The positive reviews of Pensione Svizzera are all correct: great, convenient location. Our room on the 4th floor had a breathtaking view, and the breakfast and wait staff are wonderful.

I would note, though, that the stairs to the 4th floor are no joke, and that the walls really are quite thin.

We stayed at the Svizzera in Room 11 on the 2nd floor for five nights in mid-October. Not only did the room have a great view of the Sicilian shoreline but we could easily see in in the distance mainland Calabria. Being car-less travelers, we found the previous posts noting the proximity of the bus and cable car stations to be true and of great help in making our excursions easy. The staff was uniformly helpful and the breakfast items were good and plentiful. There's a great restaurant about a block towards town on Via Luigi Pirandello called Trattoria da Nino - It wasn't too expensive and yet so good we went back there the next night.

The only "but" if you could call it that was that the TV was tempermental and too complicated for us. We had to get the staff to switch on the cable box (which they cheerfully did) each evening if we wanted to watch.

Our room was spotless and well furnished although space was at a premium especially in the bathroom.
The rooms are also not well insulated so you will hear your neighbours.
Our room also had a very pleasant terrace.
The breakfast was plentiful and had a lot of variety.
From the two private beaches on offer, the Paradise Beach club had a 'nicer' stretch of beach but don't expect unspoiled, clean beaches in this part of the world.

We stayed here in Oct 2012. What a lovely, friendly, meticulous and well located hotel. It is minutes from the bus station and just a brief walk to all the action. They even arranged a tour of Mt Etna for us with a private guide who was fabulous. Breakfast was by far the best we had this trip....and that includes all 9 hotels we stayed in. I would stay here again, given the chance, and would recommend it highly!