WHERE: 109 miles/176 km east of Florence. GALLERIA NAZIONALE DELLE MARCHE: Tel 39/0722-2760; www.palazzoducaleurbino.it. HOTEL BONCONTE: Tel 39/0722-2463; www.viphotels.it. Cost: $125 (off-peak), $200 (peak). LOCANDA DELLA VALLE NUOVA: Tel 39/0722-330303; www.vallenuova.it. Cost: from $80. When: closed Nov–May. HOTEL VITTORIA: Tel 39/0721-34343; www.viphotels.it. Cost: $185. BEST TIMES: late Jul for Urbino’s Festival Internazionale di Musica Antica, Italy’s most important Renaissance and Baroque music festival; Aug for Pesaro’s Rossini Opera Festival.
Europe’s Most Southerly Island
PANTELLERIA
Italy
Wind-tossed, stark, even forlorn, the remote Italian island of Pantelleria (the “daughter of the wind”) is not for everyone. A craggy upthrust of lava, Pantelleria is an ancient crossroads of culture, lying between Sicily and Tunisia, just 43 miles from the African coast. The island’s volcanic birthright is apparent, with abundant hot springs (some pouring directly into the sea to form natural baths), sauna caves, fumaroles, and crater lakes, including the Specchio di Venere (Mirror of Venus), where, according to myth, the goddess Venus sought her reflection in the emerald green waters. The rich black soil sustains olive groves, caper bushes (salted Pantelleria capers are renowned), and Zibibbo grapes, which are crafted into unusual wines, most notably the golden, honeylike passito. Pantelleria’s cuisine is remarkable for its simple, full-flavored gusto, perhaps best savored at Al Tramonto Restaurant, with a beautiful stone patio high above the sea, where sunset (tramonto) views rival local seafood specialties.
Traditional dammusi, ancient stone homes and structures with domed roofs and arched, Moorish-style interiors, are an integral element of the windswept island’s austere beauty. When Milan’s creative set began to use Pantelleria for fashion shoots in the 1980s, the island quickly caught on as the ultimate getaway, and rustic-but-refined lodgings and restaurants quickly sprang up. Chic and intimate, Monastero is the island’s most noted lodging; it’s the creation of fashion photographer Fabrizio Ferri, who transformed an abandoned dammusi village into a private retreat of timeless charm. Le Case di Gloria is a more casual collection of old dammusi converted to comfortable lodgings, with footpaths leading down to the rocky shore. More modern lodgings exist, such as the Mursia Hotel, whose rooms are designed with the arched dammusi style in mind.
The Arco dell’Elefante, formed of gray lava, resembles an elephant drinking from the sea and is the island’s unofficial symbol.
WHERE: 118 miles/190 km southwest of Palermo, Sicily. AL TRAMONTO: Tel 39/0349-537-2065. Cost: dinner $55. MONASTERO: Tel 39/0349-559-5580; in the U.S., 917-370-7995; www.monasteropantelleria.com. Cost: from $550 per night (1-week minimum). LE CASE DI GLORIA: Tel 39/0328-277-0934; www.dammusidigloria.it. Cost: from $100 (off-peak), from $270 (peak). When: closed mid-Nov–Mar. MURSIA HOTEL: Tel 39/0923-911217; www.mursiahotel.it. Cost: from $200. When: closed Nov–Mar. BEST TIMES: Apr–Jun and Sep–Oct for nicest weather; late Jun for the Feast of the Madonna della Margana, with processions, feasting, and fireworks.
Where Truffles and Wine Take Center Stage
LE LANGHE
Piedmont, Italy
The vine-covered hills and proud old towns of Le Langhe are as mellow as the famous Barolo, nebbiolo, and Barbaresco wines they produce. Hot summers and misty autumns are also hospitable to the tartufo bianco (white truffle). With this and a number of other culinary pleasures near at hand, it’s not surprising that the now-global Slow Food movement had its origins here. Asti is famous around the world for its sparkling (spumante) whites, as well as for its Palio, an ages-old bareback horse race around the Piazza Alfieri in late September. Explore nearby Alba on a Saturday morning, when a lively food market winds along Via Vittorio Emanuele.
Just outside Alba, the Hotel Castello di Sinio is a restored medieval castle set amid the Barolo vineyards; a stay in one of the stone-walled rooms can include wine tastings and cooking lessons. Villa Beccaris is a delightful 18th-century nobleman’s domain just outside Monforte d’Alba. The Langhe Hotel is a more modest choice, on the outskirts of Alba, within easy reach of one of the region’s finest restaurants, Lalibera. This contemporary osteria serves new takes on traditional favorites, such as zucchini flowers stuffed with trout mousse. At Il Convivio, in Asti, local wines from the huge cellar accompany a small menu of daily specials that often include gnocchi in a sweet pepper sauce, and cardo gobo, artichokelike cardoons dipped in bagna cauda, the region’s favorite sauce of olive oil, garlic, and anchovies.
In many ways, the scenic and culinary pleasures of the Langhe are reminiscent of Tuscany, but, for now at least, this quiet little corner of Italy is a well-kept secret.
WHERE: Asti is 36 miles/60 km southeast of Turin; Alba is 42 miles/70 km southeast of Turin. HOW: Tour Piedmont leads food and culture tours. Tel 39/0333-390-8947; www.tour piedmont.com. CASTELLO DI SINIO: Tel 39/0173-263889; www.hotelcastellodisinio.com. Cost: from $250. VILLA BECCARIS: Tel 39/0173-78158; www.villabeccaris.it. Cost: from $225 (off-peak), from $300 (peak). LANGHE HOTEL: Tel 39/0173-366933; www.hotellanghe.it. Cost: from $135. LALIBERA: Tel 39/0173-293155. Cost: dinner $35. IL CONVIVIO: Tel 39/0141-594188. Cost: dinner $35. BEST TIMES: Sat market in Alba; late Sep for the Palio race in Asti; early Oct for Palio degli Asini (Race of the Asses) in Alba; late Oct–early Nov for international Tartufo Bianco d’Alba fair.
Coastal Glamour and the Interior’s Mystique
SARDINIA
Italy
An ancient crossroads between East and West, coveted by every major maritime power in the Mediterranean over the millennia, Sardinia (Sardegna) is Italy’s second largest island, both a glamorous playground and a rugged holdout of traditional life. More than 1,000 miles of soft-sand beaches (Europe’s best, according to many) and clear waters ring the coast. In the interior a unique Sardo dialect (not far removed from Latin) is still spoken in medieval stone towns, and natives tend sheep and vineyards that produce rich cheeses and flavorful wines like red cannonau (grenache) and white vermentino.
Costa Smeralda, a 34-mile tract of boulder-strewn coast in the northeast, attracts the super-rich and world famous, many of whom arrive on private yachts to partake of la dolce vita. In the 1960s, Prince Karim, the Aga Khan, created the exclusive playgrounds of the fashionable Cala di Volpe hotel, which resembles a Sardinian fishing village with an exotic flourish of turrets and porticoes. The nearby Capo d’Orso is more down to earth; it’s furnished in Sardinian style, with lovely rooms that overlook the sea.
Much of Sardinia seems light-years removed from cosmopolitan Costa Smeralda, and many places have changed little since D. H. Lawrence described the island as “lost between Europe and Africa and belonging to nowhere.” A castaway ambience prevails on the seven uninhabited islands of Maddalena Archipelago National Park, an easy sail from the north coast.
The walled port of Alghero, tucked among pines and palms above the northwest coast, is the island’s prettiest town, with narrow streets that wind past old churches and palaces. At its edge, Villa Las Tronas, once a holiday villa for Italian nobility, is now an exclusive enclave set amid lush gardens. Descend 650 steps into the Grotta di Nettuno (Neptune’s Grotto), a spectacular cavern where boat tours ply a string of underground lakes. The Nuraghe Palmavera, where 50 conical stone huts (nuraghe) from around 1500 B.C. surround a beehive-shaped tower, is an island highlight. The rough, mountainous interior is dotted with more than 7,000 of these nuraghe, and the largest cluster comprises the walled city of Barumini, in the center of the island. Along the bay at Chia, on the southwest coast, towering sand dunes and centuries-old junipers evoke the timelessness of this enchanted isle.
Blue-green waters encircle Sardinia’s “Emerald Coast.”
WHERE: 112 miles/180 km west of mainland Italy. CALA DI VOLPE: Tel 39/0789-976111; in the U.S., 800-325-3589; www.caladivolpe.com. Cost: from $600 (off-peak), from $900 (peak). When: closed Nov–Mar. CAPO D’ORSO: www.delphina.it. Cost: from $330 (off-peak), from $600 (peak), inclusive. When: closed
Oct–Apr. VILLA LAS TRONAS: Tel 39/079-981818; hotelvillalastronas.it. Cost: from $285 (off-peak), $520 (peak). BEST TIMÉ: Jun–Aug for beach weather and people-watching.
Volcanic Drama and Barefoot Chic
AEOLIAN ISLANDS
Sicily, Italy
Named for Æolus, god of the winds, the seven Aeolian Islands (Isole Eolie) float off Sicily’s northeastern flank. Washed by Italy’s clearest waters and blessed with grottoes, bays, hidden coves, black sand beaches, and still-active volcanoes, the islands are a world unto themselves. Lipari, the attractive capital island, has an animated old town dominated by a 17th-century castello that houses a noted archaeological museum. Vulcano is laced with thermal springs and steaming fumaroles, though its volcano is dormant; Iddu, the volcano on Stromboli, most definitely is not, spewing hot lava into the sizzling sea. Panarea is surrounded by a dazzling seafloor that delights divers and snorkelers, many of whom are Italian fashionistas who enjoy the island’s barefoot lifestyle and nightlife scene.
The only place to find glamorous digs is Panarea’s Hotel Raya, where breezy open terraces, a fine restaurant, and a popular nightclub overlook Stromboli’s volcano. The Quartara is stylish, though unpretentious, with airy, tile- and stone-floored guest rooms. On more remote and less developed Filicudi, La Canna’s homey rooms surround flowered terraces and overlook the cerulean sea, while on Salina, the greenest of the islands, a group of beautifully restored old houses comprise the Hotel Signum, where amenities include an infinity pool and a thermal spa. The best hotel on Stromboli, put on the map in 1950 when Roberto Rossellini and Ingrid Bergman began an illicit love affair here, is La Sirenetta Park, facing Ficogrande beach and a good base for the 5-to-6-hour round-trip climb up the volcano.
Stromboli is nicknamed “the lighthouse of the Mediterranean” for its regular, easily visible volcanic eruptions.
WHERE: Vulcano, the island closest to Sicily, is 22 miles/35 km off the north shore. HOTEL RAYA: Tel 39/090-983013; www.hotelraya.it. Cost: from $250 (off-peak), from $420 (peak). When: closed Nov–Mar. HOTEL QUARTARA: Tel 39/090-983027; www.quartarahotel.com. Cost: from $285 (off-peak), from $500 (peak). When: closed Nov–late Mar. LA CANNA HOTEL: Tel 39/090-988-9956; www.lacannahotel.it. Cost: from $100 (off-peak), from $205 (peak). When: closed Nov-Mar. HOTEL SIGNUM: Tel 39/090-984-4422; www.hotelsignum.it. Cost: from $180 (off-peak), from $390 (peak). When: closed mid-Nov–mid-Mar. LA SIRENETTA PARK HOTEL: Tel 39/090-986025; www.lasirenetta.it. Cost: from $180 (off-peak), from $340 (peak). When: closed Nov–Mar. BEST TIMES: May–Jun and Sep for fewest crowds; Jul–Aug for scene-y season.
From Sacred and Serene to Modern-Day Chaos
THE GEMS OF PALERMO
Palermo, Sicily, Italy
No other city in Europe has hosted such a variety of civilizations and waves of conquerors as Palermo, shaped by 25 centuries of tumultuous history. Examples of this rich and eclectic heritage begin with the Palazzo dei Normanni, home to the island’s 9th-century Arab rulers and transformed into a sumptuous palace (now the seat of Sicilian government) by the Normans in the 12th century but retaining its Islamic aesthetic. The palace’s Cappella Palatina is completely encrusted with Byzantine mosaics, a blending of western and eastern traditions depicting harems, wild animals, and scenes from the Bible. Built in the same period, the Duomo melds similar influences with domes, towers, and elaborately tiled arches as does the evocative Chiesa di San Giovanni degli Eremiti (Church of St. John of the Hermits), topped with five red domes and surrounded by exotic gardens and the narrow streets of the Albergheria district, which centers on the busy Ballaro street market.
For the most breathtaking window on this unique heritage, travel 5 miles from the city center to Monreale, with its magnificent 12th-century Cattedrale di Santa Maria la Nuova. Built of golden Sicilian stone by the Norman king William II on a mountaintop overlooking his capital, the cathedral is an extravagant marriage of Moorish and Norman styles, with multicolored mosaics glorifying every centimeter of wall space. Enjoy a quiet moment in the adjacent cloisters, where no two of the 216 slender pillars are alike.
La Vucciria is Sicily’s greatest market, a vibrant spectacle of merchants singing about their wares: piles of briny octopus and anchovies, mountains of fresh herbs, plump tomatoes, and glistening olives. Or take a seat overlooking the sprawling market at Shanghai, a bare-bones trattoria where fresh fish and greens are hauled up in baskets from the stalls below. Forgo the chaos for Piccolo Napoli, where the freshest seafood is simply grilled amid more formal surroundings.
The rambling 17th-century palazzo that was home to Prince Giuseppe Tomasi Lampadusa, author of The Leopard, is now the inviting Butera 28. The prince’s adoptive son and daughter-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Palma, house guests in nine spacious and comfortable apartments, host dinners, and arrange city tours and cooking lessons. In the heart of the old town, the six-room BB22 infuses an old palazzo with modern flair. The graceful Villa Igiea, an Art Nouveau doyenne-turned-hotel, on the bay 2 miles north of the city center, soothes guests with lush seaside gardens and old-world guest rooms awash in Sicilian charm.
The cathedral and chister of Monreale represent the largest concentration of Arab, Byzantine, and Norman art in one place.
VISITOR INFO: www.palermotourism.com. PALAZZO DEI NORMANNI and CAPPELLA PALATINA: Tel 39/091-705-1111. TRATTORIA SHANGHAI: Tel 39/091-589-7025. Cost: dinner $30. PICCOLO NAPOLI: Tel 39/091-320-431. Cost: dinner $50. BUTERA 28: Tel 39/0333316-5432; www.butera28.com. Cost: double occupancy apartments from $70. BB22: Tel 39/091-611-1610; www.bb22.it. Cost: from $165. VILLA IGIEA: Tel 39/091-631-2111; in the U.S., 888-414-2018; www.hotelvillaigiea palermo.com. Cost: from $200 (off-peak), from $330 (peak). BEST TIMES: Holy Week (week before Easter); around Jul 15 for processions and celebrations honoring patron St. Rosalia.
Splendid Monuments of the Ancient World
SICILY’S GREEK TEMPLES
Sicily, Italy
The Greek colonists who began arriving on the coastal areas of the southern Italian peninsula and the island of Sicily in the 8th century B.C. brought with them their Hellenic politics and culture and expanded their civilization to include what became known as Magna Graecia. At the southeastern tip of Sicily, in Siracusa, which once rivaled Athens in power and splendor, a Greek presence remains in the amazingly well-preserved Teatro Greco, which stages classic plays each summer. Other important landmarks are preserved in the nearby Parco Archeologico.
On the small island of Ortigia, in Siracusa’s harbor, the Baroque Duomo incorporates the thick columns of an ancient temple of Athena. Checking into the nearby elegant, century-old Grand Hotel Ortigia puts guests amid waterside promenades, medieval lanes, and palazzo-rimmed piazzas—and close to Don Camillo, serving some of Sicily’s most delicious seafood.
In Agrigento, the Greeks erected a string of golden-stone Doric temples along a ridge above the Valle dei Templi (Valley of Temples), one of the best-preserved concentrations of early Greek architecture outside Greece. Thirty-four exterior columns still surround the Tempio della Concordia (Temple of Concord), built around 430 B.C. The gargantuan, and entirely ruined, Tempio di Giove is one of the largest Greek temples ever built. In the summer months, evening tours are conducted of the illuminated temples, or you can view them in comfort from many of the rooms of the 18th-century Hotel Villa Athena. Top off your day with a dinner of homemade pasta and fresh grilled fish at Trattoria dei Templi, just outside the archaeological zone.
From Agrigento, it’s an hour’s drive west to Selinunte, the site of a thriving Greek colony settled in 650 B.C., where five temples and an acropolis were erected over the centuries and now lie in various states of preservation. Much of the south coast can be explored from the glamorous Verdura, which brought unprecedented stylish accommodations to Sicily. Guests enjoy two 18-hole golf courses, a luxurious spa, and a mile-long strip of white, sandy beach.
Segesta lies closest to Palermo (50 miles northwest of the city). There, a lone, perfectly proportioned temple and beau
tifully preserved theater command a windswept hill, surrounded by meadows of wild herbs and overlooking vineyards and olive groves.
Agrigento’s Temple of Concord served as a church dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul in the Middle Ages.
WHERE: Siracusa is 155 miles/257 km southeast of Palermo; Agrigento is 76 miles/127 km south of Palermo. VISITOR INFO: www.regione.sicilia.it. GRAND HOTEL ORTIGIA: Tel 39/0931-464600; www.grandhotelsr.it. Cost: from $350. DON CAMILLO: Tel 39/0931-67133; www.ristorantedoncamillosiracusa.it. Cost: dinner $50. HOTEL VILLA ATHENA: Tel 39/0922-596288; www.hotelvillaathena.it. Cost: from $275 (off-peak), from $400 (peak). TRATTORIA DEI TEMPLI: Tel 39/0922-403110; www.trattoriadeitempli.com. Cost: dinner $35. VERDURA RESORT: Tel 39/0925-998001; in the U.S., 212-515-5776; www.verduraresort.com. Cost: from $675. BEST TIMES: Mar–May and Sep–Oct for fairest weather; early Feb for Agrigento’s Almond Blossom Festival with floats, fireworks, and marzipan sweets; May–late Jun for ancient classics at Teatro Greco in Agrigento; Jul–Aug for ancient dramas at Segesta.
A Fashionable Resort and a Fiery Volcano
TAORMINA AND MT. ETNA
Sicily, Italy
This airy, mountainside town 650 feet above the Mediterranean Sea has been enticing travelers since the days of ancient Greece. Soak in Taormina’s charm on a leisurely passeggiata along its bougainvillea-swathed strip of boutiques and ceramic shops, then linger for a lemon granita (shaved ice) or fruit-studded cannoli in an outdoor pasticceria or café while 11,000-foot-high Mount Etna stands bold against the blue Sicilian sky.
Sweeping views are among the many attractions at the Hotel San Domenico, a 15th-century monastery whose friars’ cells have been enlarged and enhanced with wrought-iron chandeliers and richly carved wooden furnishings; the largest rooms in a new wing have high ceilings and sea-facing terraces.
1,000 Places to See Before You Die Page 33