Villa Sant'Andrea, A Belmond Hotel

Villa Sant'Andrea was built in 1919 by a Cornish family who came to Sicily and declined to leave — a decision that anyone who has stood on this bay at sunset will find entirely reasonable. The villa sits directly on the Bay of Mazzarò, surrounded by subtropical gardens, with private beach access and the kind of intimacy that Taormina's larger hotels cannot offer regardless of their price point.

Belmond acquired it as a companion to the Grand Hotel Timeo above, and the two properties work as complementary experiences — the grandeur of the hilltop hotel and the romance of the beachside villa, connected by shuttle and united by the same standard of service. Guests at Villa Sant'Andrea have access to both.

The Rooms

Fifty-five rooms and suites, each dressed in baroque artwork, marble staircases, and Ortigia room scents that arrive like a second welcome. Sea-facing rooms have balconies directly over the bay. The suites add space and the particular luxury of a bathroom large enough to take seriously. All rooms were last renovated with the restraint of people who understood that the villa's character was the decoration and their job was to enhance rather than replace it.

Food & Drink

Ristorante Sant'Andrea serves Sicilian cuisine on a terrace where the tables are set almost at the water's edge — the kind of dining experience where the setting does half the work and the kitchen does the other half with genuine skill. The Brizza dining experience takes this further — meals served with guests' feet practically in the water, the bay around them, the evening light doing what Sicilian evening light has always done. The bar handles the hours between arrival and dinner with the ease of a hotel that has been receiving guests for over a century.

The Experience

The private beach is the point — pebbly, clean, immediately accessible from the hotel gardens, with the Isola Bella nature reserve visible from the sunloungers. Evening sunset boat trips to the Grotta Azzurra are arranged by the concierge and are, by widespread agreement, the most memorable two hours you will spend in Taormina. The Grand Hotel Timeo shuttle runs regularly for guests who want the town, the theatre, or the Michelin dinner above.

Worth Knowing

Mazzarò is below Taormina — the cable car connects them in five minutes. The shuttle to the Grand Hotel Timeo is complimentary and frequent. Book the Brizza dining experience and the Grotta Azzurra boat trip before you arrive — both fill quickly in season.

"The Grand Hotel Timeo has the view. Villa Sant'Andrea has the water. Between them, Belmond has Taormina entirely covered."