Relais La Torricella — Hotel in Vico Equense

Villa Furba / Torricella is a stunning renovated Watch Tower. Once you know the location of the villa, you can catch glimpses of it from many of the surrounding roads. We flew a pirate flag for our week there making it even easier to spot on the road down to Vico Equense. The drive to the villa is something to be experienced - but ONLY in a small car. We had 4 cars in our party - a Fiat Panda, 2 Renault Clio and a Skoda Yeti - the Skoda JUST made it through the surrounding tracks which in places are channelled with high walls either side and JUST enough room for 1 car to pass. Nervous drivers, AVOID !||||We were a party of 15 - 4 couples, 3 children and 2 single adults. The villa is advertised to be able to sleep 16 and in fact we think you could squeeze in 17 - however, the quality of sleeping accommodation varies hugely. There was a double bed in the very top tower of the villa which we found unusable due to the slightly wobbly metal spiral staircase which had to be scaled in order to access the closest bathroom. There was a good single bedroom, then a double sofa bed (not comfortable). Then a HUGE double bedroom with a HUGE bathroom and access to the middle and lower terraces. Then another room with a sofa bed - but this was a walk-through landing so we didn't use it. On the ground level were 2 double bedrooms that shared 2 bathrooms and we used another of the double sofa beds, which was adequate. On the lower level was a separate double room with its own gym and wine cellar. Excellent outdoor eating facilities with 2 huge dinner tables. Huge sofa / seating area at the front of the villa where we ended up most nights.||||The pool size was perfect - we thought that an infinity pool would have been perfect here - but would not have fitted in with the spirit of the villa at all. The pool cleanliness was obviously not a priority for the pool man - we only saw him twice during the week - once when we complained that the pool was dirty and was not being cleaned each day and then on the day we checked out. I must say that as soon as we complained, Marco did get 4 people up to clean the pool immediately - but we ended up cleaning the pool ourselves with the help of the pool hoover for the rest of the week.||||Our maid found it difficult to communicate and was a little sporadic in her attendance to start with but then excelled herself clearing up from dinner and breakfast for 13 on a day where we had had a water cut for the previous 12 hours and had been unable to do any clearing up ourselves. She brought us a supply of home grown tomatoes, pears, home made liqueurs and hand made doughnuts during the rest of the week.||||Overall, we were pleased with Villa Furba - it is a spacious property with some stunning furniture and views - a good size and as expected. In Italy you always get a relaxed approach in out of town places. Things like power and water are out of the control of the locals. The staff did try to put right any problems once we highlighted them and we all had...

We spent 2 weeks at La Torricella in July-Aug and had a wonderful stay. ||||This villa is set in a fantastic position with a view across to mount Vesuvius and down to the sea - A wonderful vista. It has sun decks throughout the property giving numerous opportunities to bask throughout the day with the best terrace being off the the first floor, offering a superb area for dining or pre dinner drinks; large enough for big groups. There is also a BBQ area which we made great use of as it allowed us a very relaxing way to spend the evenings with the kids and adults all outdoors together. The house is from the 13th century and this needs to be appreciated as the style of decor and the overall feel is very rustic to suit the property.||||The property itself is very spacious with a number of bedrooms in locations that allow privacy for a large group made up of different families. There were 10 of us visiting. We had MORE than ample space for us all and plenty of room in and out doors for the children to enjoy themselves.|||| The swimming pool is fantastic and was kept immaculate throughout our stay being cleaned day and night. A wonderful place to relax and cool off in the summer sun with views down towards the coast and across to mount vesuvius. It had sun loungers, enough space for the kids to play around the pool and had wifi coverage as well which was very welcome to some in our group. ||||The villa could perhaps benefit from a little tlc - some of the handles were a little wobbly but we felt that was a minor detail. There are air con units in the bedrooms but lacking in the central areas of the house which was a little warm and close for us (we are from Scotland though). The kitchen is very well equipped with utensils, crockery, glasses and serving dishes for every occasion. |||| This property is remote in terms of access and small cars are required for all things. The nearest supermarket is only 1km away and the closest restaurant (a fabulous local place) only 2km. It is only a few miles from Sorrento but it takes perhaps 20-30 mins to get to Sorrento and the some of the roads are EXTREMELY narrow (get nothing bigger than a fiat panda). Once we had found a good route down and back this was less of an issue. I am a confident driver in central europe but driving here still requires a little nerve and an assertive nature. The property itself is at the end of a winding lane on a hill so a little care required but not too tricky to navigate.||||Overall a fantastic villa that is ideally suited to large groups and is particularly suited to those with children or those who do not wish to head out every night without use of a car. Our host Francesco was extremely helpful and friendly. On our arrival he went above and beyond the call of duty to help us and was always available to offer help or advice when required. This was very much appreciated||||We couldn't have asked for a better stay. Memories to cherish for a...

We spent a magical Honeymoon here. We had been looking in the Sorrento/Amalfi area and as Positano was really expensive, my husband to be looked in a search engine for a place in this area which had a pool, catered for diabetec and gluten intolerance diets and came up with Torricello as an option - I couldn't be more delighted with his choice. I love Italy and this place gave us a more intimate experience of Italy than your typical tourist resorts. Marco was attentive to your every need and gave us loads of useful information on the area (including best days to visit Pompeii, Herculaneum and Vesuvius to avoid the heavy traffic). Torricella itself was like a secret hideaway, beautiful setting with views overlooking the bay of Naples and Vesuvius. Large rooms with an old world decor to match the history of the building, Ensuite bathroom to die for! - far bigger than our main bathrooom at home, grounds that you could explore and keep finding another wee corner, swimming pool set in the grounds that was just a perfect size. And the breakfast - or should I say morning banquet! - was delicious and set us up for the day not really needing anything else till our evening meal. I could go on and on, but to sum up - an absolutely beautiful Italian secret hideaway that we will be sure to return to another day||||The only word of warning - make sure you get a Really small car as the roads in are narrow like you wouldn't believe - Fiat Panda or Punto probably best (they gave us a Hyundi IX20 and we just managed with that, but would have been much easier with an even smaller car||||and a wee ps - I would have happily paid more, but the value for money...