The Ashbee Hotel

Built steps away from the ruins of an ancient Greek amphitheater in Taormina, perched on a cliff overlooking the Ionian Sea, with a garden full of citrus trees, the Ashbee would almost be too insistently Sicilian, too steadfastly true to its type, if it weren’t for its English heritage. Instead it’s lent a charming dose of eccentricity by its history as the villa of a British colonel who retired here in the first decade of the 20th century. It’s an eccentricity that the hotel has preserved without being so slavish about it that you end up with a creaky bed or with a creepy aristocrat staring at you from behind a picture frame. Quite the opposite: the hotel feels meticulously updated, even new.

Designed by and later named for Robert Charles Ashbee, an architect in the Arts and Crafts lineage of William Morris, the Ashbee’s twenty-four guest rooms are all unique, fitted out with a mix of contemporary and antique furniture to complement the art. Many of the suites include private terraces and windowed alcoves overlooking the long coastline and the gardens. Should Arts and Crafts bring to mind flowering vines and little birds, know that the Ashbee’s dominant color is a vibrant white made all the brighter by the wash of Mediterranean sun — white walls, white curtains, white trim, crisp white sheets — with the occasional well-placed splash of color in the form of a plush purple chair or a vase full of flowers.

There’s much to tout about the Ashbee and its location, a short walk from the restaurants and boutiques of Taormina’s center and a boat-ride from the sea-glass beach on Isola Bella, but we’d be especially remiss if we didn’t mention the pool. Set beneath an expansive terrace with spectacular views of the coastline, circled by palm trees, the pool, with its turquoise water and its infinity-style edge, seems to bleed into the Ionian Sea and its Mediterranean surroundings in a way that should impress even those of us lucky enough to have grown bored of infinity pools. This is an old home in a well-established tourist destination, but happily, there’s plenty here that the colonel himself might have a hard time recognizing.

Please note: The Ashbee Hotel is closed annually, February through the end of March.