Sicilian Paradise At San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel

4 months ago

San Domenico Palace is a beacon of beauty even without its White Lotus fame

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Recognise this hotel? You must have watched The White Lotus, the second season shooting this storied hotel to fame – but this isn’t why you should visit. Putting aside its White Lotus fame, Taormina’s San Domenico Palace, A Four Seasons Hotel, is a property to behold. Dating back to 1374, history thrums beneath your footsteps here, traversing hallowed halls and standing where a coterie of monks once ate, prayed, lived. And now it’s a haven of luxury, inviting discerning travellers to check in, lie back, and find some all important zen with the most stunning of backdrops.

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Hotel Review: San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel – Sicily

Trawling websites for a place to rest your head in Taormina, it’s tricky to distinguish the genuinely luxurious from the premium price of the area – but the Four Seasons, naturally, is the real deal. A stone’s throw from Corso Umberto, the beating heart of ancient Taormina, San Domenico Palace is a sight to behold. Hidden behind a leafy courtyard soundtracked by the sweet tinkle of a small water fountain, what was once a monastery is now – and has been for more than 100 years – Sicily’s best address. A Four Seasons hotel since 2021, King Edward VII, the second Baron Rothschild, Oscar Wilde and DH Lawrence have all stayed here in its time as a hotel, hilltop Taormina a honeypot for artists and writers throughout recent history; indeed, the hotel’s time-capsule guest book boasts names as illustrious as Rudyard Kipling, Thomas Mann, Roger Peyrefitte, John Steinbeck, and plenty more. Wilhelm von Gloeden famously photographed the boys of Taormina, posed as classical Greek figures draped in robes and backdropped by the dramatic scenery; D. H. Lawrence waxed lyrical on the town’s nighttime vista, imagining ‘The Big Dipper pitching headlong into the sea on the left, terribly falling, and Taormina in a rift on the right fuming tremendously between the jaws and the darkness’. In the golden age of train travel, Paris, Berlin and London were all connected to Taormina’s Art Nouveau train station, making these artistic trips even easier. Alas.

A few decades after Lawrence passed, fellow writer Ernest Hemingway was enraptured by the town. On a week spent together in the town, he wrote to Jim Gamble: ‘I think of old Taormina in the moonlight and you and I, a little illuminated at times, but always so pleasantly, walking through that old place and the path of the moon on the sea and Etna fading.’ It’s hard not to be inspired by the perpetual beauty and romance as Hemingway was, and San Domenico Palace really does encapsulate the creme de la creme: glistening sea views stretch across the panorama, with the town’s Ancient Greek theatre and endless bougainvillaea laden buildings clinging to the hillside as it descends to the ocean, white boats bobbing on the surface, some jet skiers swinging foamy donuts across the otherwise still surface. Mount Etna looms above it all to the southwest, the never-tiresome, dramatic backdrop. (My Nobel Prize in Literature, however, is still pending.)

‘Wow’ is a frequent refrain as we marvel at the property from every angle, our favourite is La Sala della Grande Madia, a light-filled refectory connecting the bar to the newer wing (dating to 1896), filled with endless art from top to bottom, with a huge chandelier hanging from the ceiling amongst it all. The next room, Sala Finestrata, is home to a giant, thick rug and houses artefacts, the huge finestrata (window) humbly framing the town and sea outside.

We find countless grazie milles also falling from our lips when our every desire is answered before we’ve even had a chance to dream it up. By the pool, this means towels are unfurled and water delivered in a cool bag before we have a chance to ask, while tables are brimming with suncream, hats, fans, sunglasses, and anything else you could possibly need beside a pool. This is where the dramatic setting really shines: the 21-metre infinity pool blends with the Ionian sea beyond, a calm stretch which itself blends with the horizon, hazy in the heat. Mount Etna rumbles to the south, as the town tumbles down the hillside to the sea. Hidden beneath the pool is a tranquil, subterranean spa, featuring another smaller pool and five treatment rooms.

Now restored and used as the Chiesa Ballroom following unfortunate WWII bombing, the property’s church is the oldest part of San Domenico Palace. It is here that the San Dominican convent was established in 1374 and just next door was the large home of one of the convent’s wealthiest patrons, Baron Damiano Rosso d’Altavilla. Now the hotel’s main building (bequeathed to the church after his death), the monks’ quarters have been converted into spacious bedrooms (where Daphne, Cameron, Harper and Ethan stay, for fans). Perched above each door is a painting of a saint, selected by the monk that used to live inside and preserved long after their passings.

Flash forward to 1866 and the Italian state sought to repossess the property thanks to a new state law designed to suppress religious orders – but one savvy monk found a loophole: Rosso’s will only ever loaned the property to the Dominicans, meaning the state had no right to it. The monk tracked down a descendant of Rosso, Prince Cerami, who regained the rights and allowed the monk to stay for the rest of his life. But, once the monk had passed, Cerami pursued a new vision for the property: to transform it into a luxurious hotel. Remembered in the name of the hotel’s indulgent Michelin starred restaurant, Principe Cerami added a large Liberty-style wing to San Domenico in 1896, where the majority of the rooms are housed (including those in which fictional Albie, Dominic and Bert, and Tanya and Greg all enjoy), all with balconies and sea views, and some with plunge pools to boot.

Ancient Cloister

San Domenico became one of Europe’s first grand hotels, capitalising on that late-1800s fascination with the fashionable town; today, it remains en vogue, with a slew of big name brands including Patek Philippe, Louis Vuitton, Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger, Dior and more, all spliced among local artisans along the highstreet. While Cerami rented and eventually sold the property to Sicily’s leading luxurious hotel group Società Grandi Alberghi Siciliani, the hotel’s reputation only grew, welcoming some of the world’s most illustrious stars of stage and screen, including Greta Garbo, Ingrid Bergman, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren.

San Domenico Palace was undoubtedly gorgeous before Four Seasons came aboard, but the historical features really shine thanks to a thoughtful overhaul led by Valentina Pisani, joined by head of historical restoration Rosaria Catania Cucchiara. One hundred and eleven rooms are scattered across the interconnected buildings (which are just as pretty on the outside as they are within, best spotted smugly from Piazza IX Aprile), providing a spacious haven from the heat beyond, with a snazzy console controlling lights, curtains and signalling to housekeeping whether you’d like them to come inside while you’re out. If you’re a messy traveller, you’ll be wowed by the attentive and thoughtful housekeeping who don’t just fold up and organise your every strewn belonging into neat piles, but gather your many wires with a leather, Four Seasons-branded cable tie and leave a tassel bookmark emblazoned with an Audrey Hepburn quote atop your latest read. A handful of rooms are hidden in the hotel’s quietest corner, treated to views of a more peaceful aspect: the tranquil Ancient Cloister laden with greenery. Another cloister (the Grand Cloister) sits just beyond the reception, this one just as leafy but even bigger, an oasis to enjoy all day drinks and aperitivo, often accompanied by live music.

The Italian gardens

Art curated by James Robertson can be found around every corner, modern pieces striking up an intriguing conversation with the ancient walls they grace (to learn more about what they’re admiring, guests can embark on a tour with the art concierge). Step outside (through bougainvillaea archway, naturally) to be immersed in Marco Bay’s four landscaped Italian gardens: lavender thrives on one side along with bees and butterflies galore; on the opposite side is a picturesque citrus garden. ‘An Italian garden is not complete without a citrus tree,’ we are told. ‘So we decided to plant 40.’

Walk a little further to find the pool, accompanied by a solarium terrace, striped parasols and cloud-like loungers pulled up right alongside the gently swaying water. Poolside loungers are snapped up first, but the solarium is a more peaceful, equally picturesque sunning spot, beds interspersed with trees, hedges, flowers and a secret chess set, with lizards skittering across the tile, grass and wood floors. Tucked beside the pool, find seafood restaurant Anciovi, perfect for a light lunch of ultra refreshing salads and tasty pizzas, again accompanied by azure sea-and-sky views, shining even brighter alongside locally-hand-painted tables and crockery, each piece unique. I was overjoyed to savour a bowl of tasty anchovy pasta served in a bowl playfully painted with skinny blue fish.

As one day blends into the next, the toss up is thus: rise early for a first-thing swim, the only thing disrupting the smooth water your own strokes; or hot foot to breakfast to snag an in-demand terrace seat with views of Taormina on one side, the ocean on the other, and Etna on yet another for the full 180° experience. Or why not alternate each morning? Breakfast is served in Principe Cerami, with a tempting buffet to plunder along with options a la carte. By night, this space, the hotel’s flagship restaurant, boasts a boon of delicate dishes crafted with locally-grown produce and rustled up to traditional recipes by Etna born chef Massimo Mantarro. Book a table for sunset for the most superb view of Taormina Bay, best enjoyed with a crisp glass of Sicilian wine. Inside, a buzzy bar is home to the famed grand piano.

In 1954, John Steinbeck and his wife stayed at the San Domenico on their way home from Greece. ‘We are on the slope of Etna in the most luxurious hotel, a thousand feet above the sea. There are flowers everywhere,’ he wrote. ‘We are reading and sleeping and writing some letters and from our balcony we look out, beyond Sicily, towards the extreme shore of the rest of Italy and then we admire Mount Etna which is overhung by as black a cloud as I think you have ever seen. I think the gods are having a meeting there.’ It’s easy to absorb this easy breezy attitude at San Domenico Palace: eat, sleep, lounge, ogle at the views, repeat. Outside, towering Taormina awaits, staggering up and tumbling down endless hills. The ancient theatre is a must, a terracotta stone marvel dating back to the 3rd century with epic crystal sea views through soaring pillars (visit first thing to avoid the crowds). Further afield, the hotel can arrange excursions to Modica, Noto, Siracusa, and even the tiny island of Ortigia – and yes, fans of The Godfather can also be treated to a special tour of Sicily just like the Di Grasso Family enjoyed in The White Lotus.

Even without those White Lotus references, though, San Domenico Palace is a beacon of beauty, with a feast for the eyes and soul hidden around every corner. In fact, it surpasses beauty seen on screen 10-fold. You have to see it – wander around it, lose yourself in the symmetrical cloisters, smell the flowers – to believe it.