Both my wife and I had a wonderful time in Palermo and mainly thanks to the perfect hospitality Gabriella gave us during our stay.

We will never forget the smell of her garden , the fragrance of her home made jams, her " sensible advice" on where to eat and where to go in Palermo.

We will definetly be back

Maria and Marco

Like the last reviewer it's taken me a long time to get around to writing the review so maybe Gabriella, who runs this place, has mellowed with age but I had a similar experience...

i went with my boyfriend (both in our late 20s at the time). Gabriella had emailed us directions but our flight was delayed so we arrived in the dark and anyone who has been to Sicily will know the road signs are non existent so when we took one wrong turn that was it, we were lost. We phoned gabriella for help. She was very angry that we were keeping her up while she waited for us and shouted at us for being too stupid to find the way. She was completely unhelpful and when we finally found our way by asking passers by and got to the house she shouted at us again. I shouted back and i eventually she realised how unreasonable she'd been and calmed down. Not a great start to our holiday.

Anyway, the breakfasts in the garden were very nice and my boyfriend worked his charm on gabriella to make amends so we had a pleasant enough couple of days after a bad start.
The room itself was nowhere near as nice as it looks on the website. It was small, dark (tiny window) and quite far from the bathroom. You can't use any of the rest of the house and feel like you have to creep through and feel guilty for turning the lights on, etc. It's basically room only... That said, it is very peaceful and is comfy enough - just not luxury

It wasn't a terrible place to stay at all but the rudeness of the owner, coupled with disappointment that it didn't nearly live up to the pics on the website mean i definitely wouldn't go back.

I have waited nearly one year before deciding post this review, thinking that our experience might mellow over time. But we believe others should be aware of some issues with this property.

The property is beautiful, and in a lovely location near the waterfront in Mondello. The entire castle was once owned by the proprietor's family, but taxes forced her to sell most of it off. Thus the b&b portion (and her home) is now small corner of what once was all hers, and there is a sense that she is opening her home for the same reason that she had to sell off the rest. We did not sense the typical American b&b proprietor love of meeting people from other parts of the world. Instead, there are clear signs posted in your room that one is **not** allowed to use the living rooms (which was quite a shock, even though these rooms are displayed as part of her marketing advertisements). Moreover, one is *not* allowed to use the dining room for anything other than the breakfast time. One is allowed to use **only** your private room - clearly not the b&b experience that most American's have come to expect.

Several vignettes will explain the difficulties you might encounter: One evening, for example, our mother was exhausted and not well, and we thought it best to pick up a pizza to bring back to the house, and asked if we might be able to use the dining room table. We were given a very cold and firm "no, you cannot bring food here," despite the clear infirmity of our mother. Several other issues were distressing - she wanted us to pay full price for a husband and child who could not travel with us because of the rotovirus, despite a full 7-day advance cancellation of these 2 people, and despite the fact that they would have stayed in one of our rooms (so she wasn't losing a room). Lastly, despite advertising that she takes credit cards, she stubbornly insisted on being paid the **full** amount of the stay in cash by the second night.

Final review: this is a beautiful oasis, perfect for a young romantic couple that is not traveling with children or elderly, and that has no intention of spending any time whatsoever in the b&b beyond the breakfast hour. Then, you will find this charming, inviting, perfect.