Castelmola holidays

Holidays to Castelmola take you that little bit higher. This beautiful Sicilian village teeters on a hilltop with a balcony over Taormina and the Ionian coastline.

Italy’s most beautiful

Castelmola’s an eye-catching hilltop village on Sicily’s Ionian coast. It’s perched above historic Taormina and the bay of Giardini Naxos, with the peaks of Mount Etna outlined in bold against the sky. It’s on the the official list of Italy’s most beautiful villages, too, thanks to its lofty location, tall Medieval town houses and irresistible old-world charm.

Piazzas and panoramas

Piazza San Antonio is the village’s main square. All around it, pizzerias and bars spill out on to diamond-patterned tiles, and it’s hard to miss the Ionian Sea sprawling out 1,800 feet below. Leading away from the piazza, Castelmola’s narrow lanes are packed with craft shops and artisanal delis. There are some great churches to see, too, like the 17th-century Church of San Giorgio. It’s all crowned by the hilltop Castello, with its vertigo-inducing views.

Beautiful beaches

Some of Sicily’s best beaches are on Castelmola’s doorstep. Lido Mazzaro, a 15-minute drive away, is a prom-backed avenue of sand and pebbles, with tonnes of watersports and sunbeds to make the most of. And Isola Bella, a rocky islet with a small beach, lies just off the shoreline. Another popular beach is at Giardini Naxos – it’s a huge arc of sand that extends from Capo Taormina to Capo Schiso. It’s slightly quieter than Lido Mazzaro and has rubber-stamped family credentials.

Close to Taormina

Taormina’s the clifftop town where D H Lawrence and Truman Capote came for inspiration, and is just 10 minutes’ drive from Castelmola. The Greco-Roman amphitheatre has views of Mount Etna and the Mediterranean in the same breath. And then there’s the charming Public Garden, left to the town by an English aristocrat. It’s full of eccentric buildings, rare plants, and cobbled paths hemmed with flowers.