Sicily with a View

Our house is in a small mountain village (Cianciana) in Sicily. The population here for most of the year is about 3000 but in the summer, the visitors take it up to 6-9000 people.

You can walk from the east side of the village to the west in about 15 minutes, but be prepared for hills! Cianciana has a large foreign community so the Ciancianese are used to and comfortable with foreigners.

There are also some shopkeepers and barkeeps with varying degrees of English. The Ciancianese are a very friendly group of people. There are 6 or 7 bars (depending on the season) that are open most days and will serve all kinds of drinks from coffee and cappuccino to wine, beer, mimosa, limoncello, Aperol Spritz, and many others. There are 4 restaurants that serve dinner and one bakery that serves lunch.

Apart from that bakery, there are two other good bakeries. All sell delicious fresh bread daily. There is one large grocery store, two medium grocery stores, and two small grocery stores. There is also a small market every Tuesday morning.

There is a petrol station, a couple of flower shops, three tobacco shops (which sell all kinds of things beyond cigarettes), two pharmacies, a pronto soccorso (emergency), and at least one doctor who speaks some English. There are three Catholic churches that offer mass.

There are a couple of car rental places and a couple of taxis. There is an outdoor pool open in the summer, and the beaches (there are several lovely sandy beaches and a couple of pebbly beaches) are about a 30-minute drive.

All but one of the beaches have restaurants and bars, and most have loungers and beach umbrellas for rent. Cianciana is known for its pork & fennel sausages and its olive oil. The city of Agrigento is about an hour away and has some of the best-preserved Greek temples in the world. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. 

Our house is not really child-safe so we are not open to having children stay. A small, quiet dog would be okay as we also have a small quiet dog. There is no parking on our street, but there is street parking not far away.

We are NOT open to a car exchange. A house swap does not have to be simultaneous. We mainly live on the ground and first floors of our house so you can come and stay while we are here. We would probably not even cross paths very often unless you wanted to. 

Because we are in a row house on a small street, we are not open to having people who want to party. It would be unpleasant for our neighbours and we have to live here after you go. 

If you decide to go to the beach, please only use the towels marked for the beach, and make sure to shake out all the sand before washing them in the washing machine. You are also welcome to use any beach umbrellas or beach sandals or folding chairs that we may have lying around.