Airole is a delightful ancient Italian village set in a splendid mountainous region 20 minutes inland from the Ligurian coast. It is friendly and safe and it is great to meet with the local people and experience relaxing rural Italian village life in the cafes, grocer's shop and restaurants - a real feeling of 'getting away from it all'. The local area is full of amazing walks in forests and along rivers and the wildlife we saw was varied and fascinating. The Olive Mill is an amazing conversion of an old olive mill and retains the feel of this although it has been very well modernised. It is clean and well-maintained and a local person helpfully acts as a caretake.r The way that it is set into the rocks that form the village is very interesting and experiencing the bath in what feels like a cave is an unusual and surprising delight. The attached garden is also lovely - relaxing, private and well-equipped and planted with citrus trees and the like. The kitchen and dining areas are both well-equipped and tastefully designed. An unusual feature is the bedroom which is actually across the alleyway and in the cave-like part of the house which makes it fun. The only minor drawback to this is the tendency for the room to feel damp but this remedied by using a fan that soon dispels the problem.

Overall, we found the property to be well-managed and the hosts efficient and friendly to deal with. All the sites and places to visit in the area are excellent but we would advise enquiring about the goings-on in the town centre of Ventimiglia before driving through it as we encountered a very long traffic queue on a sale day when we only wanted to pass through it and were very delayed. Otherwise, as a town if has an excellent food market! We would certainly consider returning to this destination and thoroughly enjoyed our sojourn at the Olive Mill.