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SAN DOMENICO PALACE, TAORMINA
San Domenico Palace in Taormina is a legendary place. Perched
on a clifftop above the sea, it is located in the heart of the city’s
ancient Jewish ghetto and enjoys extraordinary views of Etna and
the Greek theatre. Born in 1896 from the conversion of a 14th-cen-
tury Dominican convent into a Grand Hotel, San Domenico Palace
became one of the most sought-after destinations by the inter-
national elites. The youth of Europe’s polite society who stopped
in Taormina during their Grand Tour stayed here, but it was also a
favourite with intellectuals, such as Thomas Mann, Truman Capote,
Jean Cocteau and Luigi Pirandello, as well as celebrities of the
international jet set including Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Liz
Taylor, Richard Burton and Audrey Hepburn. Its corridors and
façades are the sets of iconic films such as The Adventure by
Michelangelo Antonioni and Le Grand Bleu by Luc Besson.
“We’re on the slopes of Mount Etna, in the most luxurious hotel, a
thousand feet above sea. There are flowers everywhere,” wrote
Nobel-prize winner John Steinbeck in a letter. The image will
resonate with anyone who enters the hotel today. Opened again
in July 2021, San Domenico Palace was renovated by Neapolitan
architecture firm Pisani Morace. Rosaria Catania, from Messina,
oversaw the restoration works, whilst the garden was designed by
landscape architect Marco Bay. Fit-outs and furniture were creat-
ed by Poliform Contract following designs by architect Valentina
Pisani.
