Il Casale La Duchessa

The property was relatively quiet being that it is located in a more rural area. The colors in the house and room were cohesive with one another. Running water and bathroom worked properly. Host was understanding when we needed additional minutes lugging our bags down the stairs and into our car. Grounds were cared for and neatly kept. We were given new towels upon request.

Owner/host was unpleasant, irritable, and impatient. She spoke no English, which normally isn’t a problem for my Wife and I as we do speak some Italian and are able to understand fairly             well - if and when we have issues understanding anyone, we rely on google translate (which has always worked very well for us). We have traveled throughout Italy for more than a month and have visited the year prior for two weeks with no issues conversing with any non- English speakers. This was our first poor experience when conversing with a local Italian who spoke no English. She spoke quickly, abruptly, and without pause. When I asked her to allow me to translate, she refused and would raise her voice and speak faster either repeating what she had previously said or stating something entirely different. I was happy to translate and read what she had to say or even record her words - we have amazing technology in todays world that truly helps us to better communicate but she was offended and refused - This forcing my Wife and I to “read between the lines” and essentially assume what we could not understand or did not have time to retain. It was a very uncomfortable and somewhat frightening experience - given that she was our host and lives on the property. We felt a bit unwelcomed during our short stay and confused since we were paying a fair price and conducted ourselves politely and respectfully. The listing said breakfast was included, however, our first morning there we were tired from a long journey and did not attend the breakfast provided. The host was offended and made it known to us. This put some pressure on us - it seemed that she expected us to behave in such a way as though we were visiting with a relative rather than paying for service offered at our disposal. This behavior was strange and made us uncomfortable. On the day of our check-out the host acted as though she did not know how to use her payment terminal(POS Terminal).