specialists and many of them are as good as anything in Tuscany, thanks to the ever-growing brigade of designconscious, pool-using Italians and foreigners who have bought properties on the island and are now renting them out. Owners of second homes have begun to realise that, besides the area around Ragusa, there’s a lot more to the fertile skirts of Etna than overdone Taormina. Rural villages such as Santa Venera are full of character, the volcanic scenery is full of drama, there are good places to eat and snazzy new boutique hotels (such as Shalai in Linguaglossa: www.shalai.it). Then there are the centri storici, the historic centres of cities such as Palermo or Siracusa. Once plain dangerous – not least because you were liable to be hit by a piece of falling masonry from a slowly disintegrating palazzo – these are now being cleaned up in every sense. Art galleries, restaurants, B&Bs and craft shops are sprouting like porcini mushrooms. But don’t worry if, like me, you actually liked the confusion and colour of Old Palermo: there’s plenty of that left. This is Sicily, after all.
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Kanoo World Traveller May 2011
Images: Photolibrary; Shutterstock; La Verdura; Grand Hotel Timeo. Text: Lee Marshall / The Interview People / The Daily Telegraph.
Clockwise from top left: Locals playing cards; Private terrace of Verdura Golf & Spa Resort’s Presidential Suite; Classic Suite at same hotel.