Taormina

Taormina is a small town on a terrace of Monte Tauro, two hundred metres above the Ionian Sea, with Etna filling the horizon to the south-west. It has been a resort since the Grand Tour: Goethe came for the view, D. H. Lawrence stayed for three years.

Its Greek theatre, rebuilt by the Romans, frames the volcano and the coast in the gap of its ruined stage and still hosts concerts and a film festival in summer. The Corso runs between two old town gates past Gothic palazzi, small piazzas over the sea and the public gardens; a cable car drops to Mazzarò and the islet nature reserve of Isola Bella, and a winding road climbs to Castelmola on the rock above.

It's polished, pricey and packed with day-trippers and cruise groups in summer; spring and autumn are warm and calmer, and many hotels close for the winter. Catania airport is about an hour and a half away by bus.

Eat granita with brioche for breakfast, pasta alla Norma, swordfish involtini and ricotta cannoli, and try the almond wine in Castelmola.