Sicily's Villa Belvedere

On a 12-night visit to Sicily, ITALY, in May ’07, our favorite hotel was the family-run Villa Belvedere (Via Bagnoli Croce, 79, 98039 Taormina, Italy; phone +39 0942 23791, fax 0942 625830, (www.villabelvedere.it). The location, difficult to find by car the first time, is very near the Botanical Gardens, which you walk through to reach town.

The public rooms are elegant, the gardens and pool area are gorgeous, the lunches by the pool were delicious (€8 for an antipasto plate with enough for two) and the included breakfasts were very good.

The rooms were rather basic but comfortable. The rate for our street-side room was €148 ($225) per night, including taxes and breakfast, with a 6% reduction for cash. Our street-level room was perfectly quiet at night. We glimpsed the sea-view rooms from the hall and felt they would not have been worth the extra price.

• Our favorite restaurant in Taormina was Luraleo (Via Bagnoli Croce 27; phone +39 0942 620614, www.taorminahotels.net/luraleo), a short walk away on the same street as our hotel. We ate there twice on the vine-covered patio, and each time the chef sent out a little “something extra” and also visited our table. As we paid cash, I don’t have the prices, but it was very good value.

• At another restaurant, we did learn a hard lesson about ordering fish in Sicily: if you choose a whole fish at the display outside, the price shown is per 100 grams. Our friends ordered a large fish for the two of them and were billed €114 ($173) just for the fish and a total of €166 for their dinner. My fish was €36 ($55)! Always check the weight and price before ordering fresh fish!

MARGO WILSON

Scottsdale, AZ