San Domenico Palace Hotel, Taormina, Sicily: hotel review

By Richard Murray Published: 8:00AM GMT 20 Feb 2010

Previous of Images Next San Domenico Palace Hotel boasts superb views of Mount Etna, Taormina?s ancient Greek theatre and the Ionian Sea The hotel is close to Taormina"s busy streets and restaurants Photo: CORBIS

The location

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Seconds from Taorminas busy pedestrianised shopping street and restaurants, this well-preserved, 15th-century former monastery is a cool and airy haven of space and historic quirkiness.

Balanced on the slopes between Mount Etna, Taorminas ancient Greek theatre and the Ionian Sea, it has stunning views of all three. Large formal gardens laid out with walks of jasmine, rosemary, hibiscus and flowering trees provide a range of idyllic nooks for reading or quiet contemplation.

We like

Imagine an expansive Oxbridge college with two medieval cloisters, endless cavernous halls and three restaurants each with terraces but with only 105 rooms. We felt we had the place to ourselves and enjoyed inspecting the fragments of antique sculpture we found liberally scattered around.

Ever-attentive staff were delightfully considerate: friendly but with Forties-style professionalism (and uniforms) and a huge range of cocktails and local wines to offer.

Not so keen

We thought that the pool, while lovely, could have been bigger, and the punishing euro meant we had to ignore anything with a number in it.

The rooms

Many of the rooms are luxuriously converted monks cells off two 100m-long vaulted corridors. Others have private terraces. All have breathtaking views over the gardens and down to the sea. Night views of Etna, when erupting, are a high point.

The other guests

Most noticeable for not being noticeable and tending to congregate around the pool. Encouragingly high proportion of Italians.

The food and drink

This is where San Domenico really excels. In the three restaurants you can sample old-fashioned flambed dishes and Michelin-starred gastronomic menus that will leave you cursing that you were not hungrier. An extraordinary range of what must be one of the finest collections of teas, coffees (including kopi luwak) and hot chocolates in the world. Full traditional afternoon tea is available by the pool, but the truly jaw-dropping moment was the first glimpse of breakfast. Unbelievable on the scale of Arabian Nights. Much of the food is freshly grown in the gardens.

The bottom line

Classic rooms from €203 (£176) per night, including buffet breakfast.

The details

San Domenico Palace Hotel, Taormina, Sicily, Italy (00 39 942 613111; www.hotelsandomenicotaormina.it).

Telegraph rating (out of five)

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