Goethe called it a patch of paradise, D.H. Lawrence lived here for three years, and the Grand Tour crowned it Europe's terrace: from Taormina your gaze holds the Ionian Sea and a smoking Etna in the same frame. The Ancient Theatre, founded by the Greeks in the third century BC and adapted by the Romans, has the Mediterranean's most scenographic backdrop — and in summer it is still a working stage.
Below lies Isola Bella beach and its nature reserve; above, the village of Castelmola and its almond wine. Yes, it's expensive and worldly — it has been for two centuries, and it's still worth it.
Near Taormina
The closest destinations covered by our editors, with straight-line distance.
