14 best hotels in Sicily to book for your next trip

Just one-hour southwest of Palermo’s crumbling, honey-hued splendour, Rocco Forte’s Verdura resort occupies its own stretch of pretty coastline – almost 600 acres dotted with citrus groves, plush villas, tennis courts, pools, tilting towards a manmade sweep of blonde beach. The prevailing spirit is more Mediterranean country club than hotel, where a kaftan’d coterie nurse local wines poolside, families explore the estate on mountain bikes with beach picnics, and full days are swallowed up on Verdura’s three, knockout golf courses. This, along with a cavernous spa (well-stocked with Irene Forte’s nature-meets-science Sicilian beauty products), tennis and padel courts, watersports and pilates, is made all the more seductive for parents with the resort’s superlative kids’ club. Far from a tot pen with a few colouring books, Verdura Resort sets the standard in the Mediterranean with Verdùland, where children learn how to rustle up classic Sicilian recipes, edit films, refine their golf swing on the course and, in summer, their football skills at one of the resort’s coveted academy weeks. It buys parents time to lean into their own cooking class, yoga session or Sicilian siesta, safe in the knowledge that their broods are gulping in plenty of fresh air and mastering a new skill.

Designer and sister to Sir Rocco Forte, Olga Polizzi’s has warmed the contemporary and cubic glass suites and villas with her hallmark restrained elegance (plush, earthy fabrics, cane and rustic ceramics). Pine for a sea-facing room or suite, and families or large groups, the villas, with their private pools and sweeping terraces. Verdura Resort’s farm-to-table ethos is prevalent across its four restaurants, from its swishy adult-only Zagara to the more easy-going Liolà where families tuck into well-excuted Sicilian classics, their soggy pool hair slowly drying in the hot breeze. Most of the restaurant’s bounty is grown on-site, including the herbs sprinkled into cocktails at the lively Granita bar. There are almost too many restaurants, bars, shiny facilities and sun-bleached acres to even contemplate leaving this country club-on-sea, but the ancient temples of Agrigento and Selinunte await.

Hotel address: Verdura Resort, A Rocco Forte Hotel, S.S. 115, Km 131, 92019 Sciacca AG, Italy
Price: Doubles from £173 per night