Monika Cottage Sciacca Italy - Holiday Cottage for Rent

"Hello, I hope Your family is fine after the summer ! I suppose even your kids started school now and life is back to normal routines..... We really appriciated the stay with You very much and we loved Sicily - especially the western part. I hope we might have the oppurtunity to come back one day..... And thanks again for the wine and oliveoil ! Solong, Olof, Pia, Catja, Vanja & Manfred and our little doggy; "Hello Pascale, Just a short note to thankyou very much again for a wonderful holiday, and for looking after us so well when our (or should I say 'my') organisational skills colapsed. We hope you all keep well and continue to enjoy Sicily as much as we did on our first visit. Best regards Matt, Rachel and Gabriel T." "Dear Pascale and Salvatore, We are back to Gothenburg and watching grey sky or rain through the windows, we dream about those wonderfull days we walked kilometers dawn to the town, breathing in fantastic air, feeling the fresch breese, screwing up our eyes in the sun, spoting Hibiscus and Bougenville flowers, agavas and opuntior on the way. Your place is charmfull and full of family atmosphere, friendliness, and perfect equipped with all you can need. Thank You for Your kindness, helpfullness and generosity. We do not forget that, neither You! I wish You all the best! Many warm greetings and hugs Anna & Yngve "Dear Pascal and Salvatore, Thank you so much for your kind hospitality during my family's recent visit to VERDETECHNICA. We really enjoyed being there. I hope to be back in Sicily and a visit to your wonderful place would be a must....Thanks again. SALUTE! Edward F." "Dear Salvatore and Pascale Just a quick note of appreciation for your great hospitality whilst we stayed with you recently (along with Annie and Ron); we thoroughly enjoyed your company and your alogia. We will return to Sciacca. Thanks again Frank & Terri " Shelly Colletti - 10:41am Jun 11, 2002 EST (5.1) Hi Mary: After returning from Sicily 2 weeks ago, I just wanted to tell you that having stayed at Verdetecnica in Sciacca (pronounced "Shaka"), you can't go wrong. The proprietors are extremely helpful and relaxed people. They will do whatever they can to answer any questions and give suggestions or advice if needed. Plus, the room we had was more than adequate for our needs. It's a mini-apartment with a fridge, stove-top, living area, etc. You might ask for specific directions depending on where you are coming from. We had a hard time finding it for some reason. More than likely because we had spent the day at Segesta and were tired from all the walking. We too visited a small town seeking relatives of my husbands. After finding some relations, we spent 1 1/2 days with them and had a truly remarkable and memorable time with them. If you have an opportunity to find anyone BEFORE you leave the states, try to make contact with them ahead of time. If you don't, don't be afraid to ask people around the town of any common names or relations. Most of the Sicilian people will do their best to help you. If you go to the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, make sure you take with you some kind of book that explains what each temple / site is about. There was nothing there that had much of an explanation about what we were looking at, although if you are on a tour, that should be satisfactory. Have a GREAT time!!!!! My husband and I will be staying there when we go to Sicily in September and are very much looking forward to it. We stayed in Sciacca on the west coast-half an hour from Agrigento- two hours from Trapani and two hours direct from Palermo.Great place to blob- within easy range of all sorts of things andplaces to see.We stayed at an agritourismo place -apartments run by a Scilian landscaper and his French partner- who is a translater.Pascal Dodin and Salvatore Maniscola offered great hospitality and we paid 40 euro in January this year tho this was off season. Haven't got their e mail address on me at the moment but I found the place on an Italian agriturismo web site-itwg. 2. Sicily -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Agree with last post-we are Kiwis and had a week in Sciacca at the beginning of this year-as well as several days in TrapaniNot long enough but we ran out of time.Would love to go back.Stayed at farm stay apartments in Sciacca run by an Italian landscape gardnener and French translator -they were great.Lots Canadians stay there.On the net-Verdetecnica - I think .Enjoy Hi there to Pascale, Salvatore, Valerie and Lorelie, thank you so much for our stay in your beautiful house. We remember that stay as the very best time of our time in sicily. the rest of our trip went well, the driving did get crazy sometimes. The "old" cities are very difficult to find the way around in a car. some of them are set up like an Arab labyrinth. We went on to agrigento and on to Noto. Sadly it rained while we were in Ragusa so that was not great. Siracusa was quite impressive. The ruins there are unbelievable. Fortunately, we were able to park our car at a hotel and just walk everywhere. the city was very good in that regard. After Syracuse we headed up to giarre to visit Mt Etna but were once again plagued by rain. Headed up to the giardini Naxos area.......beautiful beaches. From there we headed to Catania, but stayed outside the city in Acicastello, a lovely little seaside town. Found a fabulous trattoria there where we went a few nights and met great people again. We got our pictures back and have one of Valerie and Lorelie. We will send it along if you send us the address. Hope all is well with you. Yesterday we had -23 with a windchill making it -40. Tomorrow we have a storm warning in effect for 25cm of blowing snow . Take care all ! Bob and Mary Crook ANGELA: FODORS We were spending the next 3 nights in Sciacca. We followed the Via Michelin directions from Erice to Sciacca. There were too many switchbacks, next time we may consider taking the coastal route even though it was longer. The next lesson to be learned was quickly approaching- AVOID driving through the city of Sciacca at all costs! Now we know that you should follow the signs for ?Caltabellotta? which will take you around the town and up Monte Kronio. Following our usual pattern we didn?t call the owners of Verdetecnica self-catering accommodations where we were headed to get directions. We drove straight through that crazy town with streets so narrow it should be illegal for the traffic to go both ways, seriously we thought these streets should have been one-ways! Our mirrors came quite close to getting ripped off our rental. Stressed to the point of almost no return we finally found a woman who directed us up the Monte Kronio to Verdetecnia. The owners Salvatore and Pascale saw the distress all over our faces and gave us a bottle of wine to relax ourselves. Author: AP6380 Date: 04/12/2003, 09:53 pm Message: We stayed in the apartment called Monika, which was bigger that the apartment we live in. Huge kitchen and 3 levels. When you walk in there is a basket full of water, fresh oranges and lemons from their trees, bread, jams, etc. They even supply you with organic olive oil that are produced by them in another location. This unit could accommodate easily a family of four. It was very rustic and comfortable. Very reasonable at 50 Euros a night. The grounds were beautiful and full of flowers and gardens. We chose to stay in this area for the close proximity to Selinunte and Agrigento. Out of all the places we stayed this was our favorite, you start to feel like you could live in that peaceful manner forever. There were even plenty of cats to amuse an animal lover such as myself. There is also a very large Supermercato down the mountain. We LOVED it there. That night we learned from Salvatore that the trick to the town of Sciacca is to park on the outside and walk in. We figured once we recovered from the initial trauma we would attempt it. We headed down the mountain to Ristorante Le Gourmet, Via Monte Kronio, 7. We had an excellent frutta di mare and brasciola for appetizers, and a fruta di mare pizza and a salami pizza. We each had a dessert. We spent 30 Euros with the servizio included. The prices were reasonable and the seafood excellent. The next morning, Tuesday, we headed to Selinunte. We took the local roads as there apparently was some construction going on on the autostrada. For whatever reason we did not see any signs for Selinunte and were lost for hours. We ended up driving up and down the coast of Marinella and Porto Palo. Next time we would take the autostrada as I am under the impression that the signs are much better. A nice woman let us follow her, and then put us in the right direction. It was raining on and off all day again. Miraculously, as this is the first time I have traveled to Europe outside of the summer, the weather did not get us down. We were lucky enough that when we stopped at a sight the rain would let up enough for us to enjoy. Selinunte was a large area to cover, and was even more beautiful because of it?s proximity to the sea. We felt like we had the site almost to ourselves except for the two dogs that were following us around, it was so much fun just meandering around the ruins. We walked up to the acropolis where the sea views were stunning. Date: 04/12/2003, 09:54 pm Message: Tuesday night in Sciacca- it seemed like a lot of restaurants and businesses were closed around 8. There�s definitely no rhyme or reason to the store/restaurant hours. We could not find a restaurant, we even parked on the outside of town a bit and walked in. Exhausted from our adventures we grabbed pizza and spinach pies from a tavola calda called �Arte del Pane di Bono Vincenzo,� and pastries from �Bar Gentile.� We took the food back to our cozy apartment and relaxed. Wednesday, and finally SUN!! We went to the Valley of the Temples, There was no getting lost this time as it is very well signed. Everywhere we went there were many children on school trips, and of course this site was the most crowded of the ones we had seen thus far. Obviously there is a good reason for that, it was a wonderful site to behold. Coming back we ate lunch in Sciacca at La Zabbara, Cortile Bellanca, 16. We both ordered frutta di mare for an appetizer. We also both had Shrimp Scampi. It came in a huge bowl in a zesty tomato broth with the freshest shrimp that I have ever eaten. The bill with servizio included was 26 Euros. Out of the 4 places we went on this trip Sciacca had the freshest and cheapest seafood. This simple meal was my favorite of the whole trip. I had never tasted anything like it. We headed to the apartment for our siesta, we were finally getting the hang of the way of life here- and we were loving it. That night we headed up the mountain to a restaurant that had just opened that day, La Traviata, Via Monte Kronio, 495. That day was their grand opening, and they did not have a lot of what was listed on the menu as the deliveries were to come the next day. With the waitresses small knowledge of English combined with our small knowledge of Italian we were able to put a meal together. We ordered pasta alla Emiliana, which to my happy surprise was Berette (flat spaghetti), peas and ham in a pink sauce. I thought pink sauce may be an americani thing, I was pleasantly surprised to have found it in Sicily. It was delicious. I then had swordfish and my boyfriend had the shrimp speciality of the house. Everything was really good. Thursday morning we sadly checked out of Verdetecnica and drove 3 � hours to Ortygia. We were only spending 1 night there, we really just wanted to get a taste of Ortygia as it sounded so wonderful If you are not set in spending all your time in Taormina, I would recommend Sciacca as a good base to explore Segesta, Erice, Selunite, and Agrigento. I enjoyed Taormina, but the idea of spending all my time there on a trip to Sicily is like a foreigner spending all their time in Las Vegas in the US. (Nice, but by no means a real Sicilian town). regards, Paul ANGELA (igougo) What were the accommodations like? Verdetecnica provides self-catering apartment accomodations, so there is no breakfast or breakfast room. You do have a huge kitchen to prepare whatever you want. We stayed in the apartment called Monika, which was bigger than the apartment we live in, with a huge kitchen and three levels. When you walk in, there is a basket full of water, fresh oranges and lemons from their trees, bread, jams, etc. They even supply you with organic olive oil that is produced by them in another location. This unit could easily accommodate a family of four. It was very rustic and comfortable. The price was very reasonable at 50� a night (off-season). The grounds were beautiful, and full of flowers and gardens. We chose to stay in this area for its close proximity to Selinunte and Agrigento. There were even plenty of cats to amuse an animal lover such as myself. Parking is on the premises at no extra charge. There is also a very large Supermercato down the mountain. Out of all the places we stayed, this was our favorite -- you start to feel like you could live in this peaceful manner forever. We LOVED it here. PLEASE don't do what we did and not call for directions -- the owners are extremely nice. DO NOT drive through Sciacca itself because it's a nightmare. You should follow the signs for "Caltabellotta," which will bring you around the town and up Monte Kronio. Sicily has an area of 9,926 square miles so one can easily spend 1 month visiting, let alone 8 to 10 nights. I would be inclined to spend your time in Sicily alone. If you KNOW you will never visit or revisit Italy, perhaps land in Rome, visit Rome for three days and then head off to Sicily. The downside of this plan is that you will be seeing little in depth, spend more time travelling than sightseeing, and risk being too tired to enjoy your trip. We spent a rushed 8 days in Sicily: Upon landing and departing Palermo we spent the first three of our nights in Sciacca, seeing the Greek theater and temples of Segesta en route. Using Sciacca as a base we drove to Erice and Agrigento on day trips. Sciacca itself offers a smaller, managable yet vibrant city to base oneself. Our accomadation was removed from the downtown, so it is easy to get in and out of, and the hosts are great! Very reasonable prices too! Moving on we stopped at the Roman mosaics of Piazza Armerina on the way to Syracusa for two nights. Keeping with our desire to stay out of cities for ease of parking we stayed at a bed and breakfast opposite Syracusa. Moving on to the hilltop town of Taormina for three nights we rested in the tourist mecca while day tripping to Edna. Heading back to Palermo for our return I realized we have travelled alot of the island and seeing much. We purposefully avoided the larger cities, avoiding Palermo and Catania. Trains within Sicily do not compare with that of the Italian mainland. The Messina - Palermo route is the only dependable I am aware of. There are numerous towns and sights we missed. Sicily is a wonderful mix of cultures and offers a great, laid back opportunity (or the ability to sightsee to your hearts desire). Good look, enjoy Sicily! Paul CECILIE (fodors) hotel recs Sicily w. infant 3 responses; most recent on 11/01/2003, 09:36 pm We should have spent more than 3 days in Sciacca at the selfcatering B&B Verdetecnica. Very well organised and well equipped, really nice owners French/Italian couple. Definetely recommended as *the* place to stay on Western Sicily especially with children. Athena (Fodors) Arriving in Sciacca, we greeted by huge floats in the shapes of monsters and dragons in various hues of pink and purple. Low and behold Carnivale had been postponed from February to May because of construction in the center of town. Closed streets made finding Verdetechnica, our Sicilian farmhouse, more challenging than I hear it usually is. But Tim is such an excellent navigator we arrived relatively easily, after passing a group of donkeys along the way. Verdetechnica is perched high on a hill overlooking fields of flowers and the Mediterranean Sea. Our apartment had an original wood-burning oven and was equipped with everything to cook even a Thanksgiving meal, including those little Italian expresso coffee pots I had long wondered how to use. Now I know. We were surprised it came with our very own cat who demanded to be fed every morning precisely at 8. The owners are a very gracious couple, offering us drinks, pasta, and tomato sauce from their own pantry, as EVERYTHING except for a few restaurants which we were too tired to seek out, is closed on May 1. The enormous peach-colored angel trumpet shrub in our garden patio was so fragrant we could smell it through closed windows and doors.