Beautiful Taormina

The good and bad thing about Italy is that no matter how hard we work at creating problems that give us a bad image around the world, we have places that are so beautiful it is almost impossible to ruin them completely. Of course, it’s upsetting but when arriving in Taormina it is best to focus on what is nice and wish that the local administration will soon understand an amusement arcade next to Duomo is not a great way to present oneself, just like some shops in the main pedestrian street, which are just as banal as every shop in every other tourist destination on the planet. They do not add anything, in fact they take away something.

The history of Taormina is centennial, it is the last town in the province of Messina on the way to Catania and in fact it looks up to the latter. You go from zero metres above the Ionian Sea to 206 metres on the rock, with Etna on one side and the coast of Calabria on the horizon in front of you. The dilemma, when deciding to spend a relaxing period there, is whether to choose a hotel below, convenient when reaching beaches and bays, or one above, where the breath-taking view is guaranteed and it’s nice to have a walk in town at night. As for me, in order to avoid ending up like the donkey from Buridano, I chose option A (as in above) in June and option B (as in below) in July, yet with a few happy trips uphill. Why should one deny oneself something?

First San Domenico for dinner and San Pietro for the presentation of XXL, 50 piatti che hanno allargato la mia vita; then the pleasure of doing nothing, if not relaxing and be happy, in two pearls part of the Belmond group, Villa Sant’Andrea on the sea, and Timeo uphill, next to the Teatro Greco, the kind of location that leaves no space for doubts. You’re there and feel as if you’re under a spell. The more I travel, the more I’m convinced that it is all about service. Counting on a luxury structure is just a question of money: you either have enough to build one or buy one, or you stand in a lower category. Management is something different. And you can see all sorts of outcomes. It’s like with events: everyone can rent a space, but creating an interesting programme is a different matter because it is not a question of money.

The history of Villa Sant’Andrea is rooted in a palace built in 1830. It is larger and longer than taller and deeper and overlooks the bay of Mazzarò. There’s a private beach and breakfast is served in the garden, same for supper. A few steps from the cable car to the town of Taormina. Knowing my tiredness and the length of the stay, three days, after I arrived I didn’t leave the villa, only on the second day and just to dine at Duomo, while on the third day I had an aperitif and dined at Timeo to finish the holiday in the best possible way, one of those perfect moments you wouldn’t change at all, if not making it longer because it is always hard to leave someone or something when you’re feeling good.

As for Timeo, the very first hotel in Taormina, it seems everyone has been there. Still I’m not the kind of person who gets impressed by big names also because they sometimes, though this is not the case, belong to distant times and the faces never changed since then. Just like the souvenir photos on the walls of tourist restaurants. The strongpoint of Timeo is in its being very contemporary and in the style of the people who stay here. It is present beauty.

1. To be continued