San Domenico Palace, A Four Seasons Hotel

The San Domenico Palace was a Dominican monastery for four hundred years before it became a hotel, and the building has not forgotten. The cloisters are still there — pale stone, perfectly proportioned, with a garden at the centre that the monks tended and the Four Seasons now maintains with the same quiet devotion. The chapel is still there. The frescoes are still there. What has arrived, carefully and without apology, is everything that four hundred years of monastic austerity declined to provide.

The Four Seasons took over in 2021 and the renovation was done with the intelligence the brand deploys when it genuinely understands a building. The 111 rooms and suites occupy the original monastery structure and a newer wing added with appropriate discretion. The clifftop position — above Taormina, above the Ionian Sea, with Etna smoking on the northern horizon — is the finest in Sicily and possibly in Italy.

The Rooms

Monastery rooms are the ones with history — original stone walls, vaulted ceilings, windows that have been framing the same view since the fifteenth century. The suites in the historic wing have private terraces over the sea. The newer wing rooms are more contemporary in feel and equally well appointed. All bathrooms are marble. All beds are Four Seasons. The cleanliness and turndown service operate at the level the brand has maintained everywhere for decades.

Food & Drink

Principe Cerami holds two Michelin stars and a terrace that makes dinner feel like theatre — the Ionian Sea below, Etna in the distance, the food a precise and personal interpretation of Sicilian tradition by chef Massimo Mantarro, who was born on the slopes of the volcano you can see from your table. The second restaurant, Basiliani, handles lunch and more informal meals with the same quality of ingredient and a fraction of the ceremony. The bar, set in the original monastery refectory, serves aperitivo with the particular confidence of a space that has been receiving guests for five centuries.

The Experience

The infinity pool sits at the cliff edge above the sea — one of the most photographed hotel pools in Sicily and worth every photograph. The spa occupies the monastery's lower levels with the stone vaulting intact above the treatment rooms. A private beach at Mazzarò is accessible by hotel shuttle. The concierge arranges Etna hikes, private boat excursions, and visits to the Greek theatre — which is a five minute walk from the hotel gates and still feels miraculous at close range.

Worth Knowing

Book six months ahead for summer. The Principe Cerami terrace fills quickly even for hotel guests — reserve a table when you book the room. The monastery wing rooms are worth the premium over the newer wing — the history is the point, and at this price it should be present in the walls around you, not just the view from the window.

"Four hundred years of Dominican contemplation followed by Four Seasons service. The monks would have found it excessive. The rest of us will find it exactly right."