POSITIVES:
A Beautiful 18th century hotel with all the old Sicilian charm. The hotel has lovely large rooms and hallways. It's in very good condition, albeit the white furniture is getting worn and some wear is starting to show on walls and doors. There are some lovely large shuttered doors that open to a nice balcony where you can stand on a nice evening and enjoy a glass of wine.
The hotel is a bit difficult to find, but it's right near the renowned street market and main roads to shop on.
The staff are wonderful and helpful and there is a restaurant attached that has a nice buffet breakfast as well.
So the NEGATIVES:
The hotel is not at all sound proof. You can hear furniture moving in the floors above as well as people talking outside.
The BIGGEST NEGATIVE! Is that the hotel is located in Ballaro area. This is were the Algerian gang Black Axe operates...I'll let you google them or refugee Palermo.
We were not aware of this issue when looking for a hotel, and no other reviewers mentioned this. We didn't stay out late or much past sunset when they are all starting to hang out on street corners near the hotel. I went around the backside of the hotel to go find a store to buy some water and there were little rooms or old stores that a lot of them were sitting in. Scary.
The other negative was as we walked through the street market one street over from the hotel during the day and ventured up one more road, it was like 3rd world...Garbage everywhere, people selling their used stuff. I've never seen anything like it. We thought we made a huge mistake coming here.
Just stay on the main touristy roads and it's ok, but we wouldn't stay here if we knew the area was so bad. read more