‘Otherworldly’ Italian island just three hours from the UK that featured in two huge Hollywood franchises
THE courtyard of the San Domenico Palace gleams as the sun peeks out from behind unseasonably persistent clouds.
Peering through the glass atrium doors, I catch glimpses of the pool, parasols, sun loungers and lots of marble.
Inside is the Four Seasons Hotel Taormina, otherwise known as The White Lotus.
The location was the scenic backdrop to the HBO drama’s second series about a luxury resort chain and its filthy-rich patrons.
Even before the high season, the hotel has become a tourist attraction.
“There is someone here every five minutes, everyday” a porter at the hotel entrance tells me, as he kindly lets us through the large wooden gates to snap some photos inside the luxury resort’s courtyard.
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With rooms inside priced for thousands of pounds, this is the closest most people, including me, are going to get to experiencing the real-life White Lotus lifestyle.
However, Sicily still offers all of the magic and mystery of HBO’s smash hit show — and it doesn’t have to cost you the Earth.
Sicily is one of Europe’s most ancient inhabited islands and is now home to around five million people.
They live mostly in the cities of Palermo and Catania, where we land after a three-hour flight from London Stansted.
From Catania it’s an hour by car to Taormina.
The medieval town is a popular stop for tourists exploring Sicily’s north eastern coast — and where much of season two of The White Lotus is set.
Scattered across sheer cliffs and steep hills, Taormina is reminiscent of the mainland’s Amalfi Coast, but without the price tag.
On a clear day, the view from the town is spectacular in all directions — or so we’re told.
Unfortunately, when we visit, thick clouds blanket the coast and mountains further inland.
It’s still impossible to miss Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest active volcano which looms more than 10,000 feet above Taormina, dominating the landscape.
The volcano, the most active in Europe, became a UNESCO world heritage site in 2013. It can erupt several times a year.
Just weeks after our visit, Etna awoke again, spewing clouds of ash and debris into the sky above Sicily, forcing Catania airport to close.
The millions of years of eruptions have created a unique landscape around the island, most obvious in the highlands around the volcano.
During a half-day guided tour around its slopes, Salvo, our guide, explains how Etna’s destructive volcanic activity has created the beautiful and otherworldly terrain of Sicily.
Huge hardened lava lies across vast swathes of the mountainside like black glaciers.
Hulking craters loom in the distance where past eruptions have scarred the landscape leaving tall hills of scree and sharp boulders.
We are taken underground to explore a prehistoric cave system bored out of the earth during an ancient eruption, and shown the former site of a hotel, completely destroyed by a lava flow in 2002.
Half an hour by car down the coast from Taormina is Letojanni, our home for the weekend.
We’re staying in the sprawling, newly-renovated Villa Bellasia.
Dating from the 1830s, it’s surrounded by manicured gardens, a large swimming pool, a Jacuzzi and the Mediterranean Sea just metres from the door.
The wide variety of landscapes and architecture in Sicily has appealed to many more productions than just the White Lotus.
Most recently, the Indiana Jones franchise’s fifth instalment, which was shot, in part, on the island.
Breathtaking views
For many decades, film buffs have flocked to the village of Savoca to stroll the cobbled streets where Francis Ford Coppola’s classic mafia movie The Godfather was shot.
Many of the country’s small towns and villages are struggling to survive as their younger inhabitants chase higher wages and more opportunity in bigger cities throughout Europe.
Consequently, under an EU scheme aimed at boosting investment in rural Italy, anyone willing to take on the cost of refurbishment can purchase vacant, and often run-down, properties for just €1 (87p).
Castiglione di Sicilia, on a beautiful hilltop with breathtaking views across a wide valley, is one of the towns hoping to benefit from the scheme.
It is gorgeous, but the lack of investment is clear to see.
Wandering its deserted cobbled streets feels like arriving at a raucous party the morning after, when the fun is over, the booze is finished and all the cool people have gone home.
But, it is early May when we visit. Our guide is adamant that once the summer season kicks off, the streets will be much livelier.
Bellasia’s kitchen is fully equipped for guests to try Sicily’s number one pastime — cooking. Luckily, we’re not alone.
Villatravellers has organised a cooking class of classic Sicilian dishes for us to stumble through.
Over three hours, four bottles of local wine and more than a little help from our local culinary guide, we’re ready to eat.
Homemade pasta topped with an alla Norma sauce of fresh, sweet, Sicilian tomatoes and salted, fried aubergine.
Sardines, gutted and breaded then fried until crispy.
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For dessert, cannoli filled with fresh, sweet ricotta squeezed by our own hand then topped with chocolate and pistachio.
To everyone’s amazement, our first attempt at Sicilian cooking is actually pretty good — or maybe we’ve all drunk too much wine to notice or care.
OUT & ABOUT: Villatravellers can organise a range of activities and experiences. Etna Jeep Tour for a minimum of two people is from £696. Cookery lesson, minimum four people, from £438.