Holiday Cottage Casa La Zagara · via Federico II I-98030 Forza d’Agrò Sicily Italy
Guestbook
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Please leave your remarks in the Guestbook displayed in the house — or send us an Email, and we might publish it here.
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The casa is embedded in unspoiled terrain, the views over land and sea fantastic. The lovely cats come visit, asking if we’ve brought something along for them. House, village and the closer area seem to have fallen out of time. So we didn’t get very far on the island during our stay. We simply felt at home here and discovered many things. The times of the place’s origins and the influences of conquering peoples have left their traces.
On our walks we pinched a fig here, an almond there; spotted a praying mantis that crossed our way; collected porcupine spines under a chestnut tree.
Besides the vivid impressions from our holiday, we also took back home some jars of Franca’s „Fichi e Mandorle“ jam from the grocery store across the street, preserving the taste of Sicily on our tongues for another while. ★★★★★ on TripAdvisor and HomeAway
We had two wonderful weeks on Sicily, despite unstable weather conditions. The first Sicilian autumn storms brought us some lasting memories from flooded motorways, cities and footpaths. On our way back to Catania airport we got our once in a lifetime opportunity to marvel Mt Etna cloudless, but covered in snow.
Forza d’Agrò is a pleasant small village with good infrastructure (small grocery stores, restaurants). We enjoyed the stay in your comfortable house a lot, thank you! Now the autumnal weather holds us tight in his grip...★★★★★ on HomeAway
Despite the initially awful weather we had a great time in your house and in Forza d’Agrò. Everything was so likeable and charming, we had a hard time to leave.
After discovering the umbrella in the house, we visited Catania on one of our first days, which we liked a lot. The fish market is extraordinary and the whole city has a quite metropolitan character. We had good food and strolled through the shops and beautiful Giardino Bellini.
Since the rain cloud hung mainly over Sicily itself, we decided to visit the Eolian Islands on our fourth day, and we had a great hiking day on Salina. It is so beautiful there! We even spent the night there, and on the way back, the weather on Sicily improved, too. The tips on your website are excellent, by the way, and we tried almost all of them. So on our way back from Salina we went directly to Torre Faro for a swim. And we also strolled through Messina and saw the beautiful dome and the nice streets.
During our last days, we had some real sunny hours and went for a swim again. Once at Isola Bella, and once again at Letojanni beach. In Forza we ate our way through ice cream parlors and restaurants and had a good time.
The return flight brought us a wonderful aerial panorama of Forza and the Eolian Islands and added to these holidays a true finishing touch!
Towering high above the sea: small town Forza d’Agrò. Picturesque nooks and corners, and just in the middle, with a magnificent view on the coastline, lies the small holiday cottage, which turns out not to be that small after all. Spread over three floors, it fits two bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a cozy kitchen-cum-livingroom with a balcony. Livingroom and balcony are upstairs, of course, so you can enjoy the views and the morning sun. Everything necessary is at hand, the fireplace heats the whole house and the small grocery store across the street has fruit, vegetables and more available. From here we mainly explored the places between Syracuse and Messina. The town has a number of pubs and restaurants with a real local flavour, and whoever isn’t afraid of the serpentine road to the coast, will find his perfect holiday place here. ★★★★★ on TripAdvisor
Just a quick note to tell you how much we enjoyed our stay at Casa la Zagara! A really sweet cottage. And so well equipped! I managed to cook a great meal on New Year’s Eve! And Franca and family at the grocery store were so helpful! And we were so lucky to be there in the snow!! The locals told us it hasn’t snowed properly in 22 years - and most of us (including myself) had never seen snow before, so it really was a magical New Year for us... Anyway, thanks for making our stay such a comfortable one! We’ll always remember this holiday with the fondest memories! And we will definitely be back at Casa la Zagara. ★★★★★ on TripAdvisor and HomeAway
Just like Sicily: simply marvellous! … e.g. with Fasolari freschi and a Jalé from Cusumano vineyard. ...much more words and
★★★★★ on TripAdvisor!
Our recent stay in Forza d’Agrò was marvellous again, despite the weather not being so generous to us this time. We also met „Un Occhio“, together with a pretty voracious friend. Unfortunately my daily work routine caught me way too quickly so I didn’t find the time until today to thank you for the smooth organisation. I attach a couple of photographic impressions of our holiday, feel free to make use of them.
...and ate particularly well at Restaurant ’O Dammuseddu. Plus, they are the first to leave a review on our Facebook page!
We enjoyed the beautiful view, sicilian village atmosphere and the cosiness of La Zagara. Comfortable location, concept and equipment of the house provided all we needed for relaxing vacations. We will want to come back. ★★★★★ on TripAdvisor and Facebook
We had wonderful days in Forza d’Agrò and enjoyed Casa La Zagara and the town a lot. I was especially impressed with the coffee machine, which I already ordered for myself at home. Hence I’ll be reminded of our holiday quite regularly, not to say, constantly...
Exceptionally beautiful accommodation with wonderful ambience and beautiful views on the Strait of Messina. There was simply nothing to complain about the house and the furnishings. We do hope it’ll stay that way because we really intend to come again. The town, too, is very nice, especially for those who like to stay a bit off the beaten track. The owner’s driving instructions were very helpful and thanks to the Fiat Panda we had rented we also made it through the small town streets. ★★★★★ on TripAdvisor
Thank you so much for sharing your house with us. It was like a home away from home. Also, it provided our family with a much needed respite from touring Rome and then Sicily. The views from your balcony are lovely and calming. Everything about our stay was welcoming and relaxing... from Franca’s introduction and help to our grand dinner at the Godfather restaurant. Of course, we felt most at home with the „one-eyed“ cat. We fell in love with her and enjoyed feeding her and her presence.
Casa La Zagara is a true gem with its position, its beautiful views and the lovely furniture. Also, I’d like to compliment on the very helpful instructions. Whether it be the directions to Forza, the technical manuals for the machines inside the house, or all the tips and recommendations around the village: Everything is explained very well and in great detail. Our excursions along the Sicilian east coast have led us to highly interesting historical sites and landscapes well worth visiting. The mixture of discovery and recovery was, with largely sunny weather, perfect.
The drive from the airport to the town already is a pleasure. We never had seen a motorway like this one between Catania and Taormina before. On one side the deep blue Mediterranean, on the other the snow covered Mt. Etna, and in the middle the road lined with luscious vegetation. We felt like driving through a tropical greenhouse. But beware: Even on Sicilian motorways you’re not safe of potholes! And thereafter, the serpentine road to the mountain village, where one hairpin bend joins the other and the views get greater all the time: you’d like to stop at every turn to take a picture. Once in Forza, it indeed is recommended to take the „ring road“. The street passing through the town is pretty narrow, and the worries about scratches on the rental car may make you sweat. The walk from the parking spot to the house is a bit steep but not far and quite easy to manage.
Franca welcomed us very warmly and introduced us to the house and its peculiarities with great detail (which, in the end, we roughly managed to understand). Casa La Zagara is furnished completely, nothing left to want for. There’s even a dehumidifier which came quite useful these early April days. The matutinal breakfasts on the sunlit balcony with these views into the countryside and over the coastline to mainland Calabria simply are bliss. The snug little spot at the main entrance is nice for a sunbath. We intensely absorbed the village atmosphere which thankfully lacked elsewhere’s rush of tourists.
We won’t waste more words on the many sights in the area. Our holiday was simply an all-around success.
We had a wonderful time in Forza. We liked Sicily very much and we’ll certainly come visit again. Carmela invited us to the vendemmia (grape harvest) in October! She was a truly lovely person anyway!
Your lovely and pleasant holiday house is superbly situated and has everything to suit one’s needs. It’s located in a pretty small village, has gorgeous views, we felt very much at home in Forza. Wednesday morning, however, we were a bit unlucky, because the water had to be cut off (in the whole area), and then a tragic accident happened (a workman lost his life while checking the pipes), which was really awful. You can imagine the gossip it caused in town... a big fuss was that. Friday morning a water tank truck came up to the piazza and the villagers could fill up their canisters. We made do with bottled water from Carmela’s grocery store. I apologized to Carmela that we couldn’t do the dishes before we left and had to leave them to the cleaning lady. But since we hadn’t used the lower floor, I hope she didn’t end up with too much work.
Now I’d like to thank you for everything and I hope to return to Sicily again, soon. ★★★★★ on TripAdvisor
...and sent us cute ► cat pics and other marvellous views on and from Forza:
Now that we’re back in cold and stormy Hamburg for a whole month, we still live on the wonderful days in Sicily. The holiday cottage suited us two couples perfectly well. We felt very much at home and were welcomed and cared for very kindly by Franca and her family, just as well as in all the other locations in town. Despite the warning the internet access was acceptable; occasionally we would experience brief interruptions, but all in all it was absolutely ok. Besides the two cute and ever hungry cats which awaited us every day at the doorstep, we made friends with another Sicilian: Commissario Montalbano!
A big thank you to the landlords for their great support with the preparation of the journey, the uncomplicated booking handling, and all their help while using the house and exploring the area.
We’ll be back!★★★★★ on TripAdvisor and HomeAway
We had a wonderful time in Forza d’Agrò and enjoyed staying in this beautiful and very well kept cottage. If we were to plan another trip to Sicily we would not hesitate to stay at Casa La Zagara. We loved the hospitality and friendliness of the people of Forza d’Agrò and loved experiencing the daily village life. It was nice meeting Franca and her family and enjoyed buying our daily groceries from her small market. Our 12 month daughter loved the crib (we were surprised how much she slept). The house was very clean and all amenities worked perfectly. Jonas was a pleasure to work with from the time when we planned our trip until the very end. Overall, this was an amazing vacation!★★★★★ on TripAdvisor and HomeAway
We had a beautiful time in your house. We were welcomed in such an easy-going, open-minded and friendly fashion to this town organism entirely unknown to us, we had never experienced before. My husband went into high gear with his Italian and even helped Franca and Carmela harvesting the wine — he returned totally knocked out. And I exchanged excellent cooking recipes with the ladies. Unfortunately I can’t get these small shriveled and enormously aromatic tomatoes here back home... We also went for some excursions: Catania, Syracuse and Noto. All very impressive. Whenever we returned to „our“ small balcony, one of us would sigh with relief: „Thanks God we’re back up here! “ The villagers just smiled knowingly — for them, Catania and Palermo are pure chaos.
As usual I had adopted two cats — mother and daughter. I use to think, although the time of being fed to the max is short (and fed they were, their bellies peeked out to both sides like barrels!) — what they’ve got, they got.
The evening prior to our departure we reserved at Caterina’s place and pre-ordered fresh fish. She mumbled something about pasta and a bit of starters. When we arrived we sat outside on the little balcony (the neon light and TV inside was a bit too Italian for me), where another couple already had taken seats. Then it began with Caterina’s husband bringing two rather large bowls with starters. The seafood salad tasted like if taken directly out of a mountain stream, and the fish carpaccio was beyond any description! These were followed by seven (!) more starters, some of them already fried fare. We had already reached our capacity limits, but then came a large plate of crab risotto — I’ll never be able to copy this delicious fine lemon sauce. And the other was an excellent pasta dish. By then we already knew we would never make it through the main fish dish, and since we were leaving the next day we couldn’t take it home either. So we confessed we wouldn’t be able to eat the Secondo but of course would pay for it. Caterina then joined us and told us, Sicilians would eat 17 starters! Well, if we tell or friends, we hardly had made it through the Primo, they won’t believe us. But it was delightful. The other couple, by the way, were architects from the far North, we had a lot of fun and will go visit each other some time! They had made a trip to a mountain village and ended up in a gourmet temple!
All in all, it was really wonderful. Many thanks.★★★★★ on HomeAway
...and left a touching guestbook entry and some atmospheric ► Photos behind (June/July 2013):
What an amazing and surprising stay we’ve had at Casa La Zagara! To boot, a wave of ease has come over me; my shoulders are surely three inches lower than they were upon arrival. I’ve enjoyed the littlest things about Sicily and Forza d’Agrò the most: hanging our laundry out to dry, buying groceries from Franca, being invited by a stranger to share the fruit of his orchard, and negotiating the difficulties of translation. This has been an amazing time of joy and relaxation and discovery for the both of us. We came with mere curiosity for Sicily and leave with deep appreciation and affection for this exceptional land. Thank you so much for an introduction we will never forget...★★★★★ on HomeAway
...enjoying the last sunrays and the incredible view on „il mare“ and Calabria...
We can only join our predecessors in their enthusiasm! The misunderstanding which made us end up in this marvellous house in authentic and wonderful Forza d’Agrò turned out to be a stroke of luck. Daily must for our kids: shopping at Franca’s and Carmelita’s, and the excellent ice cream, home made pastry; and espresso for mom and dad in „Prima Gelateria“ bar. Thank you Enrica and Gunther for breakfast on Monday and on-site support. „Casa La Zagara“ and Forza d’Agrò have made four more fans. See you next time...★★★★★ on HomeAway
After two weeks we’ve determined the most beautiful place in Sicily: it’s the small balcony in „Casa La Zagara“! After months of cold and wet in Hamburg we'd been regaled with sun and mild temperatures in Forza d’Agrò. Being so captivated by the small town and the Italian lifestyle, we just dropped many of our excursions plans. Tomorrow, unfortunately, we have to return home. Weather forecast for Hamburg: 13°C, rain. No views on the Strait of Messina and the hills. We should stay, or definitely come back.
...which deserve a ► picture gallery of their own. At the same time they continued the crayon tradition established by the Oberheim family (see below):
It was very nice, I liked the furniture a lot. Hannah, 12 years. Great landscape, good food, and lots of beautiful memories. Certainly not the last time. Bernt. I liked it. Leah, 7 years. Beate will be back... 1 week is too short... Grazie!★★★★★ on TripAdvisor
...and left a colourful-bilingual entry in the house’s guestbook:
At the end of an entire fortnight we enjoyed here all of our very international and multigenerational bunch, these are our personal highlights:Benji, Berlin, 7 years: The house, especially the bunk bed, was cool! Trek, Berlin, 11 years: Climbing Mt Etna in the snow, and rock climbing near Isola Bella. Eric, Berlin/New York, 42 years: I liked the cave drawings on Levanzo (12,000 years old) and the food in the restaurant Paradiso there; the view from Capo Grillo on Vulcano was spectacular. Bill, New York, 70 years, liked the cave drawings and Syracuse. Nancy, New York, 69 years, liked experiencing the island of Vulcano in an open kind of beach buggy and the sight of fancy Lipari as well as the sight of the Gucci outlet near Enna. Niki, Berlin, 45 years, found the trail leading to the cave drawings on Levanzo great, just as the pasta there, and the drawings themselves, too, of course; the cathedral in Syracuse was huge, and the lemon blossom scent everywhere... Friedi, Berlin, 3 years, liked dog Eddy best, an Irish Setter who, together with guide Natale, joined us on our way to the Levanzo caves, first in the Jeep, then walking. Marian, Teneriffa, 24 years: I liked the sun, Syracuse and all the history of this city, and that everything is green, you can hike, see all the views...
Now we’re on or way back to wintery Berlin. Many thanks!
After a great week in Forza d’Agrò we’re back home in cold old Germany. 20 centigrades and fog are definitely more enjoyable than 5 centigrades and fog! The house truly is beautiful and we felt very comfortable. The evenings in front of the fireplace, watching the lights down in the seaside towns always made the perfect day. Right from the first evening we knew this wouldn’t be the last time we’d spend our holidays here. During a stroll on St Martin’s Day we were invited to a celebration on the village piazza and could try the new wine (and find out that many people in the village speak German...), which Franca sold us the day thereafter. We also especially liked the book and video shelf — and of course we had to watch the „Godfather“ trilogy on-site! Lars, an islander himself who thus has to know, appointed Sicily „second most beautiful island in the world“, being a very close runner-up to the most beautiful (Baltrum!), and that’s just because of the missing North Sea. And the tranquility of Forza certainly has contributed to that.
We had booked Casa La Zagara for 11 days in October, 2012. The email correspondence with Mr Teubner already had been extremely friendly. We were two and the holiday cottage is flawless (also suitable for four adults or two with two children). The balcony provides a marvellous view across the Ionian Sea to Calabria, and we enjoyed the evenings on the balcony a lot. Breakfast on the balcony, or at Anni 60, super. While at the same time rain reigned in Hamburg with 12°, we always had around 28°, and perfect beach weather. Forza d’Agrò is an authentic Sicilian mountain village. During our stay there were hardly any tourists in town, but the number of restaurants is striking. Locals were all corteous and helpful, no problems even without Italian language skills. Four kilometers down the serpentines you reach the coastal road. We spent most of the time at Lido Sunkisses (2 km down the coastal road towards Taormina), a beach also not too busy and with a nice restaurant. Right behind Forza starts a pretty walking trail to Monte Recavallo, a nice change. Taormina is only 10km away and visiting is a must. The Alcantara gorge is just a few kilometers off Taormina and offers refreshing chill. Siracusa is great for a day trip. All in all: a wonderful holiday!
Thank you so much for renting out your beautiful and comfortable house, we felt very much at home and were instantly welcomed by Franca and her mother of the Alimentari store. With my life companion, they were quite happy to finally host somebody who spoke Italian! People were really nice to us and we can absolutely recommend your house. The other cottage we rented for the second week of our holiday in southern Sicily was nice, too, but a far cry from all the comfort we had gotten used to (Dishwasher! Washing machine! And the good coffee we already miss!). The view from the balcony is stunning day and night; and anyone who always wondered how life is like in an authentic Italian village, should just sit and watch from there. We’d like to recommend Prima Gelateria down the road towards the town centre (very nice people, delicious granita and even more delicious home-made cookies, made by Mamma!), pizzeria „Antichi Muri“ near the piazza and, of course, the Alimentari across the road. The house, however, is not suitable for disabled persons, since virtually nothing in the village or the house is really even with the ground. Guests should be good walkers to enjoy their stay. And light sleepers may want to bring earplugs, street life in Italian towns lasts until the wee hours... What a pity we couldn’t stay for the festivities on September 14, that surely would have made a great experience.★★★★★ on HomeAway
We spent a most wonderful week (way too short) in Sicily, thanks to the beautiful house with all its amenities. Every evening, after sightseeing, hiking, or swimming, we enjoyed being back in ‚our‘ eagle nest.
As we did not know anything about Sicily when we booked your lovely house on the internet, we feel extremely lucky having hit this spot, which must be one of the most original and charming Sicilian villages of them all. Coming from the Faroe Islands, we of course found it quite hot, when the day temperature rised to 43°C, but we managed and just think of it as part of the Sicilian experience. Thank you for a wonderful week in „Casa La Zagara“ from the Joensens.
The 8 relaxing days we spent in this cozy and stylishly furnished house were just wonderful! The house is perfectly situated for experiencing Italian lifestyle and customs. Great to live right in the middle of a small town instead of a hotel. Due to the great location we were able to spend some days at the beach, as well as making some adventurous excursions to Mt Etna or the Alcantara gorge (both trips highly recommended). Astonishing how many of the locals spoke German, and if even just a bit. The grocery store right across the street is very convenient, of course. Let us thank you for a great time in Sicily, with marvellous weather, and we’re looking forward to visiting this beautiful island again.
Now the pleasant holidays are over already, and we will keep the best memories of our stay in Forza d’Agrò. We really felt very much at home in carefully furnished Casa La Zagara. Everything was to our great satisfaction. The weather god has even been a bit too generous: the constantly boiling temperatures limited our discovery and excursion ambitions. Even the locals could hardly bear the heat. But we had many nice experiences, anyway. Many thanks to you and Franca who supported us with great patience in our attempts to learn Italian. Franca’s cocktail tomatoes were incredibly tasty. We also enjoyed our visits to „Anni 60“, the food was excellent and service really friendly... thanks for the tip on your website! We observed all your tips and tricks and really got along well (and parked well, too). Thank you again for the friendly correspondence and handling of all modalities.★★★★★ on HomeAway
We’re back and really excited about Sicily. The house is truly pleasantly located and furnished with great care. The weather was perfect. We loved the grocery store across the street. We did a lot of nice excursions; I even managed to go scuba diving, and went rock climbing on fantastic limestone near Castelmola. The kids liked Cava Grande near Noto Antica best (but also loved the other water playgrounds, Gole Alcantara and Punta Faro beach at the north-eastern tip of the island), and my wife would have loved to return to Catania fish market several times. If we just hadn’t run out of time...
Wonderful two weeks! We enjoyed it very much — thanks a lot! Now we’re on our way home, temperature will drop by up to 10ºC... Here we had about everything — mostly sun, but also a severe thunderstorm, it was the most thrilling ride back up the mountain — lots of new waterfalls from all sides, rock slides, and hailstones big as fists mingled with ceaseless lightning. By the way, don’t miss out on beautiful church SS Pietro e Paolo in the area (up the valley from Santa Teresa)! Apart from the ‚classic‘ tourist destinations we also enjoyed small town Acireale, especially in the afternoon after around 4:30 pm. If you don’t want to make it all the way up to Mt Etna, the tour off Rifugio Citelli to the Sartorio mountains is also great (and well suitable for kids), but only worthwhile with free sight to Mt Etna! To all oncoming guests a pleasant and relaxed holiday, and thanks to all responsible for the good ‚management‘!
Just before we leave we’d like to say thank you for this lovely home in midst of this astonishing town’s everyday’s life. Wherever we went, we were always welcomed on this island and bestowed with many experiences.
No doubt — here we hit the bull’s eye. There’s no way not to feel at home in this house and in this town... To all visitors to Mt Etna we’d like to recommend this restaurant: San Giorgio il Drago in Randazzo. (No details disclosed!) We’ll leave the parasol behind, for oncoming guests. ★★★★★ on HomeAway
The stay in your cottage was simply wonderful. The high expectations already raised by your well accomplished web presentation had not been disappointed. You obviously furnished the house with much care. The situation of the house within Forza d’Agrò couldn’t be better. Phantastic views from kitchen and bedroom, the central location within the town, and then: this alimentari grocery store round the corner (where in fact there isn’t even a corner in between)! Our contacts to the Scandurra family were really affectionate, and despite some communication barriers everything always worked out well. Our son, 11 years old, went down to the alimentari every morning with a shopping list written in Italian and was always very well attended to. A blond boy reading in Italian from a piece of paper, this even made the workers from the construction site across the street fall silent. All the other contacts during our stay in Forza were ruled by cordiality and helpfulness just as well. We thus also met Mrs Scandurra’s daughter Franca; Caterina from „Anni 60“; Nunzio and Co. from Pizzeria „Antichi Muri“; and the police officer Maurizio Zinna. We also met Marlies and her husband and spent pleasant hours with them. You see, we’re already settled! That’s why we’d like to come back again soon.
Ten days we were allowed to unwind in this beautiful home. In Forza d’Agrò we could immerse in the town life with real Sicilian flair and without the touristy flavour of a hotel stay. As an introductory reading the book „Gebrauchsanweisung für Sizilien“ is highly recommended (see bookshelf)! We enjoyed our stay very much.★★★★★ on HomeAway
We’d just like to let you know, now that we’re back from our holiday, how much we liked it in your house. We felt at home from the very beginning. The views truly are wonderful, and we enjoyed them almost every morning at breakfast and whenever we had a chance. Many thanks to Enrica, too, who had been around a couple of days, for taking so much care about everything and arranging stuff for our youngest. We got along very well in the town even with scarce Italian knowledge and did not lack anything. Only our rental car felt like getting stuck half way down the town street (we’d better had read Mr Walther’s report a little more thoroughly). See you again, maybe...
The house also has its appeal in winter. We felt very much at home here.
We’re back and our holidays had to come to an end... The house was most beautiful! Really great and made with much love. Never thought it’d be so nice! We already had our share of holiday apartments, but such a great and clean one, not in a long time. We promised to be back ...see attached picture, whom...! Some day we want to marry, and I’d love to do that in Forza. (We’ve seen a wedding there, it was so beautiful.) Don’t know how easy that is to arrange...
Back to our daily routines from Sicily, we’d like to let you know how much we loved your holiday cottage in Forza d’Agrò. We felt very comfortable in the so tastefully furnished house, and enjoyed the atmosphere of the town. We also dined superbly on recommendations of Mrs Marlies. I personally fancied L’Abazzia — the fish starter is hard to beat and the swordfish main was excellent (though almost too much after the antipasti). If you’re seated close to the window you can also enjoy the beautiful views of the hills and the sea, and if I’m not mistaken, you can even see as far as Taormina.
This week on Sicily was a dream! Your little cottage is a real gem. We felt really, really comfortable. Just sitting on the balcony, a glass of wine in hand, watching the bustle at the alimentari, or wondering how on earth the carabinieri had managed to get through this narrow alley with their huge jeep, or simply enjoying the view with a home-brewn espresso. Yes, this definitely is a place to be. The only setback was that we had to return home after a week already. A month wouldn’t have hurt. We’ve discovered quite a bit along Sicily’s east coast, beautiful beaches, romantic towns, even climbed Mt Etna, but still we’re afraid: we’ll have to come again! Many thanks that you contributed with your house to such a wonderful holiday.
Your house is truly lovely, I never felt so much at home in any other holiday apartment. The setting of the town, the hills so green at this time of the year, snow-covered Mt Etna, village life, everything so impressive. Last saturday we even watched the „Godfather“ movie, some scenes of which have been shot in Forza and Savoca (the place where Al Pacino marries), that was hilarious! It’s been fantastico, we enjoyed our stay here very much.
When I was invited to spend a week in Sicily in October, I didn’t expect the weather to be good — having in mind the cold rainy autumn days in Holland. I turned out to be wrong. The weather in Sicily was great! We even spent some days at the beach, enjoying the sun and getting a bit of a tan. Apart from the weather I had a really nice time in Sicily. Forza d’Agrò is a small, cute town up in the hills, and it makes you feel like being in Italy how it is shown in the movies. Old ladies dressed in black who are saying ‚Ciao‘ as you walk by, a beautiful view over the sea and flourishing orange trees everywhere. The little town is nice to stroll around. Having a cappuccino, walking around in the small streets, having a look in the cathedral and so much more. Casa La Zagara’s cosy atmosphere made me feel at home right away. The kitchen is equipped with everything you need to prepare a nice meal, and as it has so much space, it was a great place to sit down with the rest of the company. Chatting, playing a game or just to read book. The house has enough space to host a group of people. Every floor has it’s own spacious bedroom and bathroom. It was great to get a bit of the Sicily feeling, and I’m definitely coming back some day!
We’ve literally fallen in love with this small and cosy, conveniently and tastefully furnished house. We’ve been so pleased with it and Forza d'Agrò with its typical Sicilian flair, that we’ll be back with friends next September. „Casa La Zagara“ is perfectly suitable for adults and children alike as a base for excursions or just for lazing and playing, even with bad weather! Our two grandsons, 4 and 7 years old, didn't want to leave: they enjoyed their freedom to move about in the castle ruins or in secret gardens, play with the neighbour’s cat or fetch fresh bread at the grocery store around the corner.
Thanks a lot — we liked it very much! Particularly your house is furnished very tastefully, well equipped and offers marvellous views on the sea and over to Calabria. Despite rather modest weather and last week’s thunderstorm we enjoyed the island a lot — always found something to do and we got places quite a bit. We will definitely recommend your house to friends who wish to discover Sicily!
Björn W. Walther wrote a long and funny report on his adventures in Forza well worth ► reading (German). Quotes: ▼
We really felt at home ... such a pretty little house in such a great place ... The house is really welcoming with its lovely kitchen-living room, the Sicilian tiles, the lovely furniture and, of course, the magnificent view on the Strait of Messina. Overall a luxury that leaves nothing to be desired, including a „welcome emergency program“ in the fridge (it had to be an ice-cold birra di Messina on the balcony later on) ... fireworks until late ... great to watch on the backdrop of the mountains and the sea.
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