Sunset from Villa Vittoria, Sicily. Copyright Lorenza Bacino

This is a guest post by Anglo-Italian journalist Lorenza Bacino, about the villa where she stayed near to the beautiful coastal town of Cefalù, Sicily. You can read more about Lorenza’s trip in her post Cefalù, Sicily: travel tips and things to do.

‘The family and I (two kids aged 11 and 14 and my husband) stayed in Villa Vittoria which is one of the villas managed by Massimo Villas near the small town of Cefalù on Sicily’s northern coast. Cefalù is about one hour’s drive from Palermo, the Italian island’s main city.

Villa Vittoria

We’d never visited Sicily before, and upon arrival at the villa we were warmly welcomed by Massimo and a couple of his local representatives.

Villa Vittoria is located in the village of Lascari, a 20-minute drive from Cefalù itself, on a slope within the beautiful Madonie Park and nature reserve. We gasped upon entering the villa as the view was magnificent. Two huge windows overlook the sea in the distance on one side and ancient rugged slopes on the other side of the valley. We enjoyed wonderful sunrises and sunsets during our stay.

Sunset view from Villa Vittoria, Sicily. Copyright Lorenza Bacino

Villa Vittoria sleeps eight people over three floors. Downstairs are two rooms and a decent-sized bathroom. The main bedroom has sliding doors onto the patio and pool area, which in turn, offers spectacular scenery on all sides.

The ground level (where you enter the property) has a modern, spacious kitchen area, a utility room, extra toilet, and of course the best living space surrounded by those huge windows. I could talk about them forever!

Villa Vittoria living room with views of Madonie Park, Sicily. Copyright Lorenza Bacino

The kitchen has everything you need including a kettle and toaster – clearly the owners know what us Brits need for morning brekky!

A spacious veranda just outside the kitchen provides a perfect breakfast area (or lunch or dinner if you so wish) and it overlooks the pool which is floodlit in the evenings.

Upstairs are two large bedrooms, one of which opens onto a terrace. The master bathroom is very spacious. The shower was powerful and the water was very hot – which was great as in April it’s still a little chilly in the evenings.

Swimming pool

We sat around the pool enjoying the sunshine in the afternoons and drank our ‘crodino’ (a bright orange-coloured aperitif) as the sun went down. There’s a sizeable BBQ by the pool area and the croaking frogs kept us company in the evenings.

Villa Vittoria pool and terrace, Sicily. Copyright Lorenza Bacino

Other facilities include excellent wifi, efficient heating/aircon and a large TV. We did not use this as the views were more than enough to look at. The wifi was a source of great contentment for the kids who, much to my frustration, seemed to spend more time staring at their tablets at the end of a day out rather than look at the endlessly beautiful view. But then I’m old-fashioned I suppose….

Lascari

You’ll need a car to stay here and get around as the villa is situated above the village of Lascari and a 20-minute drive from the main hub of Cefalù. The shops are at the bottom of the hill, in Lascari itself. A larger supermarket is just outside the village where you can source a wide variety of products. It isn’t Waitrose, but it is convenient. Opening times were a bit random, but then again, ‘This is Sicily’ we were told.

Verdict

This is a beautiful villa and makes for a lovely place to spend a holiday. We would return to Villa Vittoria, and would come when the weather is slightly warmer so we can enjoy swimming both in the pool and at the nearby beaches. The children loved the villa, loved the views and loved the wifi. Local representatives on the ground are friendly and helpful and we even had an informative guided tour of Cefalù with Angelo.

Villa Vittoria pool, Sicily. Copyright Lorenza Bacino

Massimo Provenza and his team have dozens of villas to choose from ranging from simple and small, to large, modern and stylish, with and without private pools. The team will organise and recommend places to see and things to do including a personal chef to come to your villa – see my other post on Cefalù and in particular the section on ‘Cooking with Nino’.

Over to you

Have you ever stayed in a villa on a family trip? Does this villa sound like the kind of accommodation which would work for you?

Disclosure: Massimo Villas provided the accommodation for Lorenza and her family for this trip. Massimo Villas offer villas sleeping up to 12 people in Sicily, Puglia, Tuscany, Sardinia, the Veneto and Formentera. All of the villas have private pools or are near the coast.