Along the sea road encircling the ancient island of Ortigia, Siracusa's historic center, in a neighborhood where homes are guarded against witches by bundles of twigs and dreamcatcher-like devices, and where sun-wrinkled old men sit in doorways mending fishing nets, sits the best boutique hotel in Sicily. In 1999, Paola Pretsch converted a pair of powder blue buildings into 25 rooms overlooking the Mediterranean. She renovated these old fishermen's and artisans' houses along minimalist lines with traditional touches, mixing mod furnishings and old stone doorways, abstract modern rugs on floors of fitted tiles or polished cement, and gauzy curtains to diffuse the sunrise that floods into the rooms off the sea.
Though it's called a "B&B" this is really a collection of 10 mini-apartments in a 17th century building deep in the heart of Ortigia, right around the corner from Bellomo art museum and Fonte Arethusa fountain. You get the best of both worlds: B&B and apartment. There's a front desk , daily cleaning, and breakfast served on the small rooftop terrace, but you also get your very own pad, complete with kitchenette, a flatscreen LCD TV with satellite channels, and free WiFi (there are even loaner laptops in the rooms)...
This was the first relatively inexpensive hotel on Ortigia itself has been run for years by a family who keeps it immaculate. First-floor rooms are older and bathless, but are larger than ones above, with big carved wooden furnishings and high vaulted ceilings. A few even have frescoes—nos. 2 and 3 just around the light fixture, but in huge, family-perfect no. 7 the whole ceiling is painted...
In 1995 the Suore Orsoline turned part of their old convent into a quietly stylish, modern hotel, where half the room's balconies look over the sea. The building backs onto the quiet coastal road on the far side of Oritigia.The large rooms with built-in units have patterned rugs on the tile floors and marble-top sinks in the modern baths. A few feature fold-out couches that make them great for families