Cinque Terre, Costiera Amalfitana, all the Appennino villagves, some Alps villages: they all require climbing up & down Italian best and untouched sceneries are often to be found in complicate “residential” area where houses steal space to the rocks and the mountains. The architecture of many Italian buildings remembers the same of towers. The “skyscraper” building concept belongs to this land and it is much older than the one of modern urban agglomerates. Our buildings grew one close to other, one wall served as the following house wall in a chain that runs almost uninterrupted in the village centres. Only now and then a tiny space is left for a narrow road, here called “carugio”. The interruptions run in between the “palazzate” and create a sort of labyrinth that tuned out a great defensive way in ancient times. The houses built this way occupate the least amount of soil. They are one close to the other, for many historical reason: space saving, concrete and rocks saving, energy saving, defensive reasons, climatic reasons… And so we have STEPS. Steps are the only way to have access to rooms and apartments. No elevators can be added. So be ready to "climb". Always ask the real situation of access to a property before making you reservation if that's not clear in the description or images! Owners started to open their houses many years ago to travellers. Now, year after year, they did a lot to improve them, but they cannot change their houses structure. So, we are sorry, but we have to say that guests with walking difficulties will have troubles in choosing this land as their holiday destinations. Book them early in advance if you want to face less steps to reach your rental. Best points of interest are accessible only through uphill walks.

Jump on a train and visit Italy! The best way to visit Italy is by train (even if trains might be overcrowded in peak hours) We suggest guests to buy train tickets on our website in advance, so to avoid long queues at train stations. Select your language first and you'll see it's easy and fast.

Beware of pickpockets on train tracks and onboard. Usually gipsy girls in disguise appearing like tourists, wearing sunglasses, sun hats and shorts. They try to distract you when you are on the coach, attracting you attention out of the train windows, and stealing your bags already on board, or they try to divide your family party so that you, caring for your children or relatives do not pay attention to them stealing from your pockets or bags.

Italian small villages have often narrow and small train stations. Please, be aware not to stand close to tracks. It is always extremely risky.

What’s like renting a private property? The pleasure of finding your own home far from home! Here the comforts of renting a private property, get more space and save money! Our website provides accommodation mostly at private properties. They are self-catering. It means that as property mangers we provide the basics to welcome you into your rented property: linens & towels hand soap & shampoo toilet paper dishwasher and washing machine soap when washing machines and dishwashers are available breakfast kit for the very first day of breakfast oil, vinegar, salt, sugar in case of properties with kitchen facilities Some of the properties cater a survival first breakfast kit. So you won’t have to rush to the cafeteria in the morning for a cup of coffee! Or when you reach our property and you are hungry you will find a survival snack. Most of our properties use BIOLOGICAL cleaning products and all food items, like extra virgin olive oil for instance, come from local, top quality producers. Private properties cannot always meet hotel and elevated standards being authentic private properties where owners accommodate their guests. So do not expect all these properties always have AC, for instance. But, they always have a long history and family traditions We love help you finding the apartment ready to be lived as if you were at home.

Surviving Italian Showers & Boilers! The majority of our rentals has showers instead of bathtubs, but, very often, hot water is provided though small electric boilers due to lack of space or lack of gas connection. Go Green in Italy and...at home! It means that very long showers cannot be taken, 2 people can shower with the same charge of hot water, but you will have to change your usual habit and not keep water running while soaping. This will help saving water, which is always a good thing for our planet! Consider that boilers recharge quickly, anyway, so after 10 minutes it is possible for a second/third person to have a shower again. Our owners do a lot to improve their properties and recently most of the owners have installed energy saving with high performance.

Yes! Tap water is drinkable in most of the Italian towns and villages throughout the peninsula. Do not use plastic and fill your bottles in safety! We solicit our owners to provide Glass Water bottles in their properties! It's our small part on the journey to Save our Planet!

We Live in a Fragile World - Let's Travel Sustainable Italy is a blessed country where to live and work, but it is also a fragile Land and the precise microcosmic image of our Globe. We must be aware that each single action we daily take can make the difference on the path to preserve our Nature and to stop the Climate Change. We can’t do miracles, but we can change an attitude. No more wasting, no more plastic, yes to recycling and to consume wisely! Glass Water Bottle in all our properties! Say no to Plastic Bottles!

Beds – sleeping the Italian way! We have other standards! Italian bed sizes might be different from those used at your own home A Standard Italian Double Bed, “letto matrimoniale”, is 160 cm wide. It is what internationally is called Queen Size Bed. A King Size Bed is 180 cm wide, but it rarely can be found in Italy. A French Size Bed, “letto alla francese”, is 140 cm wide and it might be often found in Italian private properties since rooms, especially in small villages, are small, due to the restricted building areas owners had to build their own houses. Every inch is important here and sometimes, when missing, owners need to use clever ways to enlarge their homes sleeping capacity, now as it was in the past!

All you need to know to plug your devices Plugs, adapters and converters – yes, they are different here! When packing for a travel to Italy consider that the electrical system is different from that one of your country: different voltage of the current – here 220 ac – and different shape of sockets and plugs – here 2 or 3 holes. 2 or 3 pins grounded 10 A & 16 A 220 – 240 V The circular one, also know as Schuko, German standard, is today very popular in Italy for many devices 2 pins grounded 16 A 220 – 240 V socket compatible with plug types C, E & F

Newer appliances are set so to accept both voltages (US 110 and EU 220), eventually actioning a switch on them. If your device does not show 110-220, it means that if you plug it it will be destroyed and, to prevent this, you need to buy an adapter (you can easily find them at local hardware stores home, online on Amazon or, if you forgot to buy them, they can be found at airports duty free stores). In the Cinque Terre it is difficult, if not impossible, to find them at local stores, so, consider it before reaching the area.

Why should you choose to stay longer than one or two nights The nicest and larger properties in the area do not accept just one night, unless your reservation is close to arrival date. And it is totally not advisable to change location every day. You would spend all your time in checking in and out, dragging baggages from one place to the other, going up and down of often crowded trains, waiting for check-in times: check-out is at 10:00 and check-in at 15:00. We definitely suggest to rent a place for a longer stay and then do your visit from there. You would enjoy the area much more!

For the foodish person in you! Quality and number of restaurants is high throughout Italy. Most of them are family run business and located in small villages; any of them work and struggles to get and maintain a good reputation. So freely choose! You won’t be disappointed! Our owners will always be ready to provide tips and suggestions! Our recipes are simple and natural, based on a long lasting tradition that has its fundamentals on the poor and healthy kitchen of our ancestors with small portions of land and limited resources. Consider that some restaurants (but not all of them) serve food all they long, but normally stop service at night around 9:30 pm

Weather Alerts are important All the Italian territory is a delicate country. On the experience of many devastation past floods and other weather events, the Italian authorities may issue weather alerts in case of severe conditions. We may have Yellow, Orange and in some cases Red (the most serious one) Weather Alerts . In case of red weather alert, guests, checking in that day, cannot reach the area and they must stop in safer villages/towns before approaching an affected area. All the guests occupying low floors properties, if at flooding risk, will have to move to higher floors properties if available or to move to a safer property in other villages. Assistance will be provided, of course, for this relocation. In case of weather alert cars won’t be allowed to remain parked in affected areas and they will have to be taken far from the critical areas. check-in times can be requested in advance and may require an extra charge if assisted. We do suggest to AVOID LATE CHECK-INS. The area is difficult to be reached, especially by car at night, car parking situation is complicate and car parking with assistance will be closed after 7:30 p.m., addresses and streets are not well via Google maps since not mapped yet, So, unless you follow our directions step by step, you might have hard time at night in finding your way to your rental. Definitely plan your trip with an early arrival to the Cinque Terre, moving your check-in to the following day if you preview you might arrive late. Self check-in info will be provided so to avoid travelers to skip extra fees. Any property has, anyway, individual rules, and ad hoc check-in info will be provided once booking will be completed.traceable

Yes, we are forced by law to respect rules! According to the Italian Law heating can be turned on only from Nov 1st to April 1st (more or less) - 19° Maximum and 11 hours per day maximum. Out of that period all owners are punishable and risk to pay high fees. So heating won’t be running from April 1st to Oct 31st, unless, due to exceptional weather conditions, Italian Authorities authorize owners to do so. Sorry, if we won’t be turn heating on. We will provide extra blankets in case of exceptional cold weather out of those dates. Consider to bring extra clothes, since weather in Italy might not be as you expect! But we’ll do our best to bring sunshine for you!

Help us run a clean Italy! Your cooperation is welcome to keep the area clean! Please, accurately watch them as visitors and resident guest. If you rent a room or an apartment, please, check the recycling rules in your property. Please, differentiate.

We are sorry you have to leave!!! Standard check-out time for most of the properties is 10:00 (10:30 maximum). We necessarily have to ask our guests to respect these times. Especially private properties,which are unique, need guyest to respect out times so to allow the cleaners to be ready for following check-in (time starts at 3:00 p.m.). Each property will have proper check-out rules though and those will all be given in your voucher. Please, ask for them at check-in in case you have any doubt regarding key drop-off. A late check-out can be granted on request and only one day before departure if following arrival and staff situation allow it. Please, check with our office team if you need to check-out after 10:00 a.m.

Standard check-in time for private properties is usually 3:00 p.m. to 6:00 pm. We necessarily have to ask our guests to respect these times. Late check-in must be always planned in advance