Sicily, Rocco Forte Style: Villa Igiea & Verdura Resort

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Villa Igiea, Terrazza Bar interior

Sicily is having a moment, acknowledgment successful portion to the elegant hospitality proffered by the island's 2 Rocco Forte hotels. This London-based, 4th generation, household owned institution rolls retired the reddish carpet astatine each of its five-star hotels/resorts passim Europe. Within its historical properties, Rocco Forte guests bask restorative spas, destination level bars and restaurants, and gracious amenities that marque for unforgettable experiences. Sicily’s Villa Igiea and Verdura Resort supply a large instauration to some the brand’s diverseness and the rogue Italian island’s beauty.

Verdura Resort swimming pool

Beachfront Chic: Verdura Resort

Situated connected the southwest seashore of Sicily, betwixt the Valley of the Temples successful Agrigento and the tiny sportfishing municipality of Sciacca, Rocco Forte’s Verdura Resort and its 568 zagara-scented, auto-free acres are champion navigated via bicycle. (A complimentary fleet is scattered passim the spot and disposable for the taking.) Verdura’s modernist aesthetic allows the mounting to beryllium the star; 2 play courses (one 18 spread and 1 nine), and much than a mile of backstage coastline supply the “wow” factor.

Verdura Resort play course

Verdura's acreage is champion explored via bicycle. Photo by Dan Miller

At Verdura, Rocco Forte’s lawman president and manager of plan Olga Polizzi has fashioned a tangible consciousness of place. The edifice is each astir casual sophistication and is an perfect flight for families. The expansive indoor/outdoor, youth-centered Verdùland features fun, regular programming for children and teens, allowing parents the state to play a circular wrong Italy’s fig 1 course, instrumentality cooking oregon mixology classes, vino taste, oregon unbend successful the indulgent Irene Forte Spa, the largest successful the Rocco Forte portfolio. One of Europe’s astir precocious luxury wellness centers, the spa offers a wealthiness of fittingness programs and treatments arsenic good arsenic an outdoor thalassotherapy circuit consisting of 4 pools of varying temps.

Verdura Resort Irene Forte Spa Thalassotherapy Pools

Understated, yet luxurious and pampering, Verdura and its 203 modern rooms and suites bespeak confederate Sicily’s rustic, rugged terrain. Its geometric structures, each oriented toward the sea, blend people with the landscape. A monolithic swimming excavation flanked by chaise lounges and time beds provides a focal point, and the backstage formation with thatched prima umbrellas features a Water Sport Centre offering aftermath and flyboarding, windsurfing, etc. In addition, jogging, trekking and cycling trails meander done the resort’s olive, orange, and citrus groves.

Verdura Resort beach

Verdura Resort Villa Tilia terrace

Verdura Resort's Granita Bar terrace

Just arsenic astatine each Rocco Forte hotel, the cuisine astatine Verdura reflects the region. Ingredients diagnostic authentically Sicilian items specified arsenic freshly caught fish, extra-virgin olive lipid produced by the Verdura Organic Farm, and vegetables, oranges, lemons, aromatic herbs and almonds from the resort’s ain integrated garden. A well-stocked and highly curated vino cellar features the region's champion labels and varietals. Breakfast at Buongiorno is peculiarly bountiful, featuring a lavish buffet starring freshly squeezed orangish foodstuff from the resort’s abundant orangish trees. And don’t miss evening aperitivo (a peculiarly Italian custom) at Granita Bar where crafted cocktails are served with a brilliantly mounting sun.

Villa Igiea

Timeless Elegance: Villa Igiea, Palermo

Glamorous Villa Igiea in Palermo is the erstwhile haunt of Italian socialite Donna Franca Florio who opened the original, historical expansive dame edifice astatine the crook of the 20th century. Over the decades, the villa has hosted royalty, dignitaries and Hollywood stars, each of whom has reveled successful the resort’s Tyrrhenian Sea-adjacent gardens and Belle Époque interiors.

The Rocco Forte edifice radical purchased the spot successful 2019, and Polizzi creatively reinvented the property, restoring and enhancing its cardinal areas, 78 guestrooms, and 22 suites to caller levels of sumptuousness. She took inspiration from the influential Florio household arsenic good arsenic from the Edwardian and La Belle Époque periods successful which Villa Igiea was built. The Sala Basile, the jewel successful Villa Igiea’s crown, with its Sicilian Art Nouveau benignant murals by the revered creator Ettore de Maria Bergler, served arsenic a colour illustration for the hotel’s interior design.

Villa Igiea features lush gardens

Villa Igiea swimming pool

The chic beingness of Villa Igiea’s illustrious erstwhile guests is palpable wrong the resort’s stunning Terrazza Bar and patio, wherever cocktails are named successful grant of Grace Kelly, Sophia Loren, Paul Newman, Gina Lollobrigida, and others. Evening aperitivo enjoyed wrong the vaulted barroom oregon al fresco connected the expansive, zagara perfumed terrace evokes a nostalgic vibe, enhanced by a tuxedoed hold unit and bow-tied bartender who takes his trade seriously. Elegant Florio Restaurant and its Louis XVI hallway clasp the aforesaid charm that drew guests during the highest of the Belle Époque. Here, Chef Fulvio Pierangelini designs his decadent Mediterranean menus with inspiration from Sicily’s elemental and caller flavors.

Villa Igiea Terrazza Bar interior

Villa Igiea Florio Restaurant terrace

A Bay of Palermo-facing swimming pool, a tennis court, and Irene Forte Spa, infused with the intoxicating caller scent of Irene Forte’s integrated assemblage products, circular retired the rest, recreation, and rejuvenation options.

Sicily is vast, and the hospitality choices innumerable. A sojourn to some Villa Igiea and Verdura is an perfect mode to acquisition the bounty, the variety, and the champion of the enchanting island.