Forte Village is a famous resort, and unless you have wanted to stay at this "branded" resort, then it is not really good value. A few observations on our stay for 7 days:
- it is a very very big old hotel/appartment/Villa complex (30 years old or so) and while they have done a good job at trying to keep it modern and up to date, it shows its age
- based on our experience, it caters first to Russians, then to Italians, then to English, with a few other nationalities (e.g. the signs are all in Italian, English and Russian)
- There are a lot of things to do ("Chelsea" branded football camp, go karts, climbing wall, bike rental, water sports etc). Perhaps more than any other place we have been to. Some are expensive (e.g. Chelsea Soccer camp is Euro 300 for a week, bikes euro 35 per day)
- The beach is very nice (good sand, clear water)
- They have some issues with capacity in Summer (e.g. all the beach chairs are taken by 9am with the famous "towels" - note that if you stay in Il Villagio you are a little bit like the 2nd class citizen where the front row beach chairs are reserved for the higher paying hotel guests, so you get to be in line 2 or 3 if you get a chair)
- the service is good for italy, but nothing like US service levels (a 3-4 star level by US standards); however, this is very good for italy!
- the food is mixed quality - we loved the buffets, but the restaurants were so-so quality. Worth noting you need to make you reservations for restaurants as soon as you arrive for the whole week.
- most things seem to shut for lunch (e.g. the watersides are shut for lunch!)
All is all, if you have independent kids and want a beach holiday with lots of things to do, then it is great. If you want an upmarket Club Med in Europe it is great. If you are looking for a Four seasons, the level of modernity and quality of service will probably be lacking, especially given the very high prices for the hotel.
