Page 380 - The Rough Guide of Sicily

night minimum stay. From €90

Terre di Vendicari Contrada Vaddeddi 346 359 3845, terredivendicari.it.
Minimalist chic in a country hotel at the heart of the Vendicari nature reserve, with
views out to sea over its olive and lemon groves. Rooms are cool and stylish, with
freestanding Philippe Starck baths and abundant bathtime products. Fabulous

swimming pool, too. €230

Villa Romana del Tellaro
Contrada Vaddeddi • Daily 9am–7pm • €6 • 0931 573 883, villaromanadeltellaro.com

In 1971 the remains of the Villa Romana del Tellaro, an Imperial-era Roman country

villa dating back to the fourth century AD, were discovered on land above the River
Tellaroo, about 2km inland from Vendicari. Though on a smaller scale than the Villa
Romana del Casale, Tellaro too has some fantastic mosaics, including scenes from the
Odyssey, and a wonderfully realized wild-animal hunting scene in which people and
animals are shown wading through water. There is a magnificent tiger too – suggesting
that these mosaics, like those at Casale, were the work of North African craftsmen.

Marzamemi

MARZAMEMI, prettily set around a crescent harbour backed by the port’s old
tonnara, is still renowned for its tuna dishes, and is home to a film festival in late
July ( cinemadifrontiera.it), showing international contemporary and vintage films in

open-air venues. Behind the shell of a church and palazzo, the restored tonnara
square shelters bars and restaurants that come into their own in high summer, when
tourists descend on the village in droves.

EATING: MARZAMEMI

La Cialoma Piazza Regina Margherita 23 0931 841 772. Immediately appealing,
cosy little restaurant run by a family of women, occupying one of the diminutive
buildings of the tonnara complex and specializing not just in tuna, but in several local
varieties of blue fish, served in hearty and tasty traditional dishes with a light creative
touch. Daily lunch & dinner; closed Nov, and Tues Dec–Feb.

Portopalo di Capo Passero

Eight kilometres south of Marzamemi down the rugged coastal road, PORTOPALO
DI CAPO PASSERO is another low-key summer resort. You might be able to
persuade someone to row you over to the little islet that lies just offshore, complete
with a seventeenth-century castle. Otherwise, follow the minor cape road out to the

southeastern point of Isola delle Correnti (the tiny islet just off the cape, linked to it at
low tide). You’re on the southernmost tip of Sicily here, with nothing between you and