"To sit and eat pistachio ice cream underneath the chandeliers of this hotel’s ineffably opulent gilded, mirrored ballroom is just sublime. This is a grand hotel of the old school, an art nouveau beauty that has recently been restored and revamped by Rocco Forte hotels, who have breathed life into an ageing grande dame. Renowned interior designer Olga Polizzi has filled the hotel with incredibly tasteful linens, onyx sculptures, jewel-coloured fabrics and some fabulous antiques, particularly in the George V suite (named for George V, who took up residence here in the summer of 1925). There is a glistening pool, flanked by ancient stone ruins and rows of palm trees, which makes for the happiest swim after a long, languid lunch at restaurant Florio, where you can indulge in their take on Sicilian classics such as pasta alla Norma and more ice cream."

"This was the last residence of Sicily’s most celebrated author, Prince Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. His ancestral home on Via Butera, overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea, is completely bewitching. Its romantic and wild garden beckons with lemon trees, jasmine, wild roses and a fountain pond (now home to turtles, including Lighea, named after a mermaid in a short story of Lampedusa’s). Here, the rhythm of a more elegant era is conjured by its current owners, Gioacchino and Nicoletta Lanza Tomasi, Duke and Duchess of Palma, who run a charmed B&B occupying various floors of the historic Palazzo Lanza Tomasi, where the antique-filled bedrooms have high ceilings and parquet floors, and some come with their own terraces."

"With pergolas laden with wisteria, gardens of roses and orange blossom, ravishing suites with operatic balconies and the best terrace on the island, this Sicilian beauty was described by Guy de Maupassant as ‘a place in which you will find everything created on earth to seduce the eyes, the spirit and the imagination’. Equally enamoured was DH Lawrence, who wrote Lady Chatterley’s Lover here, and Truman Capote, who checked in and didn’t leave for two years. And why would you? Imagine privately organised after-hours tours of the dramatically located Teatro Greco, boat trips to swim in emerald grottos and visits to the wildly Baroque town of Noto. It’s just as intoxicating to stay put, sitting on the terrace with a Negroni Sbagliato, gazing at Etna smoking in the distance, enjoying the languid peace that has seduced cerebral travellers for centuries."

"Buried deep in subtropical gardens and with its own private shingled stretch of beach, this Sicilian seaside retreat remains a cherished classic. With its antique-packed interiors, white-jacketed pianist in the bar, and well-proportioned hotel rooms decked with balconies and boxes of geraniums, the whole place has a consoling, gloriously old-fashioned feel."

"This former 14th-century Dominican convent, all wide contemplative spaces and frescoed ceilings, has always been one of the most elegant hotels in Sicily. It’s a proper hotel of the south - of heat, shutters and palm trees. Cloaked in bougainvillea and laced with sprays of old jasmine climbing along its historic cloisters, it’s rich in an aura of crumbliness that has lent itself to many fashion shoots. Now under the umbrella of the Four Seasons group, the hotel has undergone a two-year restoration , which has brought a lighter, more minimalistic touch to the hotel: gone are the wood panelling and chintz headboards, replaced with a beige palette and an influx of infinity and plunge pools (19 rooms have private plunge pools)."

"Rustic glamour prevails in the pretty fishing village of Scopello in the north west of the island, particularly in this atmospheric old tuna factory, now transformed into a chic B&B. It’s ideally situated for those keen to explore this seductive island in all its elemental beauty. La Tonnara’s three apartments are simple, with antique tiled floors, wrought-iron beds, paintings of saints and huge, shuttered windows that frame those sweeping views across the bay. The village is a popular swimming spot for locals, and tanned bodies sprawl across the beach, drinking neon Aperols as Scopello’s faraglioni rocks glow orange with the last of the sun's rays."