Villa Meraviglia — Local services in Colico

The house is in a great location and the views are amazing. However the house itself was not as nice as displayed in the pictures and as you would expect for the price. The layout is quite strange and not suitable for more than 8 people max and also not with children or people who have difficulty with steeps paths. The house and fittings and furniture was old and outdated, and everywhere there are notes to say that it’s forbidden to do something, not very friendly. Some areas are not very safe for children as the balconies have railings which some are not secure and open stairs. Many of the items in the house were poor quality (many pots/pans were either damaged or did not work with the induction plate, the portable fans which were noisy, the tv, some roller blinds did not work etc). The shower doesn’t drain properly upstairs and floods the bathroom after 2 minutes. We also had problems with insects including lots of big flies, mosquitoes, and even scorpions inside the house. Also the pool was full of insects and we cleaned it ourselves. The house is very noisy because of the old floors, and the lighting is not very nice. The jacuzzi is great especially with the views, but it was cold the first day. The path to the lake is great, but would be very difficult to navigate for kids or older people as it’s steep with thorny bushes etc, and this was not made clear.

We stay at lake Como every year for a week and we have stayed in much nicer houses for half the price. Therefore I would not recommend it...

As one of the guests with the group of friends, I found the whole thing was nothing but a scam. I highly recommend anyone wants to spend over $1600/ night make sure to take pictures of every inch of the house at the time of check in. Otherwise, they throw at you every excuse to keep your deposit. It is true the ground and view were amazing but everything else was disaster and short of comfort. The house was damped and smelled musty. It was very cold that we all have to wear so many layers to stay warm. When we asked about the heater they gave us two different answers. The first time we were told the heater is not working. The second time we were told it is not the season to use the heater. There was no hot water in the shower on the second floor and none of the guests on second floor could shower the entire time (4 days and 3 nights). The house was damped and had a very strong musty smell, the carpets in different rooms were old, very dirty and stained. Yet, they scammed us to keep the $1500 deposit. Again, I recommend take your money elsewhere so you can enjoy the view and comfort, otherwise make sure to pictures at every inch of the house before you...

The garden and the view are breathtaking. The villa is quite old but has a lot of charm. The check-in handover procedure was straightforward and uncomplicated. However, the showers were really challenging. Communication and service requests during our stay were not handled professionally. The checkout handover was also straightforward, but from then on, problems started. It took almost four weeks to get our deposit back. They tried to make us responsible for some mess, which required a lot of back-and-forth communication and took a significant amount of time. In the end, they realized we were not responsible and apologized.

My recommendations: Stay there only in summer and during warm days. Don’t expect the level of service to match the high price. Be sure to take detailed handover notes and get them signed during both check-in and checkout to...