All-inclusive accommodation in Cesenatico at San Pietro

By night, the glowing blue cube of San Pietro is easy to pick: it’s a distinctive-looking building encased in a metal-like sheath decorated with a round-hole effect. Inside, our room was spacious, but not cutting edge: a standard bathroom, cupboards and double bed with a small balcony containing two chairs, a coffee table, and a few racks to hang your towels after a day at the beach.

We were in Cesenatico as part of Cesenatico Bella Vita — an event put on by a hotel co-operative of the same name. There were 30 writers and bloggers from around the world, and we were spread across more than 20 hotels in the region. While we had around 80 people dining with us in our hotel on Friday night, many other attendees I spoke to over the weekend saw only a handful of other guests in theirs. So San Pietro was doing something right…

First up had to be the friendly service. The manager is a veteran of the hospitality trade but never appeared jaded. In fact, he welcomed us with a warm smile well before he knew we were part of the press trip, and we saw him interacting warmly with several individuals and family groups. The rest of the staff followed suit — wait staff didn’t even roll their eyes as I put cheese on my fish pasta (and if you’ve ever experienced the full scorn of an Italian waiter you know how amazing that is), although there might have been a surreptitious cough in there.

Lunch, and dinner deserve a mention: resort food is seldom wonderful but the cooking staff did a good job. Each meal consisted of a choice of three first and second plates, a carafe of wine, and dinner finished with a dessert and coffee. There was an excellent salad bar at both meals with fresh veges, grilled and roast veges, breadcrumbed and cheese-covered veges, and cold pasta salads.

Breakfast isn’t a very Italian meal, but a reasonable job was done. In addition to a few sweet, dry pastries and coffee (a more-Italian meal), there were cereals, fruits, cold-cut meats and cheese, scrambled eggs, as well as various breads and spreads to cover them.

It was unseasonably cold during our visit and the room wasn’t adequately heated on the first night. We also struggled to get hot water through the shower after we arrived. It wasn’t an auspicious start, but dinner soon put our minds at rest. The temperature — of both the room and the water — was fine for the rest of the stay.

You can hire single-speed bikes from the hotel, and these were the perfect way to get around. While it was a 25-minute walk from the train station, it was less than ten minutes by bike along the flat streets back to the Leonardo da Vinci-influenced canal harbour and picturesque older part of town. There were bike racks all over the place, so there was always a safe place to lock them up while we dropped into a gelato shop or wandered further afield.

We were only there for a weekend, and didn’t have time to explore further, but if you’re looking for an all-inclusive option in Cesenatico then San Pietro is a solid option.

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