Our 10th Year of hosting

We are always excited to welcome guests who have chosen to stay with us in Pizzo. We host guests from far and near. First time guests and returning guests. Guests who want to live among locals in a picturesque Italian village. Guests who want to enjoy the turquoise sea along the Coast of Gods. And guests who are curious to discover different angles of Calabria with a base in Pizzo. And guests who just want to relax at a hidden gem, between Naples and Sicily. Or guests who love all of this during their stay. Our mission is to make our guests happy and maybe return.

When our guests are happy, we are happy.

And just like this, we have accomplished 10 years in the hospitality business !

We started our 10th year with lots of rain. It still rained in May, when our lovely returning guests from Canada - with Calabrian roots and a love for Pizzo - taught me how to fix the best Negroni(s). We had some moistly and cheerful nights.

More lovely guests followed. Singles, couples, families, and group of friends. From Switzerland, New Zealand, United States, Slovakia, Austria, Germany, France, England, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Spain, then more Canadians and of course lots of Italians! Among them pilots and painters, musicians and photographers, writers and journalists, actors of stage and screen, a director, a minister of state, birthday girls ‘n boys, honeymooners and ‘marriage applicants’. It never gets boring!

With great pleasure we learnt that Palazzo Pizzo’s terrace at sunset is the ideal spot to pop the question! So far all proposals we heard of got a “YES!”. Congratulations!

In mid July, we had the hottest day ever in Pizzo’s weather history with 41 °C (105,8 °F). I had to interrupt a welcome walk around the piazza and rescue myself with our very sweet guests from London with an almond granita inside(!) an air-conditioned gelateria. Luckily all our apartments feature aircon for a refreshing night.

And last but not least, late November early December, our 10th year of hosting was ‘crowned’ with a well known guest from California and an award winning Italian film director and screenwriter .…. We can now say, hosting a Hollywood star during a shoot in Pizzo with his entourage and daily instructions for our team was taking our hosting experience to the next level. A little earlier and more quietly, la regista, the film director of “la troupe” had checked-in at Palazzo Pizzo Residence, choosing this apartment for its private garden terrace. Our long due ‘railing painting project’ was finally rushed to an end and the blue paint wasn’t even dry when he arrived. The filming crew stood about a week to shoot at La Seggiola, the little bay below Palazzo Pizzo. (The movie is scheduled to be out in 2024).

Yes, this was a fun year! Of course every single year of hosting is special. And of course there are some more stories we remember along the way … But I think, this year, our 10th anniversary, the year of 2023 was among the best !

Thank you dear guests, thank you for choosing to stay with us! It is always exciting meeting you in person or being in contact from afar. Thank you for making hosting fun. We are looking forward to welcome you back and to many new guests to visit la bella Calabria in the future!

The biggest thank you must go to my team for being so very reliable, supportive, hard working, attentive, creative, always in good mood, always available and willing to go the extra mile.

Grazie mille! Without you “Palazzo Pizzo” wouldn’t be possible.

The blue railing of Palazzo pizzo Residence

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Pizzo Vacation Rental Summer 2018

Coffe on the roof top terrace, Dependance delle Grazie (photo credit: lovely guest Steve B., April 2018)

Did you enjoy your weekend? Summer feelings are all over Europe! Where do you plan to go this summer? 

Come to the sea! Come to the Costa degli Dei (the coast of gods) in Calabria, Southern Italy! Come to Pizzo! Pizzo is the best place to explore this beautiful coast and the hinterland of Calabria, and its spicy food and Ciro wines.

We at Palazzo Pizzo have the following apartments still available now until the end of summer 2018 (updated May 20, 2018): 

Palazzo Pizzo Residence (sleeps 2) for 110 Euro per night :

May 23 - May 31,  July 3 - July 10,  and September 12 - September 21

Dependence Delle Grazie (sleeps 2-4) for 140 Euro per night * :

June 10 - June 29,  August 4 - August 12,  August 20 - August 27,  and September 7 - September 30

*) rates are for 2 persons per apartment, additional guest pay 20 Euro per person. Our self-catered apartments come with free wifi and free secured parking. Minimum stay is 7 nights (or as indicated).

Please contact us directly if you are interested.

You can also find us on airbnb, homeaway (fewo, abritel) and tripadvisor (holidayletting). There you can check our availability also for autumn 2018 and read our 5 star guests' reviews. We are proud superhost on airbnb.

We are looking forward to welcome you in Pizzo!

Warm regards, saluti cordiali

Susan & Palazzo Pizzo Team

(photo source: great shot by lovely guest Steve B., April 2018)

Read also my posts about direct flights to Lamezia and what to do in Pizzo.

The Spirit of Summer 2016

This summer was different from past summers. Where do I start? 

(photo credit: Yann)

I could start writing about our road trip through Italy #onthewaytoPizzo ...  or say we felt it was overall less hot than last summer... I have thousand of photos on my phone and almost as many memories in my head.... It was a great summer! The food, the sea ... always fantastic in Southern Italy.

For us, above all, it was a very busy summer! Our guests beat all records. We had non-stop guests from all over the world. We had double occupancies and check-out and -in on the same day... in our own house! We loved it!! Family and friends getting together in one big house. That was the purpose of it all. 

My favorite moments that I enjoyed with all guests was the aperitivo on our balcony. One, two glasses of Aperol Spritz, some ice cubes and watching the sun going down, disappearing in the sea and the sky a canvas for vespertine spectacles of nature. 

When I browsed through all the photos of this summer, I came across the photo above - that one of our lovely guest had posted to our Facebook page - and I felt it all over again. The spirit of our summer 2016. The photo has it alI: summer, sun, beach, the crystal clear sea that stands in such a beautiful complementary colour contrast to the Aperol Spritz, which I only drink in Southern Italy because it doesn't taste anywhere better. Relaxing & refreshing after a hot day at the sea. And the hand crafted wrought iron balcony railing, that I designed after an old pattern for our new project which turns out to be lovely, no, gorgeous! (more about it soon)  Last but not least, it's a guest's photo. It shows what makes me most happy: guests see the beauty of this place, this little spot in the South of Italy which is almost paradise. It makes me happy to see that our guests feel the same. Double happiness.

We didn't launch a photo contest for guest or so yet. It could be an idea for next year! This photo (above) for sure is a winner. Other great photos by lovely guests can be found in my album "Great shots by lovely Guests" on Facebook. If you have been staying with us, feel free to upload yours! I love to see photos of Pizzo. I am constantly checking #pizzocalabro on instagram as I miss it already. For us summer 2016 is over. For most Italians summer ends right the week after Ferragosto. But Pizzo only gets better again after the crowd has left! In fact, with the ice cream and tartufo varieties of Pizzo the summer never ends!

So I hope you had, are still having or going to have a lovely summer holiday! In Pizzo Calabro or somewhere else with lots of sunshine and some refreshing aperitivo.       

more soon....

The recipe for Aperol Spritz is easy:

• 1/3 Aperol  
• 1/3 sparkling water
• 1/3 Prosecco
• .... add ice cubes and a slice of lemon

cin cin !

Sweet Memories of Summer



pesce tabbachiere


Summer is over. But we have sweet memories. Lots of friends came visiting us in Pizzo. Friends from Bangkok, Stuttgart and Munich. And we met old friends in Pizzo and made new friends.

We ate great food, fresh fruits, lots of ice cream and went to the beach almost every day. Life in Pizzo is different from life in the big cities. One likes it - or not. I am glad, our visitors seem to have enjoyed the slow life in this little fisher village deep down in the very South of Italy. As I said before, here is not much to do - beside eating and going to the beach. Or eating and sunbathing on the balcony. Or eating and reading a book. Or eating and having a good afternoon sleep. Especially after some glasses of wine.

During summer, streets are deserted in the afternoon. A few people are still at the beach, but most are resting at home. Only in the evenings, the piazza awakes to life. Tables of the bars and gelateries are getting most crowded around 11pm, when people finish dinner and come for tartuffo icecream. During summer holidays in August, various spectacles are organised for locals and tourists. After a long night, the next day, when the sun invites to the beach again, sunbathers arrive at the Marina around 10.30am or later. The locals all have their favorite spots, and meet up with friends to chat in the crystal clear water and get more suntan. Most Pizzitani would leave the beach between 12.30 and 1.30pm to eat lunch at home. Then rest. Around 7pm you can find kids coming out of the houses and playing in the piazza, maybe having a granita or gelato before dinner. Dinner usually is not before 9pm. Only tourists, not adapted to the rhythm of the South, would feed their kids before 8pm. But not many tourist find their ways to Pizzo. Which is not too bad after all. It keeps the village innocent and at its own pace.

For us, summer passed smoothly, except for one or two incidents, and before I realized, it was already time to leave. I could have gone on and on with the slow peaceful rhythm of summer in Pizzo. And as there was not much to write about, I did not post anything. But I took a lot of pictures with my new 50mm lens. Since food was the major interest of the day, most close-up pictures are food pictures. I uploaded some today to our facebook page. If you want to stay connected with us via FB just "like" Palazzo Pizzo on FB. Not much posts their either, but I will upload sometimes for Sweet Memories of Summer.



connect with Palazzo Pizzo on Facebook

 
PS: we have a medium long "To Do" list for our guest residence. Although our guests had a good time living in the vaulted ceiling residence, we need to adjust some things before we rent out professionally.

PPS: I love Calabria runs a photo competition on facebook, just a a few more days.

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Summer wirth friends (part II)



A house coming to life


Our last summer, actually the first summer IN the house, was determined by two phases:

First, we were still hectically arranging the house to move - ourselves - in, and prepare the basics for our first guests to come.

Second, we were finally spending our first holidays together with friends and family in our new Italian home.

Our dream came true:

Having a holiday house by the sea

to reunite with friends and family

while living abroad

In Summer with friends (part I), I described the arrival of our first guests - a dear German family with two kids from my hometown Stuttgart. Our time together was like a dream where girlfriends would chat and have drinks, the men would chat and cook, the kids would run around, eat and play - and from time to time - between meals and drinks - we would walk to the beaches to cool down in the crystal clear sea.

But if you ever wondered, what happened in Summer with friends (part II), I have to admit, it just continued that easy going way:

The morning, after my lovely German friends had left....

guest departure accompanied by running JUVE fan

... we changed the bed linen, washed the sheets and hang them on the balcony were they dried in a moment since we had a nice breeze that day.

Our helper Rosy did a great job, like always, mainly de-sanding the floors from sand that had fallen off sandy feet - and cleaning after Angelo, who was still working in our "guest residence" downstairs in the garden floor.

I had sent our second visitors, an Italian family from the Veneto, the same picture as last time to indicate the left turn into the pizza.

So, in the evening of their arrival, I was waiting there, at the entrance to the piazza and looking for their rented car to come in sight. It was then, when I suddenly thought I had run out of sparkling wine and went across the street to buy a bottle of prosecco for a welcome drink. Of course, when I was standing at the cashier waiting for the change, they had arrived. So we couldn't do it as last time (one of the visitors gets out of the car and walks with L to the house while I would sit in the car and give direction). But there was no need. The piazza was so crowded in the evening that the car could only drive at walking pace, and through the narrow alleys, you are even faster by walking.

After dropping the luggage we went for a "pizza in piazza". And here we were sitting, a large Italian family: our new guests, the cousin of my mother-in-law, his teenage son, his wife, my friend, and the wife's brother - together with my small family, and the Italian parents-in-law.

Meanwhile it was August. The piazza crowded with locals and tourists from other parts of Italy and Europe. We had to wait very long until our dinner finally was served.

Same on the beaches, people everywhere. But my guests, coming to Calabria for summer holiday since many years, knew how to find the good spots:


Torre at Briatico beach in August - not far from Pizzo by car


When it was becoming too hot at the beach, we would drive home for lunch and an afternoon nap.


Italian lunch time ...

There was a slight difference, between the German and the Italian during preparing lunch:
Italian men leave the kitchen territory preferably to the ladies! - The pic above shows them totally concentrating, almost meditating, over  their laptops, iPad and guitar. - And there were less aperitifs too... (probably its the Germans fulfilling the Italian cliche when in Italy).

For the music, with a music addict teenager in the house, we would listen mainly to rock bands. Not only the new stuff, but also the good old Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd. Very educational for my little boy...

local fruit for desert

cipolla di Tropea, pomodori e chili di Calabria

For cooking we used the fresh locally grown products, like sweet onions from Tropea (cipolla di Tropea), super tasty tomatoes and Calabrian chili - displayed in my new orange Murano glass bowl.

For desert we would just serve fruits on a fruit plate and cut a melon.

Italian light summer lunch with salad, bread, wine, and pasta

Italians don't eat bread for breakfast (that much), but for lunch they need to have bread on the table (like the French). Here there was no time to unpack the bread for a more beautiful setting... so it's still in the brown paper bag on the table. - And if there is no fresh bread, a pack of kind of crackers will do too to accompany the pasta (and mozarella, and salad):


pasta with tonno a la Fiore

These pics (above and below) were taken by my friend - the wife of the cousin of my mother-in-law - and I hope, she does not mind I post them here on my blog. I like them! Grazie!

2 1/2 Italians

 

Ferragosto Rubbish

I love to post beautiful pics for memory. But this one, sent in by my friend, needs to me mentioned too, yet "small":

The garbage collectors in Pizzo usually come every day through our street. But for the long weekend of Ferragosto, everyone, included garbage collectors, are at the beach. So, for a couple of days, lots of garbage was piling up in front of our house... and I don't want to imagine the smell...


But I cannot finalise a post with rubbish. - Therefore, I am posting another beautiful pic by my friends, who liked the view from our balcony, especially when small fisher boats pass by:

blue view

We needed to fly back to Bangkok before our guests left Pizzo for northern Italy, because son's international school starts in the middle of August. - I am sure, they enjoyed their last days of holidays, without us. Although the house is much more lively and fun with lots of friends!

----
("Summer with friends (part I)" was written in September 2011 and can be found here)