14 of the best hotels in Sicily
The best hotels in Sicily are a testament to its unique character. A scruffy, splendid, sun-baked mosaic of varied cultures and landscapes, all under Etna’s menacing gaze, the island’s strategic Mediterranean position allowed almost every civilisation to have a peck at its fertile soil. From the Ancient Greeks and the Arabs to the French and, latterly, the Spanish, the long list of conquests manifests in singular regional dishes, such as caponata, pasta alla norma and sweet granita breakfasts. Then there's the beguiling, layer-cake architecture, from Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples, to Palermo’s Arab-Norman fusion cathedral, and the South East’s Baroque towns with their rambling, crumbling palazzi. Taormina is a picture of sun-soaked terraced gardens tipping over surreal blue bays, yet just south of it lies the splendidly dishevelled Catania, with its noisy markets and famous ‘hot tables’. Europe’s most active volcano’s slopes are dotted with flamboyant guest houses and vineyards passed down like heirlooms through the generations, while over on the far west of the island, Moorish influences endure in the couscous dishes and spices, and great stretches of its cliff-backed, wispy coastline remain fiercely protected for its wildlife. Film buffs head to the villages of Savoca and Forza d’Agrò, where Francis Ford Coppola filmed The Godfather. Thalassophiles, meanwhile, flock to Sicily’s Dolce Vita beaches and crystal-clear swim spots, while the well-informed seek out the unearthly beauty of the sleepy islands scattered beyond Trinacria’s sun-bleached shores.
Whether you intend to drop bags at a reimagined fishing village, caught in a tangle of wild jasmine and bourgainvillea on a volcanic isle, or a turreted bastion of Sicily’s Golden age, dining on tales of grand tour shenanigans and 1950s film stars under Palermo’s spell, here at the best hotels in Sicily.
More inspiration on where to stay in Sicily and Italy
How we choose the best hotels in Sicily
Every hotel on this list has been selected independently by our editors and written by a Condé Nast Traveller journalist who knows the destination and has stayed at that property. When choosing hotels, our editors consider both luxury properties and boutique and lesser-known boltholes that offer an authentic and insider experience of a destination. We’re always looking for beautiful design, a great location and warm service – as well as serious sustainability credentials. We update this list regularly as new hotels open and existing ones evolve. For more information on how we review hotels and restaurants, please look at our About Us page.
Mattia AquilaBelmond Grand Hotel Timeo, Taormina
This Sicilian grande dame is the high-octane, Taormina stay of Slim Aarons reverie – where pool views look good from all angles and a pianist (and negronis) cajole couples to dance on the balcony against a menacing backdrop of Mount Etna. Opulent marble bathrooms and silky, wallpapered rooms spill onto terraces doused in golden sunlight – where elaborate breakfasts of granita brioche, tea regalia and sugar-dusted pastries sweeten the view. Following a long siesta under one of the beach cabanas of sister hotel, Belmond Villa Sant’Andrea, guests fling on their finery for Otto Geleng’s foodie theatre. And it’s quite a performance: flickering oil lamps trace swirls of lace along the table and animate plates of seafood that would make an artist blush, perhaps even the restaurant’s namesake German painter. While a magnificent Greek amphitheatre and Amalfi-style Taormina is right on the hotel’s doorstep, Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo’s preened, tiered gardens and elegant poolside scene makes for a relieving retreat.
Hotel Address: Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo, Via Teatro Greco, 59, 98039 Taormina ME, Italy
Price: Rooms from about £327 per night
Oliver PilcherPrincipe di Salina, Aeolian Islands
Pretty arches, linen curtains catching the hot air, and terraces gazing out wistfully towards the other smoking Aeolians. Principe di Salina sits on Salina, the greenest of Italy’s Aeolian islands off the North Eastern coast of Sicily. This is an island scattered in Malvasian vineyards, sugar-cube houses and capers, where everything, from the mule tracks wiggling down to rocky coves, to the topsy turvy antiques shops and Piaggio Ape’s groaning under carts of grapes, falls under the menacing gaze of two (extinct) volcanic peaks.
Principe di Salina can be found in quietly pretty Malfa. Here, white scalloped parasols, day beds and olive trees dot the pool, and the occasional cobalt accent (a bowl of lemons or a cushion) interrupts a consistent whitewashed aesthetic. 12 cubic suites may recall those peppering the sun-baked fringes of Greek islands, but these porous structures, with their colonnaded terraces peering out towards the Thyrannean, are built in traditional Aeolian style. Inside, yesteryear trinkets and local craft pieces warm the blinding white spaces – antique coat hooks, artisanal fruit bowls, handmade ceramics – and cloud-soft beds encourage a traditional Sicilian siesta (book Superior rooms for guaranteed sea-views). Sunsets here are otherworldly, (as is catching neighbouring Stromboli’s fiery belch from the mouth of its volcano at dusk), and best viewed from the bar with an apéritif.
Having explored Salina’s coves and craggy, layered edges by boat, sampled its Malvasian wine at vineyards surrounding Malfa, (like Capofar run by the infamous Tasca d’Almerita family), or simply lounged poolside to absorb the sea-meets-volcano views, guests can feast on island ingredients at Principe di Salina’s Ristorante della Casa. Silvana, who runs the hotel with her husband Francesco, and three children, has leveraged her master’s in nutrition to craft a menu that’s as nourishing as it is wildly delicious, towing the hyperlocal line with garden salads doused in capers, spanking fresh seafood pasta and couscous salads with Sicilians almonds and orange.
Hotel address: Principe di Salina, SP182, 3, 98050 Salina ME, Italy
Price: Doubles from £173 per night%25202341_b%2520jg%2520may%25202021.jpg)
Hotel Photography srlVerdura Resort, A Rocco Forte Hotel
Just one-hour southwest of Palermo’s crumbling, honey-hued splendour, Rocco Forte’s Verdura resort occupies its own stretch of pretty coastline – almost 600 acres dotted with citrus groves, plush villas, tennis courts, pools, tilting towards a manmade sweep of blonde beach. The prevailing spirit is more Mediterranean country club than hotel, where a kaftan’d coterie nurse local wines poolside, families explore the estate on mountain bikes with beach picnics, and full days are swallowed up on Verdura’s three, knockout golf courses. This, along with a cavernous spa (well-stocked with Irene Forte’s nature-meets-science Sicilian beauty products), tennis and padel courts, watersports and pilates, is made all the more seductive for parents with the resort’s superlative kids’ club. Far from a tot pen with a few colouring books, Verdura Resort sets the standard in the Mediterranean with Verdùland, where children learn how to rustle up classic Sicilian recipes, edit films, refine their golf swing on the course and, in summer, their football skills at one of the resort’s coveted academy weeks. It buys parents time to lean into their own cooking class, yoga session or Sicilian siesta, safe in the knowledge that their broods are gulping in plenty of fresh air and mastering a new skill.
Designer and sister to Sir Rocco Forte, Olga Polizzi’s has warmed the contemporary and cubic glass suites and villas with her hallmark restrained elegance (plush, earthy fabrics, cane and rustic ceramics). Pine for a sea-facing room or suite, and families or large groups, the villas, with their private pools and sweeping terraces. Verdura Resort’s farm-to-table ethos is prevalent across its four restaurants, from its swishy adult-only Zagara to the more easy-going Liolà where families tuck into well-excuted Sicilian classics, their soggy pool hair slowly drying in the hot breeze. Most of the restaurant’s bounty is grown on-site, including the herbs sprinkled into cocktails at the lively Granita bar. There are almost too many restaurants, bars, shiny facilities and sun-bleached acres to even contemplate leaving this country club-on-sea, but the ancient temples of Agrigento and Selinunte await.
Hotel address: Verdura Resort, A Rocco Forte Hotel, S.S. 115, Km 131, 92019 Sciacca AG, Italy
Price: Doubles from £173 per night
Alfio GarozzoIl San Corrado di Noto, Val di Noto
Time hits different at the milky-stoned Il San Corrado, amid the olive groves and light-filled courtyards. A fountain trickles, an adagio clack of Italian shoes pacing the archways, and ubiquitous whiffs of sun-scorched countryside lower shoulders several inches on arrival, setting the tempo for a leisurely stay. Traditional, near-sacred structures are gently eased into modern relevancy by architect Corrado Papa, or, in the case of the family’s private 19th-century chapel, left untouched and congruous with new additions. Archways, lined with Noto artist Sergio Fiornentino’s abstract spins on classicism, slice the pure, Sicilian daylight into celestial stepping stones, while an orchid-clad library showcasing Helmut Newton prints is a smooth, shady refuge from the midday sun.
Outside, it’s all about the pool – two, in fact, which are carved with contemporary candour from Modican stone, and surrounded by elegantly dialled down suites and bucolic views. Pool villas are scattered amongst the surrounding citrus and olive groves, like perfect, fiercely private cubes of marble baths and preposterously comfortable four-poster beds. Then there’s the food – good enough to warrant never leaving for the surrounding, much-lauded restaurant scene. From refined brioche con gelato or Etna berry breakfasts and high-octane, almost alchemic tasting menus at Principe di Belludia to the more home-spun style, CasaPasta for ‘express’ lobster and sausage tagliatelle with Tasca D’Almerita whites, Il San Corrado is pure foodie rapture, even for these stretches.
Address: Il San Corrado di Noto, Contrada Belludia SP51, 96017 Noto SR, Italy
Price: Doubles from £496 per night
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Braccialieri Val di Noto
Decked in bright, cheery patterns, Braccialieri’s wallpaper, textiles and tiles mirror Val di Noto’s vibrant orchard and organic farm bounty and sun-doused Avola hills enveloping it. A crimson chequered pool references Sicily’s vibrantly painted traditional carts and ceramics, while the café’s iridescent bar tiles and just-so bistro chairs feel pasted into the rustic surrounds from a trendy city joint. What makes this eclectic, highly Instagrammable farmstay distinct from other Sicilian hotels is its small, boutique spirit, and with it, suites and villas that greatly vary in format and character.
Happy glampers can hunker down in the wood-and-canvas Eco Villas, which feel closer to nature than the suites with outdoor copper baths, yet still manage plush beds and pocket-sized kitchens for easy-going al fresco suppers. Suites assume a modern disposition, with bright wallpaper breaking up the earthy, buttery restraint, and olive-green shutters matching the groves beyond them. For villa-level privacy with all the hotel service trimmings, the Pool Suite Amare features a beautifully restored traditional kitchen and dining space for group lunches (a great option for families), as well as a lounger-dotted creamy-stoned terrace. The farm’s organic fare fuels the Dodici Zappe restaurant, where contemporary furniture and atmospheric lighting gently ease an old millstone into the 21st century. Francesco Gura elevates Sicilian ‘peasant’ staples: your pork terrines in beccafico with panelle, grilled fish with tomato tartar and garden veg, and divine Etna pear mousse with almond biscuit and elderflower cream.
Address: Contrada Seggio, 96012 Avola SR, Italy
Price: from £294 per night
Country House Villa Dorata
Not far from Noto, on a hillside combed by olive and citrus groves lies Country House Villa Dorata – a modern iteration of the traditional, cooler country house escapes once reserved for the blue-blooded elites, fleeing summer’s insufferable city heat. Indeed, this is Noto’s rather splendid Seven Rooms Villadorata’s country cousin – a refuge of subdued, earthy tones, simple pleasures and cool pools to drift towards from suites and soothing design dens. Days here are languid and sway to outdoorsy rhythms – lazy breakfasts of local cold cuts and cheeses, afternoons wallowing in a pool or drifting off to the rustle of dry citrus leaves, evenings leisurely readying for dinners, where flavours and presentation transcend the hotel’s easy-going spirit. 15 rooms scatter the hotel’s gardens offering various grades of privacy – the private pool suites and spacious, angular timber, glass and steel eco-suites with plunge pools and floor-to-ceilng views sitting at the top of the scale. And while the hotel’s South East location makes it the ultimate launchpad for the Baroque towns and cities – Noto, Syracuse, Modica – as well as beach days as nearby protected Vendicari, guests would be forgiven for devoting a few days here to Country House Villa Dorata’s guiding principle: dolce far niente (the art of doing nothing).
Address: Contrada Portelle, 96017 Noto SR, Italy
Price: from £606 per night
Hotel Signum
Just below Naples and above the scruffy Sicilian port of Milazzo lies a guarded Italian secret: a scattering of volcanic islets cast adrift in a sea too blue and too warm for the Mediterranean. Salina is one of them, a go-slow mass of lush, herb-covered slopes and sun-soaked hills, drifting away from its volcanic neighbours. Clinging to the foot of one of its volcanoes and occupying the old, pretty bones of a fishing village, Hotel Signum lures in a smart, understated crowd. Dazzling, Mediterranean sunshine sieves through a wild tangle of lemon trees, honeysuckle and jasmine, animating a nostalgic scene of chipped shutters, cast-iron furniture and elaborate cocktails. Rooms recall an 18th century novelist’s genteel bolthole with mahogany furniture decorating a simple, Sicilian tile canvas and cut-work white curtains swelling in the breeze. They share the same other-worldly views across the Tyrannian to Panarea and Stromboli’s coils of smoke as the terrace, where refined suppers of sea urchin with creamy mash potato and breaded scabbardfish with tiger milk showcase the island’s land-and-sea bounty and Signum owners’ daughter, Martina Caruso wild creativity (the youngest Italian chef to receive a Michelin star).
Hotel Address: Hotel Signum, via Scalo, 15, 98050 Malfa, Salina, Italy
Price: Doubles from £167 per night
Alfio GarozzoMonaci Delle Terre Nere, Etna National Park
Trailblazing Eco Wine Resort Monaci Delle Terre Nere remains one of Sicily’s smartest and most stylish hotels. The faded grandeur of its main house (a carefully renovated 17th-century monastery) is as magnetic as Etna herself, whose fertile slopes are combed with olive groves, apricot trees, herb gardens and vines. The volcano’s mystic presence looms over a scatter of 24 design dens, renovated old-meets-new barns and villas which blink out over a bucolic scene of rolling hills that greet the sea. This go-slow, soul-nourishing estate leverages its 60-acres of organic harvest for its destination restaurant, Locanda Nerello, where scabbardfish ragout, ancient courgettes parmigiana and various Italian classics allow the superb ingredients to take the lead.
Breakfasts are as equally thrilling – expect fresh, scrambled eggs sprinkled in wildflowers from the farm and black bee honey drizzled on homemade Sicilian bread using ancient grains. Afternoons heed the famously Sicilian Il Dolce Far Niente: drifting off to soft jazz and ice tinkling in glass of Sicilian gin by the volcanic pool, or leaning into Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s ‘The Leopard’ on a soft, cream sunlounger, with a glass of Etna red balancing precariously on the grass.
Hotel address: Monaci delle Terre Nere, Via Monaci, Via Pietralunga, sn, 95019 Zafferana etnea CT, Italy
Price: Doubles from £480 per night
Alfio GarozzoZash Boutique Hotel and Spa, Riposto
Wrapped in acres of labyrinthine citrus groves beneath looming Mount Etna, Zash Boutique Hotel & Spa was once the summer retreat for Catania’s nobility and now thrusts guests back to a time where nature called the shots, through a contemporary prism, as one of the best hotels in Sicily. Honouring its past life as a Palmento, the cool innards of the main house (a peachy, peeling vestige of grand Sicily) now pose as a smart, destination restaurant, below it, a dimly lit spa gurgles and steams, echoing the volcanic surroundings. Rhythms are docile, set by shifting fruit trees and occasionally interrupted by the rumble of the train (worth booking a room that doesn’t back onto the track). Lava stone slabs line the walls in Iraci Architetti’s photogenic Iconic Rooms and Poolside Villas, whose cubic, glass structures and sharp furniture greatly contrast the main house’s soft antiquity, and cleverly pull the clementine trees indoors. This is one of Sicily’s lesser-known hotels, a favourite with Italians wrapped in fluffy towels, oscillating between spa and pool (sliced into volcanic rock with contemporary finesse), before tucking into Guiseppe Raciti’s signature uovo poche croccante and soul-stirring pasta plates.
Address: Zash Country Boutique Hotel, Strada Provinciale 2 I-II N60, 95018, Riposto, Sicily Italy
Price: Doubles from £158 per night
Dimora Delle Balze, Noto
An abandoned 19th-century castle just north of the baroque town of Noto seems an unusual birthday present – but following a scrupulous nine-year restoration project, Elena Lops now shares the joy, along with the discerning eye of interior designer Draga Obradovic. The estate’s masseria soul remains fully intact, its freckled grey walls and earthy, tiled rooms blending seamlessly into the surrounding prairie-like scrub and lush, rolling woodlands. Sun-dappled courtyards decorated with wrought iron day beds and large terracotta pots lead into pared-down pastel-hued bedrooms, more courtyards, and a light-filled dining room where local cheeses, meats, apricot pastries and brioche spill across a farmhouse table for breakfast. This is savoured on a weathered stone terrace, with views of Val di Noto’s gold and green haze framed by disfigured classical columns salvaged from the abandoned estate. Even the pool area seems to have seized upon the organic theme – where moonlight toys with the water’s tar-like ripples in the evening as diners drizzle focaccia generously with the estate’s own olive.
Address: Dimora Delle Balze, SS287, Noto SR, 96017, Italy
Price: Doubles from £114 per night
Susafa, Polizzi Generosa
Among golden wheat fields and expanses of rural land, Susafa lies in Madonie Park, an impressive stretch of nature in the interior of Sicily. The property dates back to the late 1800s when the Saeli-Rizzuto family would work on the farm cultivating wheat. Five generations on, Manfredi and his siblings restructured the farmhouse into a countryside cottage filled with character and charm. Rural Sicily still plays an important role throughout the property – the restaurant is located inside the old barn, where the siblings used to play together among the haystacks.
Even today agriculture is still fundamental at Susafa. The organic olive oil is made from their own olive trees, the bread (freshly baked and served steaming hot every morning) and pasta are made from the wheat cultivated onsite and the farm-to-table cuisine is focused around vegetables and herbs picked by Chef Salvatore in their garden every morning. Depending on the season, guests can delve into Sicilian culinary traditions with Rita, who hosts cooking classes on a daily basis. In September, during tomato season, be sure to watch her making fresh tomato sauce that you can try or purchase to take home as a little souvenir. Lucrezia Worthington
Address: Contrada Susafa, 90028 Polizzi generosa PA, Italy
Price: Doubles from £259 per night
Courtesy Villa Igiea, a Rocco Forte HotelVilla Igiea, a Rocco Forte Hotel, Palermo
Featured on our 2023 Gold List of the best hotels in the world
This graceful estate is such a sharp contrast to wild Palermo that once you arrive you feel as though you have travelled to the other side of Sicily, not simply 10 minutes from the city centre. Villa Igiea is a legacy resort in the area, bought as a private estate by the Florios, once one of Italy’s wealthiest families, but then converted in the early 1900s into a wellness retreat that was popular with royalty. Decades later, it had lost its lustre until hotel magnate Rocco Forte brought it back to life in 2021. Now its pool, bars, and breezy guest rooms feel like a glitzy clubhouse of sorts for European dynasty families, who congregate for aperitivo hour in dresses and loafers on the outdoor terrace overlooking the bay, a dapper pianist tickling the ivories in the corner. You will want to order that third ice-cold martini just to muster up the courage to chat with the multilingual family – from Sweden? England? – at the table next to you (but eavesdropping is a fine runner-up). Inside, Art Nouveau touches include whimsical frescoes and grand staircases; while no two suites are alike (mine was done in tidy navy and white with beautifully colourful tiled bathrooms), they feel like a modern extension of what still is very much a classic seaside resort. Even in this newest iteration, Villa Igiea feels like a hotel with its own orbit, and one that creates a micro universe of characters rollicking against the most fanciful backdrop. Who wouldn’t want to be a part of that? Erin Florio
Address: Villa Igiea, Via Belmonte, 43, 90142 Palermo PA, Italy
Price: Doubles from £472 per night
Riley ClementsPalazzo Previtera, Linguaglossa
A scenic drive along the foot of Mount Etna, with the monumental volcano in front, leads to the small village of Linguarossa and Palazzo Previtera. Here Alfio welcomes guests into his home – the B&B has been in his family for over 350 years. Together with his parents Alberto and Mariella, Alfio spent 10 years restoring the pre-Baroque building and the antique furniture within. An additional integration of designer furnishings – a 1970s sofa by Vico Magistretti, a chaise longue by Antonio Citterio – adds a touch of contemporaneity to what is otherwise a perfect preservation of the past.
A wonderful botanical garden surrounds the four rooms and two self-catered apartments, with a myriad of plant and flower species from the centenary cherry tree to Asian and Sicilian frangipani, white and pink lotus, apricots, Arabic jasmine and over one hundred kinds of roses. Perched above the garden is a balcony from where you can peek at the brooding crater of Mount Etna. This is also a perfect location for setting out on an eight-hour guided hike (or a jeep journey for the less athletic) to the top of Etna or an outing to discover the vineyards and wineries on its slopes. For a day at the beach, Taormina is only a 20-minute car journey. Lucrezia Worthington
Address: Via D. Alighieri, 24, 95015 Linguaglossa CT, Italy
Price: Doubles from £146 per night
Alex Filz PhotographyAdler Spa Resort, Sicilia
Perched like one of the nesting egrets along the wild WWF-protected Torre Salsa, this clifftop spa hotel is the Dolomites-based Adler group’s Sicilian number. Contemporary steel structures, softened by grassy roofs, trace the terraced gardens that edge down the cliffs in an amphitheatrical fashion, towards a wild, woodland-backed coastline. From utilitarian suites, soft lawns lined with wild thyme and orange blossom trees and lavender all tip over the coastal view, and the rolling citrus and olive groves combing the hills ahead. As do a series of pools – a large indoor-outdoor pool steaming into the air, a lap pool, and, crowning the spa on the other side of the chalky cliffs, a bubbling thermal pool with knockout views. And aside from the elaborate Sicilian buffet breakfasts (granita, almond cake, brioche) and top-notch organic fare, accompanied by Sicilian wine, Adler Sicilia is really all about the spa. Enrobed guests slump down steps twisted around an enormous wrinkly olive tree to a realm of contemporary calm recalling a Bond villain’s lair. Sea-facing treatment rooms inhale the salty, clifftop air, while therapists meticulously place hot stones on backs and pep up tired chops with vitamin C and drainage techniques. A list of programmes ensures a more holistic approach, as does the Finnish sauna with a view, the biosauna, and steam bath to round off invigorating dips in the crystal-clear shallows of the beach, which can be reached by buggy. And while there’s a stellar kids club that whisks smalls to the beach for treasure hunts or around the gardens on flower pressing missions, the 4+ policy ensures a level of tranquillity expected of any serious spa hotel. Rosalyn Wikeley
Address: Contrada Salsa, 92010 Siculiana AG, Italy
Price: from £615 per night
