TRAVEL
WITH EVENING VIEWS OVER THE TWINKLING BAY, THE 60-SEATER RESTAURANT SERVES NUEVO SICILIAN CUISINE WHILE MUSIC FROM THE GRAND PIANO BURBLES RELAXING CLASSICS IN THE BACKGROUND.
and Truman Capote all stayed at the Timeo, as did DH Lawrence who lived here for four years while penning Lady Chatterley’s Lover, and Guy de Maupassant, who famously said of Taormina: “It is only a landscape, but a landscape where you seem to find everything on earth to seduce the eyes, the spirit and the imagination.” By the 1950s, celebrities from the worlds of cinema, music and theatre had joined the nightly gatherings on the famous literary terrace, where they would mingle and sip cocktails as the sun dipped low in the sky and the smell of jasmine and hibiscus lingered in the warm dusk. This year the hotel celebrates 140 years of hospitality; recently acquired by OrientExpress and refurbished in high baroque style, the Timeo is just as beautiful and imposing as it ever was. My junior suite boasts bags of old-style glamour, a marble bathroom at each end and views of the sea and mountains beyond, while the balcony overlooks the infinity pool and the colourful gardens that wind down to meet the tiny
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cobbled lanes of the Borgo Medievale, the oldest part of town where craftsmen trade unusual handmade goods. Taormina itself is full of designer shops and stylish shoppers, but back at the Timeo time hovers around the early part of the last century, so that Hercule Poirot himself wouldn’t look out of place wandering among the plush velvets and polished wood floors. With evening views over the twinkling bay, the 60-seater restaurant serves Nuevo Sicilian cuisine while music from the grand piano burbles relaxing classics in the background. Head chef Roberto Toro trained in Germany, but his preference is for the traditional food of his native Sicily cooked to fine dining standards. As you’d expect from an Island, seafood is celebrated on most menus, and crudo, the Italian version of sashimi, is one of the most popular ways to eat it. Raw tuna and sea-bass Carpaccio in citrus marinade is a plate of fresh flavours and soft, silky textures, contrasted with a delicate and crunchy strip of smoked black
bread, while a starter of zucchini flowers filled with goats cheese ricotta brings crisp pods filled with the mild and milky cheese, loved by Sicilians for its richness and versatility. The pasta course delivers two quintessentially Sicilian dishes; Pasta alla Norma hails from Catania on the east coast and is one of the Island’s most iconic dishes. The simple sauce uses little more than fresh tomatoes and fried egg plant, sometimes with a little crumbled chilli or garlic, but the superior quality of these seasonal ingredients elevates even the most basic versions to a sumptuous dish that’s all about the perfect balance of sugar and acid. The Timeo’s Pasta alla Norma uses super sweet tomatoes, a little basil on the side and a scattering of the piquant ricotta salata.
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