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SICILY TAORMINA SAN DOMENICO PALACE HOTEL
Two features of this converted 15th century monastery will forever remain in my memory: its cloister and its garden.
Arriving in a taxi from Catania airport (about 30 miles away), my first impression of the San Domenico was excellent. Taormina, because of its exquisite location and terrific views, is a magnet for every tourist in Sicily. I had been warned to expect crowds. But, once within the outer door of the hotel, all was peace and calm. The first courtyard at once gave me a sense of pampered seclusion. In the entrance hall – and, as I was to discover, throughout the extensive public rooms – pieces of antique furniture, Old Master paintings and ancient reliquaries added to the feeling of being in a place of luxury and history. The monastery was turned into an hotel in the 1890s. It was then that the large ‘Grand Hotel’ extension was built. Rooms can be had in the original monastery, but – having been the cells of the Benedictines – they are slightly small, so I would suggest in that part of the building you should have a suite. (A ‘Convent suite with sea view’ is 615-760 euros a night, according to season.)
I have already mentioned the extensive public rooms. They are cool, spacious and well-furnished in a traditional manner. In one of them, I came upon a framed photograph of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother – an unexpected delight for your royalist correspondent. You might care to know that other former guests have included Cary Grant, Kaiser Wilhelm II and the playwright Pirandello. Clearly, the San Domenico appeals to lots of different sorts of people.
Executive Chef Massimo Mantarro is a man who likes to serve traditional Italian food, made carefully from good ingredients. His approach is to be applauded. It provided me with a meal full of pleasure. Marinated salmon – with herbs from the hotel garden and chopped anchovies – was carved by the table. Cannelloni came filled with ricotta cheese and aubergines, with tomato sauce and baked ricotta. Then a fine piece of beef fillet was flambéed by the table by the impressive maitre d’ Giuseppe Bonfiglio. Served with a peppered sauce, this meat was full of rich flavours. Signor Bonfiglio returned to do some more flaming, with my pudding – a thoroughly decadent dish of caramelized pear, Grand Marnier and dark chocolate. (Allow around 100 euros for four courses.) The wine list is extensive. Signs of great intelligence abound among its 700 offerings. It cheered me up no end, for example, to see a German sweet wine (Riesling auslese, Pruem, 1995 – 110 euros, half) and to find that brilliant French red from the Languedoc, Grange des Pères (2000 – 112 euros). I went for a white made from a Sicilian grape I am beginning to like very much, Insolia. This one was clean and bold and full of grapefruit and lemon (Principi di Butera, 2004 – 38 euros). For my red, I chose one of those great Tuscans. The 1995 Luce (130 euros) yielded a vegetal nose, soft tannins and an enormous depth of black fruit – currants, berries, damsons and cherries. A lovely bottle. I hope you will visit the San Domenico Palace. For then you will be a fellow enthusiast. You will know the joy of sitting in its ravishing garden, and you will experience the serenity of sipping tea in its cloister. And you will not want to leave.
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SAN DOMENICO PALACE HOTEL
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© Francis Bown 2003
There are many hotels which tempt me to linger within their walls. If they offer me first class service, sumptuous décor and lovely views, I am usually happy to sit about and enjoy the luxury – for a time. Eventually, though, I begin to fidget. Then I will be up and off to see the local sights. But now I have found an hotel which provided me with such intense pleasure that I could happily have moved in as a permanent (and immobile) resident. Everyone told me that I would like the San Domenico Palace. They were wrong. I did not like it: I loved it.
Let me attempt to describe the garden first. It is at the back of the hotel, and forms a vast terrace, overlooking the Ionian Sea far below. In what must surely be one of the most atmospheric spots in Europe, sunshine warms the roses and the jasmine and the orange blossom. It warmed me, too, as I wandered along the narrow pathways. Through the foliage, were glimpses of the bell tower and of the windows of the monastic cells. I sat on a bench and looked across the hillside at the town of Taormina and its ancient glory, the Greek Theatre. Then I strolled along to the other end of the garden and settled myself on a wooden seat. From this shaded vantage-point, as the bees went about their business among petals of red and purple and gold, I gazed at the backdrop of my scene. Mighty Etna, snow-capped and proud, smoked lazily in the heat of the afternoon.
When the temperature in the garden rose a little too sharply, I found it wise to retreat to the larger of the two cloisters. Here, next to trees of lemon and palm and by arches of Renaissance perfection, I would order a pot of lapsang with lemon. I sipped the cup that cheers to the sound of birdsong, and thought more than once that there could be no better place for tea in the whole wide world.
My own billet was in the newer part. Room 631 was a ‘Deluxe double, Grand Hotel, sea view’ and was therefore 370-550 euros a night, according to season. In through a small hallway, I found a decent chamber with cream walls, a floor of red tiles and a ten-foot ceiling. Its wooden furniture was of rustic design. On its walls were prints of Antique vases in gilt frames. In the tiled bathroom was a tub of proper size, one wash basin and a bidet. Yet the chief glory of this apartment was out through the double doors: a terrace, made private by high walls on either side, with a wrought iron table and chairs – and a view (pictured). Set out before me were the blues of sky and ocean, and – once again – the bleached red bricks of the distant Greek Theatre.
Given the abundance of space, the hotel moves its dining rooms according to the seasons. During my visit, eating was done in the Antico Refettorio, an impressive space with some decent oil paintings on the walls. (In high season the larger Les Bourgainvillées and the small Principe Cerami are used.) At breakfast, I asked for one of the large windows to be opened. Then I sat back, cooled by the breeze from the sea, as the friendly waiters in their cream jackets replenished my pots of coffee. (The friendliness of the staff was, in fact, a particular feature of my stay. Clearly, the General Manager – Mario Ferraro – is running a happy ship.) From the buffet I secured tasty bacon with wonderfully sweet baby tomatoes and slices of blood orange with chunks of pineapple – all of excellent quality. 
At dinner, the waiters had changed into dark jackets with golden epaulettes, a lady pianist was playing Strauss waltzes in the adjacent bar and candles were burning in the wrought iron wall brackets. I sat at a large round table with an off-white cloth, on which burned a single, tapered candle. I thought I would eat well. And I did.
From California, 1999 Dominus is 290 euros and 1997 Beringer Private Reserve Merlot is 189 euros. If you want to impress your guests with the depth of your pockets, 1995 Pétrus is 2,650 euros. And there are some tempting Tusan lovelies – like 1997 Sassicaia (650 euros) and 1997 Brunello di Montalcino Riserva, Biondi Santi (750 euros).