A short train ride from Messina found us in the seaside resort town of Taormina for a conference. We had elected to stay in a small hotel a half kilometer from the grand hotel where the meeting was being held. A short, but sinuous and expensive taxi ride 20 Euro taxi ride (found out later we overpaid by 5 Euros) found us on a narrow street in front of the Villa Taormina.
It is a small hotel with only 8 or 9 rooms just a couple of staircases up from the Duomo Square near the Catania Gate in the southern part of Taormina. A former private home, it was lovingly and beautifully restored beginning around 2002 and started accepting guests three years later. It backs onto a quiet private garden that has a hot tub, although there is no pool. Wireless Internet is included and was very reliable. We stayed in a large room with a small, but usable balcony overlooking the garden. The pictures speak for themselves.
There is no restaurant in the hotel, but a dining room, opening onto a large balcony serves a freshly prepared and sumptuous breakfast buffet each morning from 7AM to 10AM. The view from the breakfast room stretches from Mt. Aetna on the south to the tip of Calabria on the north, framing the Ionian Sea. There is no bar, but liquor is available in the sitting room across from the lobby or in room. The rooms were always made up promptly and nicely while we were out, even though our schedule was very irregular.
The staff, though few in number, were as hospitable as any we have met and made us feel at home immediately and sad to leave.
It is difficult to put a price on passing through the lobby on the way to dinner and being stopped by the lovely lady manning the desk so she could stand up, spread her hands and say “molte bella, you look so beautiful!”
The staff spoke excellent English and gave us good recommendations for dining, also arranging some private tours for us.
Simply, they could not have been nicer and more attentive.
There is no exercise room, so we did aerobics in the garden.
We will perhaps return to Taormina. If we do, the main reason will be the friendly, beautifully decorated hotel Villa Taormina, where we felt more at home than at any hotel we have yet stayed.
Interestingly, some members of our meeting who stayed at the recommended hotel, had tiny rooms, unreliable Internet for 17 Euros/day and a snooty staff who treated guests as an imposition.

Absolute gem! This small, quiet and friendly hotel with 10 beautifully furnished rooms, mostly with balconies or terraces was absolutely wonderful. The view from the breakfast room over the rooftops to the bay and Mt Etna were panoramic to say the least. The staff were so welcoming and the whole place had a warm and family atmosphere. From the receptionist, maids, breakfast lady(thank you for my vanilla infusion each day!) and night porter, the staff were excellent. I would certainly stay there again and can recommend the hotel for the more mature of us who want a quiet stay or for pure romance. The location is a bit tricky as you need to either access the hotel from the main roads able to take cars by either walking down a few steps or up. For those who are able and active this is no problem. Our taxi driver (in a minibus) did not want to attempt to take us to the door as the road is so narrow. For a small car this is not a problem though. So pleased that we stayed here.

The main problem: Taormina itself is way overvalued, not worth the minimum stay of three nights that most hotels, including Villa Taormina, require. If authentic Italian life is your passion, avoid Taormina or stay one night only. Spend your time in Siracusa or Cefalu instead. If you care about value, don't even THINK of staying in Taormina. Unless you can afford the San Domenico Palace Hotel which is actually WORTH a splurge. The least expensive room at the San Domenico Palace is about the same price as Villa Taormina, so the BIG mistake we made, was not staying at San Dominico Palace. Villa Taormina is intimate, loaded with high quality artworks, offers superb service and serves a beautiful breakfast. Problem: no information in the room about where and when pool can be used (on another property). Problem: the "jacuzzi" has cold water! I splurged to stay at Villa Taormina partly with visions of late night hot tubbing under the starts. Doesn't work if water is cold. Great piazza restaurant right in front of hotel is handy. Rooms are SMALL. This was the most expensive room of our trip and our only regret. I knew immediately upon arrival that I did not want to stay the required the minimum of three nights and they would not let us off the hook. They cared for all of our needs except this most important one. The employees of this hotel deserve better than a manager who makes such unjust regulations,

I was not overly wowed by this place. Rooms....even superior ones....are small and food was only OK. It would be a good hotel anywhere else in Sicily but at Taormina's grossly inflated prices the 99 percent in my opinion just don't get enough for their money...but then I think that is the case all over Taormina. Above all I didn't like the 3 night minimum stay...that in and of itself should tell you all you need to know. You are a captive audience from that point on. One postiive is that it is off the main streets and somewhat more quite area but still close to activity. Staff is also helpful and friendly but can be phony at times. Also you may have read in guide books that they have a "hot tub"...NO. They have a Jacuzzi unheated and seemed to be being cleaned a lot of the time. If they have a sister relation with a pool with a hotel they don't advertise it.