Page 276 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

overnight in Forza d’Agrò, the small and simple Villa Souvenir hotel is a reasonable

option. It also has a decent restaurant, with half-board deals available on request. €70

< Back to Messina, Taormina and the northeast

Taormina

TAORMINA, dominating two grand, sweeping bays from high on Monte Tauro, is
Sicily’s best-known and classiest resort. Although it has no beach of its own – they
are all sited quite a way below town – the outstanding remains of the classical theatre
and the sheer beauty of the town’s site, framed by a distant Etna, amply compensate.

Beloved of writers, artists and celebrities across the decades, it’s an expensive place,
but the air of exclusivity at least is only skin-deep – at heart, what was once a small
hill-village still can’t seem to believe its good luck. Much of its late medieval
character remains intact, with the one main traffic-free street presenting an unbroken
line of aged palazzi, flower-decked alleys and intimate piazzas. The downside is that
most of the time, and particularly between June and September and at New Year and
Easter, Taormina simply seethes as the narrow alleys are filled shoulder-to-shoulder

with tourists. Things get a little quieter in winter, and this is also the time when the
views of Etna – snowcapped to boot – are incomparably clearer, while the spring
brings flamboyant hillside displays of flowering plants and shrubs. Entering
Taormina’s old centre from Porta Messina, you’ll find yourself immediately on the
town’s axis, Corso Umberto I, magnificently heralded by the turreted Palazzo

Corvaja.