Villa Igiea, a Rocco Forte Hotel

Villa Igiea is the built legacy of the Florios, the shipping-and-Marsala dynasty who made Palermo glitter in the Belle Époque. Commissioned from Ernesto Basile, the master of the Sicilian Liberty style, at the turn of the twentieth century, the honey-stoned palazzo stands above its own small harbour at the northern edge of the city, its frescoed Basile salon still one of Italy's finest Art Nouveau interiors.

Rocco Forte's meticulous restoration reopened the hotel in 2021 with interiors that layer contemporary Sicilian craft — ceramics, rich colour, local stone — over the original architecture. Terraced gardens step down towards the sea, past a pool set among palms and a chapel-quiet sense of remove from Palermo's marvellous chaos, which lies fifteen minutes away by car.

Dining celebrates Sicily's larder on garden terraces, and the bar has revived the ritual of the Florio-era aperitivo with some style. Palermo's Norman palaces, markets and the beach at Mondello are all within easy reach. Villa Igiea works best as a hybrid: a resort-paced base from which to raid one of Europe's most underrated cities.