The apartment is in a medieval building, so plenty of stairs. We were situated at the back of the building in a cavern-like apartment with only one small window. Furniture was modern, IKEA style. It cost more than our previous Albergo, which had plenty of space, a balcony, breakfast and helpful staff. It also cost more than our 4 star hotel in Pisa.

Our main grumble is that we had no heating the first day and no way of contacting anyone. The fridge was out of order. The agent responded quickly on day 2 and put things right, but refused any discount at all. She told us most Italians didn't use heating in April, but believe me, our cave apartment was very cold in the evening. We had already enquired about heating and she had told us it came on automatically at 20.00.

Back in April I was looking for where to stay in Riomaggiore. I inquired with a number of places including Casa di Venere. I must have needed to put a credit card number on their inquiry form, because EVEN THOUGH I NEVER HEARD BACK FROM THEM and wound up reserving and staying at Michielini Rooms (very nice) THEY CHARGED MY VISA 180 EUROS. Only way I can get credited for the charge is to change my VISA Account # which is no fun with auto pays, etc. BE FOREWARNED!

On arrival, we were told they did not take Visa and insisted we pay cash or stay elsewhere. This was less than convenient but we were willing to pay cash happily enough. The rooms were okay and location beautiful - Cinque Terre is hard to beat.

A few weeks after we left they charged my Visa account and they have just charged it again. They have been less than cooperative in refunding any money. So in all, we have paid over one thousand Euros for four night's accommodation.

I would recommend that nobody stay here.

We are just back from a 5 nights stay in Riomaggiore and we had an absolutely fantastic time. This b&b helped a bit since it was very clean and apparently newly decorated. It really isn't a b&b as there is no included breakfast. We booked quite late and this was one of the few places that still had rooms left (at least when you searched the Internet).

The big bed was very comfortable, the room spacious and the shower clean and nice. The lightning was also quite nice, although we did have to ask to have two bulbs replaced immediately. The room didn't really come with a view, but that's bound to happen in a village like Riomaggiore.

Someone mentioned that their room was noisy and in a way, so was ours. We could hear when the neighbour on the other side of the alley took a shower, we heard the church bells and the low thundering sound of the trains. It wasn't really a problem for us though and I expect that this has much to do with how the buildings in Riomaggiore are built and that sounds bounces up between the buildings in the (very) narrow alleys. Also, we had our windows open for most of our stay (unfortunately no ac - not a major problem though).

Something that might be worth mentioning was that we after a few days noticed that we shared our room with a small trail of ants. They didn't really bother us and we never mentioned it to the administration (which by the way is not located in the building it self, but down on the main road of Riomaggiore).

What was great about our room was its closeness to the ocean. It took about a minute to go down to the cliff in the harbour where we took our mandatory morning swim. Wonderful. You just have to be prepared to walk in a lot of stairs, but if you are not you shouldn't really stay in Riomaggiore at all.

Overall, we really enjoyed our stay, but felt that the price could have been a bit lower (no breakfast, no ac). Still, I could see myself staying here again because of the location and the modern rooms.