"When it comes to Sicilian hospitality, glossy high design is hardly the first idiom that comes to mind. As the island’s economy has developed, Sicily’s general atmosphere of rustic earthiness has gone from stigma to selling point. That’s true of Taormina, whose old town center is as pleasantly weathered as any in southern Italy. But once inside the old Metropole Taormina Maison d’Hôtes, behind that 18th-century grand-hotel facade, it’s another story entirely." - Tablet Hotels