Book a luxury hotel in Taormina with Small Luxury Hotels of the World to enjoy the vistas that inspired D H Lawrence and Tennessee Williams. Echoes of ancient Greece haunt the Teatro Greco with its crystalline Ionian Sea backdrop, and the dramatic Palazzo Corvaja bears the architectural hallmarks of its medieval Arab rulers.
Luxury Taormina beaches
As your cable car descends to the crescent-shaped Isola Bella, pick your Ionian bathing spot in the shelter of the headlands on the beach at Mazzarò Taormina Mare. Be seen basking on lido loungers on glamorous, sandy Panasia Beach as it morphs into a fashionable Sicilian nightspot at cocktail hour.
Luxury things to do in Taormina
Balconied boutique arcades on pedestrianised Corso Umberto sell luxurious souvenirs like olive-green and lemon-yellow Caltagirone pottery. Your passeggiata through the medieval old town will take you to the Piazza Duomo, with its baroque stone fountain and fortress-style St Nicholas Cathedral. On your private tour of Mount Etna, your guide will take you via pine forests to the moon-like surface of Monti Silvestri craters and lava flow caves.
Gourmet Taormina
The elegant garden trattorias that cluster in medieval Piazza IX Aprile serve Sicilian seafood like sea urchins in garlic and pasta with sardines. For Michelin stars, head to vine-shaded terraces close to the Duomo where baked Parmesan aubergine and tomato and basil pasta alla trapanese are à la carte specialties. Quaff lively red wines and fruity spumantes from the volcanic estate of Tenuta San Michele and almond vino alle mandorle from hilltop Castelmola.
Stay at a luxury hotel in Taormina and simmering Mount Etna’s cone is never out of view. With Small Luxury Hotels of the World you can wallow like a 19th-century aristocrat in your boutique Taormina villa where your pool is shaded by bougainvillea-covered Byzantine catacombs.