The hilltop town of Taormina in Sicily has always been a popular holiday destination — Goethe was rhapsodising about its remarkable landscape as far back 1787 — but the second series of White Lotus has supercharged the interest since the show aired two years ago.
Guests come flocking from around the world desperate to see the beaches and walk in the footsteps of Jennifer Coolidge’s Tanya, Simona Tabasco’s Lucia and Tom Hollander’s Quentin. There was even a boat named White Lotus touring the coastline during our stay.
For those looking for their own slice of luxurious Sicilian glamour, the glorious beaches and shimmering seas, the succulent seafood and delicious local wines — all without the drama of the acclaimed Sky Atlantic show — look no further than Villa Sant’Andrea, a Belmond hotel at Taormina Mare.
Style
The mid-century modern villa, with its elegant and timelessly chic feel, is surrounded by subtropical gardens and sits on a private beach in the bay of Mazzaro, just a few minutes from Taormina itself.
It feels more like a private villa — which is how it started life – than a hotel and what it has over others in Taormina (including the San Domenico Palace, which served as the primary location for the White Lotus), is that it doesn’t need any transport transfer to the beach other than popping on your flip flops and strolling down to the sea front.
Despite Sicily’s glorious sunshine currently feeling about as far away from the UK’s September gloom as possible, there is actually a real Englishness in the villa’s DNA.
Robert Trewhella, a Cornish civil engineer who first came to Italy in the 1850s to build infrastructure projects, worked on the railway around the base of Mount Etna. He and his wife fell in love with Taormina (it’s not hard to see why) and set about building their dream villa. It was completed by their son Alfred Percy in 1919.
There is still an English garden, which offers a quiet, contemplative spot with a plaque dedicated to its founders and outside the main entrance sits a bell, the original one used to call the family into dinner.
Five years after the end of the Second World War, the family transformed the villa into a boutique hotel, with glamorous stars flocking in the subsequent decades from Cary Grant to Elizabeth Taylor. It became part of the Belmond group in 2010 and is looking at its glorious best after a series of works and renovations.
Which room?
It has 67 rooms – from superior and deluxe rooms to nine suites and 26 junior suites – so still feels intimate and exclusive. While all are in the same mid-century style, each room is decorated differently, with some guests asking for the same room again and again, while others opting for variety.
For real high-end luxury, there are three signature suites, which provide a vast bedroom and living room, and a bathroom bigger than most London apartments. They are decorated with Sicilian ceramics, vintage Mimmo Rotella movie posters and copper bathtubs.
Facilities
The private beach is stunning, with luxurious loungers under drink and food service direct to your umbrella. Beyond the shingle, the sea is bright turquoise. As well as the rock that brave swimmers throw themselves off, there is also the opportunity to snorkel, do watersports or visit the nearby Isola Bella nature reserve.
Just a quick walk from the seafront is the spectacular infinity pool, which also offers views across the bay. It’s an intimate spot and has a bar to keep hydrated and an ice cream trolley to cool down in the hot Sicilian sun.
Villa Sant’Andrea provides a fitness centre, spa and wellbeing experiences from in-cabana treatments to its signature jasmine and prickly pear body ritual. For parents looking for a bit of escape there is also a kids’ club, which keeps the little ones entertained with shell painting, jewellery making and games. allowing parents to fully enjoy the luxury on offer.
Food and drink
There are various places to eat and drink around the villa. The most chichi is the Ristorante Sant’Andrea, overseen by executive chef Agostino D’Angelo, a Sicilian native from Trapani who learnt the secrets of home cooking with his grandmother (who better than a nonna to imbue a love of fine Italian cuisine).
Overlooking the bay, it offers breakfast, lunch and dinner and a delicious menu packed with traditional Siciilan dishes from parmigiana to caponata. It is glorious to sit on the brick and terracotta terrace, flecked with geraniums, looking out over the Ionian Sea whether for a lunch of fresh seafood delicacies paired with clean, crisp glasses of Etna Bianco or a breakfast of granita and brioche, with a cannoli on the side for those feeling particularly decadent.
Brace, a part of the Bar Sant’Andrea offers a more relaxed menu, which includes pizzas and meats and seafood from the grill with guests shaded by pines and palm trees as a gentle breeze rustles through.
The dining piece de resistance may be the fine dining restaurant Brizza eight intimate tables of two with a tasting menu right on the water’s edge, which runs from Wednesdays to Sundays.
As part of the renovations, the hotel this year opened its new beach club, Lido Villeggiatura, to evoke the elegant Fifties Italian summer holiday, which includes a beach bar. Patrons can eat there – on nights they have special food stations offering oysters, cured fish and mini burgers of beef, tuna and veg with a DJ playing. Other nights the hotel puts on includes open air film screenings on the beach.
Extracurricular
The hotel puts on a minibus transfer to Taormina. It goes direct to sister site the Grand Hotel Timeo in the town’s centre, where guests can grab a drink on the panoramic terrace overlooking Mount Etna – which has been looking particularly dramatic of late after eruptions over the past few months.
Taormina is a beautiful hilltop town and wandering the main street of Corso Umberto I in the late afternoon to take in the atmosphere is a must. There are a range of stylish bars, boutique shops and restaurants that range from fine dining to classic Sicilian fare.
The ancient Greek-Roman theatre is a must visit too, with Etna in the background it has been described as one of the most picturesque cultural venues in the world, and it’s worth a stroll to the 13th century cathedral and baroque fountain in front as well.
Villa Sant’Andrea can also sort various activities from tours around the wineries of Etna, to visits to where Francis Ford Coppola filmed scenes from The Godfather parts I and II (a tour several characters took on White Lotus) as well as boat trips around the coast.
Best for…
...an intimate, luxurious yet still relaxed get away. Guests are superbly looked after by the huge team of serving staff and the attention to detail is on a different level. It has the exclusive feel of the Cote d’Azur but has none of the attitude. It’s a place to revel in, soak up and live like they do in prestige American drama shows.
The details
The hotel is open from late March to early November. August is the busiest month for the Villa Sant’Andrea and good times to try in terms of weather and availability include May and September.
Villa Sant'Andrea, A Belmond Hotel, Taormina Mare is €900 for a garden view room in low season, including taxes, breakfast, access to Lido Villeggiatura and complimentary boat tour of Taormina Mare and Isola Bella. belmond.com
