Art Fashion House Luxury Rooms

I had a wonderful time at this B&B during my 4 nights stay in Catania. It’s along the main street, via Etnae. The room where I stayed has a balcony with the view of the side and the main streets. It’s clean, comfortable and convenient. I took the bus from the Central station and there’s a bus stop within a stone throw away. All attractions are within walking distance. Archangela is an angel. She’s very helpful and provided me lots of tips and ideas to make my trip worthwhile in Catania. If you’re looking for an easy, accessible, and convenient place in Catania, look no further - it’s a gem in the city.

This lovely B&B in the heart of the historical centre of Catania was a gem. Through the great metal front door from the Via Etna, you find yourself in a courtyard containing a glass elevator, which although a bit slow, delivers you to the lobby area where the hostess, Arcangela enthusiastically greets you along with lots of great tips about things to see, restaurants, and a city map; she is also happy to arrange taxis, drivers, and tours. Onwards to the room, through a beautifully restored area with wonderfully tiled floors, full of interesting and beautiful art pieces. We were lucky enough to have the corner room which has two balcony’s with floor to ceiling opening glass doors and shutters. A fantastic ceiling with white stucco on duck egg blue paint (reminiscent of a piece of Wedgewood) soared above the room. The restoration of these rooms has been done to an exceptionally high standard resulting in a most dramatic look. There is a full size wardrobe, a desk, TV (although no English speaking channels), and a small, stocked mini bar. A new modern bathroom had been added, although the shower was a bit on the small size, every amenity had been thought of down to all the room towels being tied up with a blue ribbon! Breakfast is included, eggs, toast, cake, yoghurt, fresh fruit, cold meat n cheese, local honey, tea, coffee, juice and more, all the things you expect from a typical Italian breakfast! The cleanliness of our room and bathroom was fantastic and done daily! All in all a fabulous stay in a beautifully converted house, with a wonderful host and her assistant, in an excellent position!

The small hotel has very nice rooms with high ceilings. The host is very friendly and helpful to find the right places to visit not only in Catania but also in the neighbouring areas. The hotel is very central and many restaurants are close by.

This bed and breakfast are situated at the rather fashionable main street in Catania; Via Etnea. There is a small sign on the wall next to the building’s green steel street door. It is important that you communicate your arrival time beforehand, so this door is open. After having passed the steel door you enter a dark corridor with rough stone plates as floor. Next to the dark stairs is a very special lift. It is actually built in the very small courtyard. This is since a river is under the building, so it is to wet to build a regular lift in the ground. The lift is very slow and can only carry two persons with their luggage. Push the button for the second floor. Then you look at the wall beside the door at the second floor you can with help of a magnifying glass detect an extremely tiny sign with their name. Even if you don’t push the button and the owner will open for you and welcome you to a very nice flat with a handful of very beautiful rooms. The colour scheme and the finish are very good. There is also an attempt to live up to the name Fashion Art with some decorations. Our room had a very beautiful stucco ceiling far above us. The bed and bathroom were new and functioned very well. And there was a very special feature, we had two small balconies since we had got the corner room. The breakfast was good but not special. However, the hospitably and flexibility of our host was. I can definitively recommend this place.

My husband and I arrived at the Art Fashion Hotel for the last 2 days of our trip after spending 2 days at an amazing B&B just 10 minutes away (5 stars). Although it shouldn't matter in this day and age, I will tell you now that I am gay and was travelling with my husband (this will become relevant later). This was recommended by a friend as he thought it would be a nice change of scenery as the Art Fashion Hotel was a bit more central than the previous accommodation. It was in a very nice area of Catania and had high hopes for a relaxing end to our visit to Sicily. Ohhhh were we wrong....the owner of the Art Fashion house was pleasant on check in (although a bit over the top with stories of her personal life) which was fine. I had a fractured ankle and the lift did not work and it was 2 floors up on a very steep staircase. The owner assured us that this would be fixed that day or the next day (never happened). The house was very dark and filled with dusty wedding dresses reminiscent of Miss Havisham from Dickens Great Expectations. The room was more expensive than most in Catania so our expectations were ‘Great’ (sorry but had to say it). As it turned out, the room was cramped, smelled of damp and cigarette smoke, and had flies buzzing in the air. At first glance the bathroom seemed sufficient and functional but on closer inspection the shower leaked onto the floor, the hot water took about 10 minutes to work and was tepid at best, and there was clumps of hair in the door stop and along the side of the walls. This may have been from the owner’s dog who apparently has 'all access' to the rooms (as does the owner, this also will become clear later). We decided to leave the floor to ceiling windows open when we went for a walk to allow the flies to leave the room. Upon returning, the owner stated she had let herself into our room to close the windows as she feared it would rain, which we thought was strange as there were totally blue skies and her entering our room while we were not there to be very invasive (should have been our first clue). A long story short, my husband and I were robbed at knife point in Catania and my husband was held and interrogated (and spat on) by a few very aggressive Police Officers who verbally abused him because of his sexuality (not very good at victim support). In her defence, the owner acted as translator for us to the Police when we were taken back to the hotel in the back of a Police vehicle. But now the dark side of the Art Fashion House comes into play. My husband and I went out the following night to have a few drinks and forget about the night before. The owner stated she was off to birthday party and would see us on check out the next morning. We had dinner and went out and met a very nice British couple who we invited back to our room for a glass of wine as you do on holiday. All was good until the owner let herself into our room and demanded that our guests leave immediately as no one was allowed into our room. The owner appeared intoxicated and was highly aggressive. We stated that we paid for the room and would be staying unless we got a refund. She stated that as it was already late, we would get no refund and needed to leave immediately and suggested that we were having ‘inappropriate’ relations with the couple we had met (totally untrue and incredibly offensive). As we were packing and apologising to our new friends for this embarrassing episode, she returned to our room and stated the Police had been phoned and were on the way….and they arrived shortly after. After much abuse from the owner, the Police made us aware that we could stay as we paid for the room, were doing nothing wrong, and the owner would not harass us any further (unlikely as she was shouting and demanding we leave). But, as it was now 0400 in the morning and our flight was at 1000, we opted to find a hotel closer to the airport and try get a bit of sleep. All in all, I would say if you are LGBTQ, stay away from the Art Fashion Hotel as there are many other choices for a great stay and many fantastic things to see in Catania. BTW, the owner said she has a friend who is a ‘Homo’…not that I am Charles Dickens but think I would prefer…hmmmm…. just the term ‘Gay Friend’…. or perhaps just ‘Friend’.