Discovering Taormina, Taormina, Italy

Ironic detective stories by Joanna Chmielewska used to be fairly popular in the country of our births when we were young. One of them, Dead Man’s Tale (its Russian-language title translates more literally as “What the Deceased Said”), jumps between various locations in Europe with a short but prominent chapter taking place in Taormina, which is introduced by the protagonist as “the best resort in the world”. That had made such a lasting impression on us back then that when planning our very first trip to Sicily more than 30 years later, we could do no other but mark Taormina as a multi-night destination.

Nearly 50 years after that book was written Taormina remains a very popular resort destination. It also remarkably sticks out among the towns that we visited in Sicily as clearly the most looked-after. In a sense, it feels a bit artificial in the overall context of Sicily, certainly not without its share of ancient history and visual delights, but a bit too purpose-built for tourist consumption.

The ancient Greek theater is by some distance the most impressive historic site in town, dating from the 3rd century BCE, and evidently an active performance venue.

Taormina’s resorts are sensibly positioned by the coastline, way underneath the town center. Here is the view to Mazzaro Bay, one of the several resort clusters and the one conveniently linked with the town above it by the very efficient cable car service. We ourselves stayed at a resort on Mazzaro Bay, hidden somewhere behind the trees in the middle of the picture. ...... (follow the instructions below for accessing the rest of this article).