Hotel Villa Cefalà ★

An 18th-century noble estate turned retreat in Santa Flavia, near Bagheria and Solunto just east of Palermo Sicily

In 1778, the counts of Pilo di Capaci built this imposing villa just outside the beachside community of Santa Flavia, 30 minutes east of Palermo, to tend to the vast citrus groves that surround the estate.

When the bottom fell out of the citrus market after 2000, the current owners—Paola Tedesco and her husband, Giovanni Scaduto—replaced some of the lemon and lime trees with olives and began renting out three rooms in the main villa and seven comfy cottages scattered around it.

As an agriturismo, Villa Cefalá has been a hit, thanks in part to its position just off the state highway, slung into the low hills between the two top sights along this section of Sicily's northern coast: the Phoenician ruins of Solunto and the baroque palaces of Bagheria.

More recently, Tedesco and Scaduto have built a swimming pool, a new wing with ten rooms, and opened a restaurant—in a timbered hall with a fireplace in winter; on the roof terrace with sea views in summer. The four-course feasts cost €25 per person (€30 if you choose fish), including their own label wine.

When I stayed, I chose the fish menu: an antipasto of gamberetti, shrimp, and a pile of vinegared squid discs, some tasty spaghetti tossed with grouper, tomatoes, and olive oil, a lightly-breaded swordfish steak with jumbo prawns and potatoes on the side, and a quarter of a pineapple, all washed down with a bottle of their own IGT white, which was crisp, tangy, very refreshing, and put me right to sleep.

 

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