SICILY From the windswept slopes of Mount Etna to the golden beaches of Menfi, a timely guide to the many allures of the Mediterranean’s largest island NOW Piazza San Domenico and its majestic focal point, the Colonna dell’Immacolata Concezione; right, from top: the courtyard of Palazzo Drago Airoldi di Santa Colomba, a heritage-steeped noble house dating back to the 18th century; the bar area at Meet Eat Connect the in the 16th-century Palazzo Castrone-Santa Ninfa; ornate frescoes and majolica floors inside Palazzo Drago
PALERMO’S NEW GROOVE The resurgent Sicilian capital is brimming with energy – led by a pair of glam-forward hotels. By Lanie Goodman. Photography by Alberto Alicata T ancredi Falconeri, the forward-thinking prince in Lampedusa’s epic Sicilian novel The Leopard, put it best: “If we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change.” It’s a paradox that these days seems particularly fitting for Palermo, a city haunted by its storied past. During its frivolous Belle Époque heyday, when the remaining Sicilian aristocrats and wealthy merchant families were still waltzing through their opulent ballrooms and throwing lavish fêtes, Palermo was the fashionable winter destination for European royalty. A century later, the city is a fauve of a different colour, a spotty mix of jaw-dropping beauty, decrepitude and vibrant authenticity. Add to that some new-found glamour: over the past few years, the faded grandeur of eras gone by is glowing again, thanks to the massive refurbishment of two of Palermo’s celebrated Belle Époque institutions – Villa Igiea and the Grand Hotel et des Palmes – now bumped up to five-star splendour. At the sumptuously restored resort Villa Igiea ( roccofortehotels.com), a golden Moorish-style crenellated palazzo and gardens on a cliff overlooking the Gulf of Palermo and the Tyrrhenian Sea, you can laze by the pool next to the remains of faux- Greek columns and imagine those fin-de-siècle glory days, when the wealthy Sicilian wine-trading Florio family turned their private villa into a landmark hotel. Now under the management of the Rocco Forte Hotel collection, there’s plenty to admire: the ornate hand-painted floral ballroom and the fresco-lined vaulted bar where crowned heads and Dolce Vita 1960s film stars once flocked (try the signature breakfast martini spiked with orange marmalade) along with the deeply comfortable antique-meets-modern rooms. Art Nouveau lovers will swoon over the reception hall designed by Ernesto Basile (Palermo’s most renowned turn-of-the-century architect), a medley of mirrors, curvy polished walnut and bucolic floral frescoes by Ettore de Maria Bergler. Best bet: stay at the new wing of spacious suites named after Donna Franca, notorious socialite of the Florio dynasty. Beyond the stately unchanged façade of the Grand Hotel et des Palmes (grandhotel-et-des-palmes.com), eyerubbing surprises abound. The rescued interiors – now a › period-piece extravaganza of shimmering crystal chandeliers, frescoed walls and an ornate Basile-designed woodwork ceiling and fireplace – are the result of a painstaking two-year restoration that included scraping off layers of slapped-on white plaster and restyling rooms with Deco-inspired black and gold sobriety. Built in 1856 by the British Marsala-exporting Ingham Whitaker family (who also constructed a secret passage to the Anglican church across the street), the villa-turned-hotel once drew the likes of avant-garde French writer Raymond Roussel and Richard Wagner, who holed up in the hotel for months in 1881 to compose Parsifal. Now a grandiose suite, Wagner fans can play the very same Blüthner piano, admire the musician’s antiques and shower in a marble bathroom big enough for an entire string section. Don’t miss the panoramic view from the new rooftop sushi restaurant and mixology bar. Other rehabilitated historic gems include the sleek 12- room boutique hotel and thermal spa, Palazzo Santamarina (palazzosantamarina.com), housed in a once-crumbling marble Renaissance palace built on 13th-century ruins, meticulously restored and polished to perfection; next door, they sell their own exclusive line of seductive Sicilian scents at a perfume bar (olfattorio) with a glass-topped floor for a glimpse at the ancient stones below. Palermo is also for wandering, a city of street food (where hearty locals nibble on stigghiola, grilled lamb intestines, and pane con la milza, sandwiches stuffed with spleen of veal), humming markets, glinting gilded mosaics and modernist Liberty-style villas. Thanks to its strategically situated port that endured centuries of warring › CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 57
