Are you about to discover Sicily, but haven’t chosen where to stay yet?

If you’re looking for refined hotels, attentive to detail and a little bit eccentric, grab a pen and note these 5 dream properties.

DONNA CARMELA: RESORT & LODGE

Donna Carmela

Donna Carmela offers several types of accommodation, including beautiful lodges set in nature with a private heated lava-stone jacuzzi; as soon as we opened the glass door to our veranda we for a moment imagined we were in the middle of a tropical forest!

In addition to the lodges there are refined rooms, a beautiful pool and a restaurant (La Cucina di Donna Carmela) that’s definitely worth a dinner.

The resort is 30 km from Catania, at the foot of Mount Etna.

IANCU: CHARME APARTMENTS

Inside the apartment there is also a kitchen and a pool available to all guests.

The apartment is 200 m from the cable car station to Taormina’s center and 800 m from Isola Bella.

ZASH: COUNTRY BOUTIQUE HOTEL

We quickly recharged with a swim in the beautiful guest pool and treated ourselves to a delicious fruit cocktail.

Besides the classic rooms, Zash offers rooms with large windows immersed in the greenery of the palm grove and suites with private pools among Sicily’s citrus trees.

But the nicest touch, in our opinion, is the breakfast room, which in the evening becomes a restaurant—designed around and inside an ancient vat where wine was once fermented.

The boutique hotel is 30 km from Catania, at the foot of Mount Etna.

ASMUNDO DI GISIRA: ART MARKET LIVING BOUTIQUE

11 fabulous rooms, 6 of which are called Art Rooms for their décor—mirrors, artworks and names inspired by Greek mythology or Sicilian history.

Asmundo di Gisira

As soon as we arrived we were welcomed with a lovely tour of the palace and all its works; we found a Sicilian-style cat woman outside the breakfast room, a huge flamingo, cartoon paintings and even Spider-Man on an external wall visible from the beautiful Piazza Mazzini.

Being in central Catania you can reach all the main attractions on foot, but obviously parking will be challenging.

MASSERIA DELLA VOLPE: LUXURY ECO-RESORT

Set in the Valley of Noto, the luxury-eco resort is created from a small rural hamlet, renovated to immerse guests in comfort and charm, with a homely feel.

A beautiful pool to cool off on hot Sicilian days, a spa with an enviable menu, and a viewpoint area with a Berber tent where you can enjoy reading a book surrounded only by the sounds of nature.

The Masseria is located in the heart of the Val di Noto, so it’s a strategic base to visit Noto (20 km), famous beaches like Calamosche (20 km), head down to Marzamemi (20 km) or up to Ragusa (45 km).