day. This is it, I thought, winter has arrived and I better start thinking of cuddling up by the fireplace.

On Friday, November 4th however we woke up to a glorious, yet crisp morning so my husband and I decided to pack our weekend bags and drive up to Rocca di Castagnoli for the weekend. What better place then the Chianti Wine Region to truly enjoy the beautiful fall colours?

Laura, Rocca di Castagnoli's manager was hospitable as always and is thrilled to have guest all year around. Emanuela met us at 10:30 pm when we finally made it and had turned the heating on in our apartment (the Lungo) a few hours earlier so we arrived to a nice cosy home in the Roccca.

The drive to Rocca di Castagnoli itself is quite magnificent. Almost from the very moment you leave the A1 highway you find yourself winding along the soft Tuscan hillsides and through the colourful and prestigious Chianti vineyards. However if you arrive at night as we did, all is not lost. Waking up in Rocca di Castagnoli, out of season is a delight to be savoured. Only two other apartments were occupied while we were there and obviously everyone came to enjoy the countryside this time of year when it is private and quiet. Even the family with children were extremely discreet so the feeling was that of having the entire place to yourself.

We awoke to a silence that was sublime as much as it was strange coming from a bustling and noisy city such as Rome. The view from any point of the Rocca was quite breathtaking as our eyes explored the soft autumn colours of the Tuscan countryside that unravelled from the height of Rocca di Castagnoli down through the valley.

Rocca comes from the word Roccia meaning Rock and was the stronghold or fortress of a village or town. In this case, Rocca di Castagnoli is the fortress of the hamlet that was built around it, called Castagnoli. Today, this medieval village has been completely restored and belongs to the winery that carries the same name and that is located just below the Rocca. When you stay at the Rocca di Castagnoli, you are in fact living in a medieval hamlet that is also a working winery. Each apartment name carries the name of the last inhabitants that lived in each apartment /home: Giulis, Mazzina, Filomena, Cesira etc. As they are all women’s names I cannot help but wonder what the living expectations of the men were compared to the women’s in this village.

The apartments are all quite large and as they were not built to be "a hotel room" but rather come from antique homes, they are quite irregular in shape and size. I loved this fact as there are no two apartments alike and each one has a series of nooks and crannies, internal steps and hidden corners. The castle itself is quite extraordinary and I could not help but think how much fun it would be to be a child and play hide and seek here.

After breakfast we drove through Gaiole in Chianti, the closest village where there is a coffee shop, supermarket etc. (5km from Rocca di Castagnoli) and made our way to Arezzo, one of Tuscany’s ancient and beautiful cities with important works of art from Piero della Francesca and Cimabue. The first weekend of every month, Arezzo becomes particularly lively as one of the best Antique markets sprawls out through the entire historical center of the city. There really could be few better backgrounds to a good antique market then the medieval city of Arezzo. The city in which Roberto Benigni filmed his Oscar winning film La Vita Bella is elegant and lined with great little osterias and trattorias where you can enjoy an exquisite Tuscan meal.

In the late afternoon we drove back to our fortress and turned on the fireplace more for the romantic effect then the actual heating. Rocca di Castagnoli has a very efficient heating system in which there are pipes running under the terracotta tiles making every apartment warm and cuddly throughout the winter.

For dinner we drove down to Gaiole in Chianti again and had dinner at the Osteria al Ponte, the restaurant owned by Rocca di Castagnoli. It was a wonderful culinary experience during which time we tasted all the specialties of the area and season: Tuscan "crostini" (pates) Ravioli with sage, home made Pici pasta with wild boar sauce, Chianti style Tripe (I admit, I skipped that and let my Italian husband Andrea enjoy that) all accompanied by a lovely Rocca di Castagnoli Chianti Classico, DOCG wine. What can I say, Rocca di Castagnoli simply has an excellent mix of quality and friendliness in all its products, whether they are offering you accommodation, wine or dinner.

Tuscany - Maremma, Feniglia Nature Reserve

It's the second last day of the October and we find ourselves on a near deserted beach, the sun is shining hot and the water is warm enough to swim, it's as close to perfect as you could ask for, we have found the Feniglia sandbar a Nature Reserve just 3 km from Porto Ercole on the Argentario.

The reserve is open to pedestrian or bicycle traffic only and has a magnificent flat pine forest, perfect for bike riding, it edges onto the beach so you can just ride to a spot of beach and pitch your towels down for the day, you must take your own water and food with your though as this is one piece of beach in Italy that has no bars or beach clubs, you really are on your own, I felt for a moment that I was back in Australia. ..

Tuscany - Maremma, Local Produce

If you are driving up to the Maremma region from Rome, you must stop at this roadside shop for a panino, forget stopping at an Autogrill ! Each time we passed this tiny shop we noticed a dozen cars or more lined up, so something in there had to be good. We finally stopped on our way up this weekend to find delicous and inexpensive local produce. The highlight though is the rolls and sandwiches they make which are out of this world, don't miss it! Although you can't miss it, the shop is located just as the road narrows to a two lane highway near the border of Lazio and Tuscany.

Tuscany - Maremma a Winter Discovery

The beautiful Maremma region in Tuscany is an area of Italy we - personally - are just discovering. We've had a few weekends in the area, both on the Argentario in Porto Ercole and as a guest of one of our proprietors further inland in Marsiliana to inspect properites, but we didn't really spend enough time here to understand what it has to offer. We have taken a winter rental for the weekends - Casa nel Bosco - a cosy stone cottage with a huge open fireplace surrounded by forest and we are discovering that this part of Tuscany has got a lot more to offer than we had thought. I am going to blog my weekend discoveries over the winter so for anyone planning a visit to this part of the Tuscany or those undecided on their next holiday destination read on…

Rome - Ponte Milvio Antique Market - by Jill

If you're fortunate to be in Rome on the first Sunday of the month, this antique market is a wonderful place to stroll for a few hours, of course you'll only have room for the smaller items in your suitcase, but there's plenty of interesting small objects there - like small picture frames, jewlery, nick nacks, books etc... Today I found a brand new guide book for Italy from 1955 which was a freebie on TWA flights, what a wonderful find - at a quick glance I can't say that recommendations have change much, including restaurants, I also found two small Limoges butter dishes that are quite magnificent, these I could have easily slipped in with my luggage if I was traveling.We were at the market in search of an odd sized antique dining table for our kitchen, which had eluded us until today...


we ve been searching this table for around a year, but today was our day and we in fact found many different versions of the table we were after and finally did the deal to be delivered next week. You will come across the Lemonade and chou chou stand as well, locals line up for a freshly squeezed lemon juice with sugar and either mint, fresh ginger or natural flavor, the couple that run this stand take their product very seriously and use old fashioned methods to create their juice as they say it tastes better this way, and it does. In winter they replace the cold lemonade with a spicy hot apple cider drink.

They also make chou chou with both peanuts and almonds on the spot, so they're always fresh and hot.
Some of the other great finds are these bolts of heavy furnishing fabrics, handmade fabric lamp shades, handmade elaborate velvet cushions and some interesting deco pieces.



There are also a few Asian antique stalls, Tibetan and Chinese that are very well priced in comparison to the stores. Ponte Milvio Antique Market is on the first Sunday of each month only and runs along the Tiber River at Ponte Milvio which is a couple of klm north of the Vatican and about a 7 Euro cab ride or about a 40 minute walk from the centre.

Rome - Lovers Bridge - Jill

If you're in Rome with your husband, lover, or even your best friend - go to the lovers bridge, Ponte Milvio - one of Romes older bridges that spans the Tiber River near the football stadium. Roman lovers and bosom buddies buy a simple lock, write on their names, eg: Dario and Marzia then lock it up to the chain and throw the key into the river to symbolize their friendship for life. The chain seems to be just about full and another has begun on the other side of the bridge.

Sicily - Getting to Lipari - By Jill

Ask a Sicilian concierge or tourist office for information on getting to the Eolian islands, the main response I received was, "don’t worry the ferrys run - all the time, just turn up at the port", as we are all so used to buying tickets for just about everything on line, it felt a little uncertain leaving it till we got there, but as it turned out it’s true, no need to book in advance. When you arrive into Milazzo (near to Messina) drive along the port, where amongst the shops on the sea front are the ticket offices, go directly to the third ticket office to buy a ticket for the "veloce" (fast) "traghetto" (ferry) that takes passengers, motorbikes and cars, the cost for each person was euro 8,80 and the small car was euro 31,40, you then turn your car around and drive back the way you came, you’ll see the signs to the "Traghetto" and port. The fast boat was rather disappointingly closed up...we could have saved that last dash to buy suntan lotion from the pharmacy. The boat is a lot nicer than I expected though, with it’s comfortable lounge chairs in the bar, which sells coffee and a small range of basic prepackaged snacks, or you can sit in the rows of airplane style seating for a better view. There are faster hydrofoils that take passengers only and these also go between the other islands all throughout the day as well. There are services between Cefalu and Palermo as well, the Palermo trip takes around 4 hours. If you don’t take a car with you and you’re traveling light, you can rent a small motor bike 50cc as soon as you disembark from the ferry.

Paris - Inspection Trip - by Jill

Well, the summer is almost over and I’ve been working on the new Paris site between trips down to Positano and up to Umbria. I’ve been very fortunate to have had help from my daughter Ava who is a confirmed Francophile at 18 years and thank goodness she speaks pretty good French, so she is accompanying me on this trip to help out and do all the talking, we even managed a trip up to Montmartre which was gorgeous and some very kind Australian tourists too this rather fab photo of us in this wonderful local cafe


Our project for this trip was to photograph all of the apartments for the site and eat well .... We were very lucky to be staying in the apartment Francs Bourgeois in the Marais, I mentioned in my last blog, you know the one with the famous blue walls and the incredible location - right opposite Muji - and a few steps from Chez Marianne. I forced Ava into sitting for a shot against those fabulous walls too, irresistable backdrop.


Not only is the interior of this property sensational, but also the common areas are incredible, each time I opened the heavy door from the street to enter the apartment, all passers by stopped to look in as even for Paris the courtyard is looked upon as something special. The courtyard is so wonderfully manicured and as we entered the entrance hall there was the strong perfume of beeswax from the wooden staircase and banisters, all quite magnificent!





We photographed all of the apartments in a few days, there are going to 12 apartments to begin with and we will add to this slowly just a we did with Italy-Accom, handpicking the apartments as we go, this is a great start though as the quality of the properties we saw was really superb, we have some cute little inexpensive studios, like St. Sauveur in the Montorguiel area and a specious 3 bedroom apartment just off the Champs Elysees called Bassano that I am sure would not disappoint even our most fussy clients in search of Luxury accom in Paris. All in all, I think we have a great cross section of sizes, there should be something to suit the needs for all of our clients, couples, families and groups traveling, so I look forward to getting back to Rome and launching the site at the end of September.

Positano - August Surprisingly Tranquil! - by Jill

This August as mentioned in my blog on Casa Sara, our family ended up in Positano for our summer break, this was not our fist choice as we normally try to find the most tranquil of places, however having teenage daughters the choice is no longer soley ours and if we are to actually get our girls to come with us, then we have to swing their way. So we reluctantly agreed to spend time in Positano to at least get us all together in one place. We were very surprised to find that half of the beach (back rows) were all empty, we could hire chairs in the front row each day, tables were easily organized in any restaurant we desired and apart from that tight squeeze in the town around the bottom of this hill (easily avoided) then it was truly a tranquil holiday,and could be about the only part of the coastline in Italy that could be described that way in August...

Positano - A Stay at Casa Sara

This August we had the great fortune to stay for our second time in Casa Sara in Positano. Our family has fond memories of our first stay back in June 05 and I think most of you will agree, when you repeat a holiday it doesn't always quite cut it the second time around - I am pleased to say that I now know for certain that I can repeat this experience as often as I can make it down to Positano - another perfect holiday in one of the world's most unique locations. Day one, I I actually didn't leave the apartment for the first 24 hours, I just stayed out on the terrace which overlooks the Spiaggia Grande, I could just make out my family who had somehow managed to snaffle front row seats at the beach, so I lay out on the sun lounger all day only getting up to use the convenient outdoor shower on the terrace when I got hot... and do a bit unfinished business using the adsl connection they have in Casa Sara. We ate in for a few nights and made use of the barbecue on the terrace and bought fresh fish at the bottom of the steps going down to the beach, those nights were sooo relaxing and our girls were satisfied to stay at home as there was the luxury of cable tv so we were all happy! Casa Sara is by far one of our family’s favorite holiday destinations in Italy and I highly recommend it to all…

PARIS-ACCOM - Coming in October - by Jill

After years of refining our product Italy-Accom, we're making the leap beyond the borders and beginning Paris-Accom, the first of many French accom sites ---- in our sights?

Many of our clients have been in touch over the years asking if we can arrange an apartment for them in other European cities, so its a natural progression for us to move ahead with this project, the first of many European projects.

We will be inspecting each property in Paris for quality, location and facilities, just as we do in Italy , including the famous bounce on the bed, to be sure you sleep well. This will just mean more traveling, which is job I am always willing to take on. Of course during these -- grueling -- inspection trips, there's always time for a wander along the Seine, bit of poster shopping and try out some of the local cuisine.


We have a wonderful, like minded collaborator in Paris and we've been viewing a bunch of apartments for the website this weekend, joy o joy, they are wonderful, and the buildings so magnificently maintained, this is going to be cinch to find quality accom.

We are staying in a super bright apartment called "Halles" which is just next to the Novatel on the edge of the Halles district, there are huge windows in all rooms and although only a one bedroom apartment, it has two modern bathrooms and is so spacious, we almost feel guilty for not having brought our Francophile teenage daughters with us to sleep on the large sofa bed in the living room, next time!

We fell in love with another apartment during the inspection tour, especially the color of the walls, Here's a pic of Leon testing out the Starck chairs to see if they were as comfortable as they are sylish...

Well, it's June now, so I guess we will be launching this site just after the summer, I will update the blog as I go..

Apartment vs Hotel - Why Choose an Apartment

When our family planned our last Easter holiday, there was the usual family debate deciding where we to go. Finally everybody voted on Nice; so, I commenced the process of pouring over many websites looking for an apartment, that might suit our family of four.

We were looking for a short-term apartment but after many hours of internet surfing, I just couldn't seem to find a website that could offer us the kind of apartment that we had in mind. After becoming frustrated with the lack of choice I decided to dump the whole apartment idea and book a hotel instead,confirming two rooms in a pretty cool looking hotel.
At the time of booking I had no doubts that this was the way to go.
Our two daughters aged 18 and 14 would enjoy the independence of their own room and we figured it could be a more relaxing way for us too, no food shopping or cooking or even tidying up..

We arrived in Nice and the hotel was as expected, modern, hip, with an impressive foyer; the location too seemed perfect, right between the old town of Nice and the modern shopping area, just one block from the beach.
We were all pleased until we were shown to our rooms - which although modern and nicely renovated, we were a little shocked to see the space we were to spend the next eight nights; although accurately described in square meters on the website - the rooms looked and "felt" very small and cramped.

The next morning we took off to explore Nice and immediately came across the daily fresh food market in the old town, when we saw the wonderful produce - strawberries, white asparagus, every kind of olive you can imagine, trestle table after trestle table offering the most delicious variety of fresh food and local specialities. we were both excited by this great variety and abundance of offerings and disappointed that we were going to miss out on sampling the wonderful local produce that Nice had to offer.

We also missed hanging out together as a family - as these short holidays are really the only time we spend long stretches of time together especially now that we have teenagers who are old enough to be independent. We walked on the beach in the mornings and would bump into our daughters mid morning - having to make a date with them late afternoon if we wanted to see them. Great for the first few days, but at the end of eight days we all missed the usual laughs and interaction in the kitchen or living room - the room to room telephoning was wearing thin and when we were all in one of the rooms together it was so tiny we could only bear 10 mins before taking off to our own space again.

The cost of hotel room service was another hitch, even for a cup of coffee in the morning, the price was totally over the top. Lunch and dinner out at restaurants every day, can become both tedious; clocking up around Euro 120 each evening for dinner wasn't much fun either. We were tired of "having to" go out every night, restaurants are wonderful when you're in the mood, but not much fun when you are forced to eat out for 24 meals on a row.

So looking back at our "hotel experience", a small room, a mini bar and not the kind of privacy or freedom that we are used to, made me think that I should have tried a little harder to find that "right apartment" - which would have been more of a home, even if only for eight nights.
We could have enjoyed more space, more amenities, sampled and cooked the local produce, which is a lot more fun and paid a lot less. The experience reminded us of why we chose to be in the business we are in and prompted us to begin exploring the idea of expanding into the south of France ... NICE-ACCOM coming soon !!