Ivrea, Italy

We stayed at the Hotel La Villa which was booked by the wife of one of the rowers my husband, Terry, coaches.  It was ideal for our situation.  My sister, Sharney’s room was next to ours.  She had her own en suite and our room had its own en suite.  There was a disabled bathroom between our bedrooms, so that was exclusively mine and with access from both bedrooms, Sharney was able to easily help when needed.  The toilet was unusual as it had the front of the seat was taken out leaving a significant gap in the middle.   As my adductors are very tight, I found this arrangement very uncomfortable as a leg would fall in to the gap.  I asked the proprietor if I could have a normal seat to cover up the gap and she told me “that is the law in Italy for disabled toilets”.  (We rarely saw this type of toilet for the rest of our Italian holiday).  So I ended up using my “portaloo” over the toilet which worked a little better for me.  The shower seat was against the wall and the rail and shower were also against the wall.  As I sat on the seat I was unable to see behind me.   So for showers I needed assistance.