La Sirena — Restaurant in Lipari

The rooms are way too expensive for what they are. They are cute and overlook the sea and the little square in Pecorini, there's air conditioning and the shower is pretty big (while the bathroom is tiny and the room we got was rather small). However, I found the prices are particularly high because of the size of the room and especially because the rooms are not cleaned on a daily basis. When we arrived the garbage of the previous guests hadn't been picked up from our room. I could not believe that with all the money they were charging, they were not tidying it up every day. We stayed here 4 nights and the cleaning lady cleaned it on the 3rd day, the afternoon before we left. Unclear why that wasn't done instead maybe on the 2nd day, since that would have made more sense. The organization is a bit allover the place. It took them about 2 months to finally book the room (although they did say that the delay was due to internet problems) and although the staff in the pension is extremely nice the owner did not see to be interested in the existence of his pension but rather in the restaurant. The place is known for its restaurant, but they do also have a pension and they are charging a very high price for what the rooms are, so they might want to consider paying more attention to it. The owner would go around at the restaurant chatting with everybody dining, but it never crossed his mind to ask the guests that were actually staying there (I was under the impression we were the only one staying overnight) how they were doing. It was a bit of a disappointment, I had lunch there four years ago and loved it, so I kept thinking of going back and staying there for a few days, but after the experience this year I am not sure I would want to go back, I'd probably go to the restaurant, but maybe not the pension. It was an okay experience overall, the village is really cute and the sea is spectacular, plus the restaurant also has a great bar and the aperitivo time is a lot of fun there, but the room was a real disappointment...

I see other visitors have pretty much slammed this establishment, which is both a café/restaurant, and a pensione. If you are in Pecorini, however, I'm not sure where else you could stay... You might have to go back to the main harbor of Filicudi.|| I had a somewhat different experience: we were staying with an Italian friend in the Aeolian Islands and breezed into La Sirena twice -- my hostess gave us a long disquisition on the owner (not sure if this has been the owner all along that some visitors had experience with), who is from the Italian mainland, has such and such businesses, and only comes to Filicudi for short periods -- no doubt in the summer. But all that is mostly irrelevant; we had snacks and sat outside on the terrace. It was pretty warm and the scene was quiet, dreamy. It seemed like there wasn't much that needed saying and our demands of the café were minimal. We loved the location and although we were in the islands in June, no one seemed to be around.|| Considered among the grand sweep of places to go in Italy, these islands seem special and isolated -- the last in a mostly good way. It is largely Italians to be seen in the majority of the locales, and they seem to want to keep it that way. The ferries are not guaranteed to get the island you are heading for -- and this is true even in the summer; so the transportation is hit or miss. Our hostess observed that in her last visit down here, in October, she was stuck on one island for three days. So keep your schedule flexible.|| I found the islands relaxing, regenerating. I could easily stay there for a month, writing or whatever -- but I may be a little strange.|| Stromboli (see my other review) is up the road and worth a hike if you can fit it in.|| ...

I see other visitors have pretty much slammed this establishment, which is both a café/restaurant, and a pensione. If you are in Pecorini, however, I'm not sure where else you could stay... You might have to go back to the main harbor of Filicudi.|| I had a somewhat different experience: we were staying with an Italian friend in the Aeolian Islands and breezed into La Sirena twice -- my hostess gave us a long disquisition on the owner (not sure if this has been the owner all along that some visitors had experience with), who is from the Italian mainland, has such and such businesses, and only comes to Filicudi for short periods -- no doubt in the summer. But all that is mostly irrelevant; we had snacks and sat outside on the terrace. It was pretty warm and the scene was quiet, dreamy. It seemed like there wasn't much that needed saying and our demands of the café were minimal. We loved the location and although we were in the islands in June, no one seemed to be around.|| Considered among the grand sweep of places to go in Italy, these islands seem special and isolated -- the last in a mostly good way. It is largely Italians to be seen in the majority of the locales, and they seem to want to keep it that way. The ferries are not guaranteed to get the island you are heading for -- and this is true even in the summer; so the transportation is hit or miss. Our hostess observed that in her last visit down here, in October, she was stuck on one island for three days. So keep your schedule flexible.|| I found the islands relaxing, regenerating. I could easily stay there for a month, writing or whatever -- but I may be a little strange.|| Stromboli (see my other review) is up the road and worth a hike if you can fit it in.|| ...