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•   Reader // Jun 2nd 2008 at 10:29am

  In current issue on page 180 you recommend Ecoresort Sola Mare Vento in outside of Marsala. I have searched and searched the internet, even searching under the famous chef’s name, and can find absolutely nothing! Would you happen to have any further information, or at least be able to confirm that the place still exists? In fact, the guide book gives the location only as Isola Longa, which also does not exist…perhaps it is supposed to be Isola Grande, just north of Marsala? The description sounds fantastic, and we’d really love to stay there on our upcoming visit…

  Thanks!

  :- David

•   Author // Jun 2nd 2008 at 10:30am

  Sorry, bad news. The Resort was forced to close because Isola Longa is part of a wildlife protected area, which does not foresee accommodation for visitors, even on such a Spartan basis. It is a shame, because I loved it. However, the same company are still running their B&B in the saltmill Ettore e Infersa, see http://www.salineettoreinfersa.com, La Finestra sul Sale, which is stunning. If they go there, they will be able to sympathise with the charming lady who wanted to launch the project, something entirely new for Sicily.
  Yes, Isola Longa is sometimes called Isola Grande. I am sure you will have a wonderful holiday in the area.

•   shabnam merchant // Aug 1st 2008 at 5:48pm

  “La Finestra sul Sale” is a great place to stay, but beware that the cafe/restaurant downstairs turns into a nightclub with loud music (either DJ or live), from thursday through sunday - don’t expect to be able to sleep until 1:30 am, as this area is directly below the rooms.

•   David Finkstein // Aug 6th 2008 at 2:38pm

  We just returned from our trip to Sicilia which was, as predicted by your unnamed author, wonderful. The Blue Guide proved to be indispensable and fantastic! We traveled with several, “Lonely Planet”, Touring Club of Italy’s “Authentic Sicily” to name a couple, but the Blue Guide is far and away the best!

  One of the highlights was most certainly our stay at La Finestra sul Sale. It way far beyond anything I had imagined or even what was described below. La Finestra is truly unique. It is also one of the most evocative, romantic, friendly, beautiful, isolated and tranquil places I have ever stayed or even imagined staying. Well almost. Unfortunately, and they did not tell us this until after we checked in, they have loud DJ or live music at the cafe downstairs Thursday through Sunday nights! As you know, they only have 4 beautifully-restored rooms, all of which are directly upstairs from the cafe.

  The 2 women who work at the reception desk at the salt museum in the windmill out on the jetty were incredibly hospitable and welcoming. After checking in there, we went to settle into our 2 rooms back on the mainland (we were the only guests!) After unloading our bags, Antonino, who seems to run the bar, at least at night, apologetically told me that the women forgot to tell us when we checked in that there would be music tonight. “Very nice music,” he said, “so people can dance. It ill be over by 12:45am. Will that be ok?” because, of course, he noticed that one of my traveling partners is 6 months pregnant and was staying in the room directly above the speakers.

  So, we decided to go out to dinner and stay out as late as pregnancy would allow, so as to miss as much of the noise, er…music, as possible. For dinner, we paid €8 round-trip per person for Diego to take us by boat directly from our front door to Isola Lunga where the defunct Ecoresort Sola Mare Vento has become the Isola Longa Ecoresort, containing an excellent, expensive all-seafood restaurant and 3 gorgeously restored, mosquito-netted guest rooms. (Isola Lunga, Marsala (TP). Fax: 0923 966036. Claudia Marino, Reception, cell: 320 482 4168. Antonino Parrinello (our waiter) cell: 328 873 7690 - 340 886 8806, email: isolalongaecoresort@libero.it. This is all from their business card., including the 2 different spellings of Lunga and Longa.) We had a fantastic meal (I would certainly highly recommend the restaurant for a splurge) and befriended our waiter, Antonino, who gave us a proud tour of the 3 guest rooms, then joined us all for the last boat back to the mainland.

  You could hear the blaring music halfway across the shallow lagoon as we approached through the otherwise-silent, otherwise-idyllic full-moon-lit night. It as already nearly 1am, so I asked Antonino when it would be finished and this time he “promised” me it would be done by 1:30! Did I mention that it was blaringly loud, and glaringly bad American pop (”YMCA” by the Village People!?!?) and that nobody was dancing or seemingly even paying any attention to the music? We tried to ignore it, only to find upon entering our rooms that the air conditioning had stopped working. And it was hot! Antonino messed around with it and finally got it working, but it proceeded to shut off every hour or 2 throughout the rest of our stay, requiring us to repeatedly mess with the fuse box outside in the hallway…

  The music went on until just after 1:30am, and I finally fell asleep to the sounds of the young crowd chatting away into the wee hours long after the music ended. Upon arising the next morning, we noticed the poster announcing live music tonight! Oh boy. I went and spoke with the women at reception and they seemed perturbed that the music had gone on longer it was “supposed” to and vowed to speak with Antonino about it.

  That night we went into Marsala for another fine dinner, this time at Trattoria Garibaldi., again hoping to avoid the bulk of the “music”. (One thing we learned here; unlike everywhere else we’d been in Sicilia so far, Catania, Siracusa, Noto, Enna, Cefalu’ where nobody goes out to eat until 10pm or later [in Ortygia I witnessed a family of 4 first sitting down to order dinner at a pizzeria in the Piazza Duomo at 11:30 pm!] Marsala is an early town. People eat at 8 and the waitress was none too happy to have us seated and just beginning to slowly peruse the menu at 9:30. Their kitchen closes at 10!) (I must also put in a plug here for the fantastically delicious E&N pasticceria at Via XI Maggio, 130, 91025 Marsala, Tel/Fax: 0923 951 969 http://www.pasticceriaen.com. The pasta al forno we had was perfect. And when the boss noticed me photographing their ridiculously realistic looking marzipan fruits, he called one of his bakers over to pull a cassatta out of the cooler and pose for a photograph. GREAT place!)

  Returning late after a nice passeggiata around deserted Marsala, we came upon an even more horrendous scene than the night before. Two live performers, a singer and drummer, playing along to recorded backing tracks. Loudly. The Village People’s “YMCA” yet again! This time I expressed my disappointment and upset to Antonino who apologized and said once again that it would be finished by 1:20. At 1:20am, when there was no sign of the music subsiding, I went down to speak with him again. This time Antonino was not so nice; clearly he’d been drinking and had had enough of this American party-pooper. He exclaimed, “Enough! I told you about the music when you checked in yesterday!” I calmly said, yes you did, but what the hell were we supposed to do at that point? Go somewhere else? Look, I do not want to ruin anybody’s good time, but this is just not right. He agreed, but still became visibly irate, if not threatening (he’s a big guy) and said he’s turn it down a bit and that it would be over by 1:30. He did not turn it down and it did not end by 1:30, but rather much closer to 2am. And the air conditioner continued to zonk out every couple of hours throughout the night…

  The next day we were all rather upset and needlessly exhausted, especially my pregnant sister-in-law. So, I went to talk with the reception women before checking out. The salt museum shop was crowded with tourists, so I asked her to step outside so I could speak with her. I explained everything that had happened, adding that also, my sister-in-law’s room had clearly not been cleaned in a while. She listened and seemed quite upset about it herself. I mainly complained that we had not been told about this beforehand. In fact, I had decided against staying at another recommended hotel, Delfino Beach Hotel, because I had read on TripAdvisor that they have a very loud nightclub there. It as clear to me that the people running the hotel (office) by day, have no idea what really goes on there at night when they have gone. My other main complaint was that nobody had even remotely apologized. Antonino could have at least offered me a drink or something, for crying out loud. It was not as though we were paying €5 for a hostel room; my single room cost €100 per night. She called her boss, and while she was on the phone in walked her true boss, the creator/restorer of the windmill itself, octogenarian Signore Infersa or Ettore, I don’t know which.

  She relayed the story to him, and boy did he seem upset. (Finally!) When it got the the bit about Antonino, he really got upset, saying, “That guy is inconsiderate of everyone! Even the way he drives!” I also told them both what an incredibly beautiful, romantic, unique and perfect place they have there, and how eager I am to recommend it to everyone I know personally and online, but alas… This, of course, really got to them. And I meant it, obviously. She also pointed out to the old-world gentleman that we are in fact young, and probably like loud music; imagine if it were someone else. Yes, I added, I had been thinking of this too. I cannot even imagine if my 72 year-old father were with us. Or some older married Italian couple. And thank God I speak Italian!

  In the end, they completely ignored the issue of the room not having been cleaned, made excuses for the intermittent air conditioning, blaming it on the electric company/grid (except it was only the A/C that went out, no lights,nothing else…), and gave us a 20% discount on our rooms (€80 and €104 instead of €100 and €130 for a single and double, respectively. Which included breakfast and free admission to the salt museum and windmill.). And we did not let it ruin our vacation.

  Bottom line, La Finestra sul Sale is the perfect place to stay for a romantic western Sicilian getaway…as long as you stay only Monday through Wednesday! Thurs- Sun…head somewhere else or prepare not to sleep.

•   Jeni Porter // Oct 20th 2008 at 8:35am

  Hi there. Just returned from my second trip to Sicily using the Blue Guide as our main reference. We took the guide’s advice on L’Arco in Modica and it was truly awful. The wine was almost undrinkable, the antipasto and pasta by far the worst we had anywhere in Sicily. The charm of not having a written menu was lost when we were charged 30 euro for a dud meal, significantly more than we had paid for vastly superior food elsewhere. One place worth including for Modica is Osteria dei Sapori Perduti, on Corso Umberto, very reasonably priced authentic and flavoursome rustic local food. Phone 0932944247. We have been about five times over two different trips and it is great - the same staff in the past couple of years, very busy and full of locals.

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