B&B Villa Adriana

The B&B Villa Adriana is in via Ottone Rosai 18, in San Leone, the seaside hamlet of Agrigento, in the area that carries the name of the Dune. It is not in the old centre of the city but on the seafront, and the difference counts: the official website gives about 150 metres of distance from the sandy beach and ten minutes by car from the Valley of the Temples, a Unesco site since 1997. For the old centre of Agrigento and for the wild beach of Punta Bianca it takes about twenty minutes, for the Scala dei Turchi about forty.

What it is like

It is a small, family-run house, and the official website declares three rooms, each named after a breed of dog. The Labrador room is a double, spacious, with a large window and a mosquito screen, furnished in modern style. The Pastori Tedeschi room is a double and has a balcony with a small sitting area and a view over the sea. The Border Collie room is a double with a double bed, a small balcony and a private bathroom outside the room. All have free wifi, air conditioning, a mini fridge, a flat-screen satellite tv, a hairdryer and a courtesy set for the bathroom. The common areas are a living room with sofas and tables and an entrance with the internal staircase. Breakfast, which the house declares as its own strong point, is served in the living room every morning from 8.30 to 10.00 and can be continental or international, built on the requests of the guest, with typical Sicilian cheeses and cured meats and home-made cakes. A bicycle hire service is available. The rates published on the website run from 50 euros in the low season to a maximum of 70 euros in August.

The spa area and the swimming pools, said for what they are

There are none. The official website names no swimming pool, neither outdoor nor indoor, and names no spa, sauna, Turkish bath, whirlpool tub or treatment rooms. It is a seaside bed and breakfast that relies on the location and on the breakfast, not on wellness, and anyone looking for a wet area should look elsewhere. The sea, on the other hand, is a few steps away, and the free beach of San Leone is the main reason for sleeping here instead of in the city.

The access rules

The booking portal reports in full that children are not allowed, so the property comes out as fully adults only. The official website, however, does not address the point: it does not declare itself adults only and does not publish a minimum age in figures. For this reason this page does not attribute to the B&B Villa Adriana a threshold of 18 years, which would be an unverified number, and limits itself to reporting the ban on access for under-age guests as the portal states it. Anyone travelling with an older teenager should have the rule confirmed in writing before booking. On pets too the official website takes no position, and silence is not a denial: it has to be asked. The owner answers the telephone every day from 9.00 to 20.00.

Who it suits

It suits anyone who wants to visit Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples while sleeping by the sea, with the beach below the house and the restaurants of the San Leone seafront within walking distance, and anyone who prefers a house of three rooms to a hotel. It also suits anyone who travels by bicycle, given the hire service on site. It suits less anyone looking for the services of a large property, anyone who wants to sleep inside the old centre and anyone looking for a swimming pool or a spa.