Taormina

Taormina hangs on a terrace of Monte Tauro above the Ionian Sea, seducing travellers since the days of the Grand Tour. Its ancient theatre, framed by Mount Etna and a sweep of coastline, may be the most beautifully sited stage ever built; below it, Isola Bella adds a pebble islet joined to the shore by a ribbon of sand.

Why visit

Taormina’s promise is simple and perfectly delivered: antiquity with a view. The Greek-era theatre, quarried into the rock in the third century BC and later adapted by the Romans, seats thousands with the smoking silhouette of Etna filling the horizon — Goethe wrote in his Italian Journey that no theatre audience ever had such a spectacle before it. Add a graceful pedestrian spine of palazzi and boutiques, gardens invented by an eccentric Victorian, and a turquoise reserve within walking distance, and it is clear why this small town became Sicily’s most fashionable address in the nineteenth century and has never lost the habit.

Character and history

Settled before the Greeks founded neighbouring Naxos in 734 BC, the hilltop town known as Tauromenion became one of Sicily’s strongholds, its citadel crowning the rock above the medieval streets. After the fall of Rome it passed through Arab, Norman and later rulers’ hands; Palazzo Corvaja in the centre once hosted the Sicilian Parliament in the fifteenth century. Modern fame arrived with the Grand Tour, when aristocratic northerners made the town a mandatory stop on the circuit, drawn by the climate, the theatre and the Etna views; Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich and Elizabeth Taylor followed, and film crews still do — the town’s lanes and beaches have featured in everything from The Big Blue to a certain celebrated television drama. Tourism has changed the shops, but the bones of the place — the Duomo, the fountain, the fortress palaces — remain unmistakably Sicilian.

What to see

The Theatre Greco di Taormina is the reason most people come, and it deserves the hours: the stage’s surviving Corinthian columns, the tiered cavea, and the frame of Etna and the gulf that made it famous. The theatre belongs to the Parco Archeologico di Naxos e Taormina, which also stewards the first Greek colony’s site below. Down at the water, Isola Bella is a nature reserve — bought in 1890 by Lady Florence Trevelyan, who built herself a little house there — managed today by an environmental protection centre of the University of Catania, with a small natural-history museum and a gravel causeway that disappears at high tide. Back in town, the Villa Comunale gardens, another Trevelyan creation, layer Victorian follies over subtropical planting with the sea below.

How to experience

Walk the Corso Umberto end to end early or late, when the light is low and the day-trippers have gone; duck off into the lanes for quiet bars and ceramic workshops. Swim and snorkel at Isola Bella in the morning before the causeway crowds, or take the coastal path toward Mazzarò. Culture lovers should time a visit to the theatre’s summer programme — concerts and opera staged among the ruins continue a tradition going back two millennia. Above town, a steep path climbs to sanctuaries and lookouts with views along the whole coast. Stay at least one night: Taormina after the coaches leave is a different, better town.

Practical planning

Taormina sits between Catania airport (under an hour by car or bus) and Messina, with a motorway exit and a train station at Taormina-Giardini below town, connected by local bus. The centre is compact but stepped and cobbled — comfortable shoes matter. The theatre and Isola Bella reserve each have entry arrangements that vary by season; check the park authority’s and reserve’s current information before visiting. Summer is hot and crowded; May, June and September offer the best balance, and the theatre season and Etna views are often at their clearest in the shoulder months.

Nearby places

Taormina is perfectly placed for eastern Sicily. Castelmola perches above town with castle ruins and almond wine; Giardini-Naxos holds the beach and the site of Greece’s first Sicilian colony; Savoca and Forza d’Agrò are hill villages of cloisters and cinematic fame; and Mount Etna looms close enough for a day’s excursion onto lava fields and craters.