Pauline
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Agency: Booked through HomeAway: www.homeaway.co.uk/p735796vb
Rental: 1 bedroom (plus a pulldown bed in a mezzanine), 1 bathroom apartment
Date: May 2017 (€700/week)
This was our third stay in Spoleto. The last time we rented from Umbria Holiday Rentals (read my review of Terrazza Mercato). This time we wanted a smaller apartment and I wanted a better terrace. I found a well priced and very nice looking apartment on HomeAway.
The apartment is spacious and bright, located close to Piazza del Mercato (similar location to our last apartment). It is well equipped and nicely furnished. There are views from the windows and terrace. The location is quiet but very central.
The building is on a small lane around the corner from Piazza del Mercato. The apartment is on the second floor (US third), up 40 steps. The lobby and staircase of this building are beautiful with furniture and artwork on the walls. The apartment is on the top level. You enter into a large room that is the living room and dining room. We used the large dining table for the computer and ate in the kitchen. The ceilings are very high and there are two large windows with views. There are steps up to a mezzanine which has a comfy chair and light for reading and a pulldown bed (a curtain can be drawn to give privacy from the living room below). The door to the terrace is here.
The terrace is large enough for a table and four chairs. It has fabulous views. But, we hardly used it. I wanted a terrace, but realized that we don't really need one. If we've been out all day walking, I don't need to sit out in the sun again.
From the living room you go to the nice sized bedroom (comfortable and large bed, good storage). One large window. The bathroom is a good size with a tub and overhead shower.
The kitchen is long and narrow but has good counter space and is well equipped. It has two windows. One is onto the rooftops and a cat comes to visit. They installed screens on the windows onto the rooftops (probably to keep this cat out). There is another large window looking down into pretty gardens below. A small table and two chairs is in the nook with the window.
This is a new and high-quality renovation. The owners live in Canada and have a local representative. The furnishings and equipment are good quality.
Not Fragrance-free: When starting the booking process I asked about synthetic fragrances (plugin air fresheners, fragrance sticks) because we both react badly to these and I try to avoid places that use them. If I see any in the photos, I don't book a place and I always ask when booking. Fragrance sticks are very popular now and are frequently used to cover the "unused" smells in older buildings. People think they are "natural" but they are not; they are full of chemicals that help disperse the fragrance and it is these chemicals that are harmful. Some people react immediately to them (we do). If they are used over a long period in a home, the chemicals are absorbed into the furnishings.
The owner told me they do not use them. When we arrived there were fragrance sticks in two rooms. The manager who checked us in removed them and I aired out the apartment and we were fine. He thought they had only been placed in the apartment the day before. When I asked the owner about this she said they should have been removed. Which makes me think that her original reply that they don't use them was incorrect and we won't book this apartment again. There was a laundry fragrance on the sheets and towels but it was not as strong as some are.
I feel odd mentioning this while still recommending the apartment, but most people are not concerned about fragrances, so this would make no difference to them.
Groceries: Piazza del Mercato has a very good alimentari (small shop) and another shop with bread, bakery items and prepared foods. In the mornings one or two people set up stalls selling friut and vegetables. We would walk down to the lower town at Piazza Garibaldi, go out the city walls into the modern part of town and a block away is a very good fruit and vegetable shop (Sabatini Alimentari, on Via del'Anfiteatro). There is a good sized Coop in a small mall a few blocks further on (Via dei Filosofi). There are a lot of shops in this area just outside the city walls.
Parking: We parked in Parcheggio Posterna and took the underground sidewalk to Piazza del Mercato. The underground sidewalk starts beside the parking lot. In my last review I complained about the cost of parking, but this time it did not bother me since I knew what to expect. The cost is €8/day with a new day starting at midnight, so if you park in the afternoon and take the car out the next morning you pay around €15 each time. We could have parked for free a 1/4 mile away, either on the street or in the parking lot of a supermarket. We kept all our hiking gear in the car, instead of lugging it up to the apartment, so it was convenient to have the car easily accessible for the days we hiked from the town. It is an easy in and out to this parking lot (easiest from Spoleto Sud (south) exit, but not that complicated from Spoleto Nord (north).
2017 Notes: The Ponte delle Torri, the medieval aqueduct/bridge on the top of Spoloto that takes you to the hiking trails, is closed because of possible damage after the 2016 earthquakes. I will write a Travel Note with details on how to get to the hiking trails without using the bridge.
Piazza del Mercato is under construction. They are working on the sewers, water lines, etc.
Rental: 1 bedroom (plus a pulldown bed in a mezzanine), 1 bathroom apartment
Date: May 2017 (€700/week)
This was our third stay in Spoleto. The last time we rented from Umbria Holiday Rentals (read my review of Terrazza Mercato). This time we wanted a smaller apartment and I wanted a better terrace. I found a well priced and very nice looking apartment on HomeAway.
The apartment is spacious and bright, located close to Piazza del Mercato (similar location to our last apartment). It is well equipped and nicely furnished. There are views from the windows and terrace. The location is quiet but very central.
The building is on a small lane around the corner from Piazza del Mercato. The apartment is on the second floor (US third), up 40 steps. The lobby and staircase of this building are beautiful with furniture and artwork on the walls. The apartment is on the top level. You enter into a large room that is the living room and dining room. We used the large dining table for the computer and ate in the kitchen. The ceilings are very high and there are two large windows with views. There are steps up to a mezzanine which has a comfy chair and light for reading and a pulldown bed (a curtain can be drawn to give privacy from the living room below). The door to the terrace is here.
The terrace is large enough for a table and four chairs. It has fabulous views. But, we hardly used it. I wanted a terrace, but realized that we don't really need one. If we've been out all day walking, I don't need to sit out in the sun again.
From the living room you go to the nice sized bedroom (comfortable and large bed, good storage). One large window. The bathroom is a good size with a tub and overhead shower.
The kitchen is long and narrow but has good counter space and is well equipped. It has two windows. One is onto the rooftops and a cat comes to visit. They installed screens on the windows onto the rooftops (probably to keep this cat out). There is another large window looking down into pretty gardens below. A small table and two chairs is in the nook with the window.
This is a new and high-quality renovation. The owners live in Canada and have a local representative. The furnishings and equipment are good quality.
Not Fragrance-free: When starting the booking process I asked about synthetic fragrances (plugin air fresheners, fragrance sticks) because we both react badly to these and I try to avoid places that use them. If I see any in the photos, I don't book a place and I always ask when booking. Fragrance sticks are very popular now and are frequently used to cover the "unused" smells in older buildings. People think they are "natural" but they are not; they are full of chemicals that help disperse the fragrance and it is these chemicals that are harmful. Some people react immediately to them (we do). If they are used over a long period in a home, the chemicals are absorbed into the furnishings.
The owner told me they do not use them. When we arrived there were fragrance sticks in two rooms. The manager who checked us in removed them and I aired out the apartment and we were fine. He thought they had only been placed in the apartment the day before. When I asked the owner about this she said they should have been removed. Which makes me think that her original reply that they don't use them was incorrect and we won't book this apartment again. There was a laundry fragrance on the sheets and towels but it was not as strong as some are.
I feel odd mentioning this while still recommending the apartment, but most people are not concerned about fragrances, so this would make no difference to them.
Groceries: Piazza del Mercato has a very good alimentari (small shop) and another shop with bread, bakery items and prepared foods. In the mornings one or two people set up stalls selling friut and vegetables. We would walk down to the lower town at Piazza Garibaldi, go out the city walls into the modern part of town and a block away is a very good fruit and vegetable shop (Sabatini Alimentari, on Via del'Anfiteatro). There is a good sized Coop in a small mall a few blocks further on (Via dei Filosofi). There are a lot of shops in this area just outside the city walls.
Parking: We parked in Parcheggio Posterna and took the underground sidewalk to Piazza del Mercato. The underground sidewalk starts beside the parking lot. In my last review I complained about the cost of parking, but this time it did not bother me since I knew what to expect. The cost is €8/day with a new day starting at midnight, so if you park in the afternoon and take the car out the next morning you pay around €15 each time. We could have parked for free a 1/4 mile away, either on the street or in the parking lot of a supermarket. We kept all our hiking gear in the car, instead of lugging it up to the apartment, so it was convenient to have the car easily accessible for the days we hiked from the town. It is an easy in and out to this parking lot (easiest from Spoleto Sud (south) exit, but not that complicated from Spoleto Nord (north).
2017 Notes: The Ponte delle Torri, the medieval aqueduct/bridge on the top of Spoloto that takes you to the hiking trails, is closed because of possible damage after the 2016 earthquakes. I will write a Travel Note with details on how to get to the hiking trails without using the bridge.
Piazza del Mercato is under construction. They are working on the sewers, water lines, etc.
Apartment is in building on the right.
Living room.
View from living room window.
View from terrace.
