Sicily is the Mediterranean's most complex island — a place where Greek temples, Norman cathedrals, and Arab-Byzantine mosaics coexist with volcanic landscapes, extraordinary food, and a hospitality culture that is unlike anywhere else in Italy.
Why Sicily Now
Sicily has been receiving travellers since the Grand Tour, but for most of the 20th century it was regarded as a destination for archaeologists and food writers rather than luxury travellers. That has changed dramatically in the past decade, as a new generation of Sicilian hoteliers — many of them returning from careers in Milan, London, or New York — have transformed the island's historic palaces, farmhouses, and volcanic estates into some of the most extraordinary small hotels in Europe.
The island's geography is the key to understanding its hotel scene. The east coast — dominated by Mount Etna and the baroque cities of the Val di Noto — is where the most architecturally significant hotels are located. The west coast, around Palermo and the Egadi Islands, is wilder and less developed.
Seven Rooms Villadorata: Baroque Splendour
Seven Rooms Villadorata occupies a wing of the Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata in Noto — the most beautiful baroque city in Sicily, and arguably in Europe. The palazzo, built in 1737 for the Nicolaci family, is one of the finest examples of Sicilian baroque architecture in existence: its facade, with its extraordinary carved balconies supported by grotesque figures, is the most photographed building in Noto.
The hotel's seven suites — each one occupying a different set of the palazzo's original rooms — are furnished with period antiques, contemporary art, and the kind of meticulous attention to detail that suggests a deep understanding of what it means to live well in a historic building.
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Monaci delle Terre Nere: The Volcanic Farm
Monaci delle Terre Nere occupies a 19th-century estate on the southern slopes of Mount Etna — a landscape of volcanic rock, ancient lava flows, and extraordinary agricultural fertility. The hotel's 20 rooms and suites are distributed across the estate's original farmhouses, each one designed to maximise the views of the volcano and the surrounding vineyards.
The hotel's restaurant, which serves contemporary Sicilian cuisine using produce from the estate's own biodynamic farm, is one of the finest in eastern Sicily. The wine list, which focuses on the extraordinary wines produced from the Etna DOC, is the most comprehensive in the area.
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