Renting a House in Sicily

The pool at Le Sorbe

After a Milan, Venice and Tuscany, we wrapped up our month in Italy by renting a house in Sicily for a week.

There was no Internet, so I have been cut off from the ‘real world’ for more than a week.  But in doing so, I was forced back to a real world that we all too often tend to forget. 

Sicily is not your usual tourist destination.

Last year, we rented a large villa in Tuscany and brought over friends and family for a week.  This year, we wanted to try something different, so we went online and found the house in Sicily.

Renting online is a bit of a risk. No one shows bad photos. Every thing looks great, so you have to be a bit of a detective and learn to read between the lines and ask a lot of questions.  

After much thought, we signed up for a week-long rental for Le Sorbe, a two-house compound built around a large swimming pool.  The house was located about a 2-hour drive due east of Palermo on the northern coast of Sicily, or in better terms, in the middle of nowhere. Which actually turned out to be quite interesting.

The house itself was completely modern.  6 bedrooms, 8 bathrooms, stone floors, and all air conditioned (which is critical in Sicily in August, where temperatures daily hit the hi 90s).  Also critical was the pool, which was large, modern and well run.  A pool attendant arrived daily to clean and service the pool. Someone else came to tend the grounds.  

The house was set in the midst of a large olive grove, and you had to drive up a dirt road for about half a km to reach it.  Other than the house, there was nothing here, save an unbelievable view of the Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding countryside.

The nearest town for shopping, or anything else was Acquedolce, which I am sure you have never heard of.  They have not seen a tourist in Acquedolce since the last Romans departed in 550 AD.  It is real southern Italy, with no softening of the edges for Americans. No one speaks a word of English.  When we first appeared at the local supermercado to do our shopping we were met roundly with stares and silence.  When we dropped several hundred Euros on our stock the house trip, more staring. Yet as soon as we paid, three locals came with big smiles and started helping us load up the car.  The more time we spent in town, the friendlier everyone got.  Pretty soon we were starting think of Acqudolce as home. 

The house came with cleaning and cook, and that made a big difference as well.  There are no restaurants in Acquedolce, save the local bar and pizzaria. But the cook, supplied by ThinkSicily was fantastic, and provided us with astonishing 3 and 4 course meals every night.  Each morning she would appear with fresh croissant for breakfast.  

Having spent the past three weeks in Santorini, Venice and Tuscany, we had been in the living, beating heart of the world of tourism in Europe. Everything was lovely and everything was taken care of for tourists.  Here in Sicily, nothing (outside the house) was taken care of and nothing was designed for tourists. It was designed for the locals who live there all the time.

Santorini was lovely, but walk the streets and every single shop is a tourist shop selling tschokis.  Venice likewise.  When my mother and sister arrived in Sicily, they wanted to go shopping, but found to their disappointment that there just weren’t any stores to plunder, save where the locals shopped.  And that in itself was an experience that is worth the trip.

It was interesting.  Perhaps not for everyone, and certainly not your usual Italian vacation.

Now.. back to work.