Hotel Villa Angela

Hotel Villa Angela details

This hotel’s sensitive design reveals its celebrity owner’s love of Sicily.

Sicily has been enchanting artists, writers and musicians for centuries. Among them is Jim Kerr, the lead singer of Eighties’ band, Simple Minds. He fell in love with the island when he visited on tour, and later set up Hotel Villa Angela with help from his friends, the Chemi family.

It’s set on a hillside above Taormina, with the heart of town a 10-minute walk down a pathway. The hotel has been designed to make the most of the vistas, which stretch out across the Ionic Riviera to Mount Etna. There’s a large pool on a terrace jutting out over the hillside, and the restaurant terrace comes with panoramic views, too.

The building itself is modern, but pays great respect to local craftsmanship – for example, it’s made from Sicilian stone. This continues inside, with furniture made from chestnut, a tree common to Sicily, and ceramics made in Caltagirone, a Sicilian town famous for its pottery.

Because there are just 27 bedrooms, this hotel feels really intimate. Rooms are furnished with wrought-iron beds and mismatched antiques, along with modern luxuries like Wi-Fi and DVD players.