Taormina ... La Dolce Vita

"Taormina is a landscape in which you can find all that seems to be created on earth to seduce the eyes, mind and fantasy" .... Guy de Maupassant in 1885

Audrey Hepburn, Taormina Film Festival
Taormina with its designer label shops and Michelin starred restaurants always attracts the glamouratti and with that comes celebrities. With Taormina being one of the Mediterranean’s best kept secrets, it is the perfect place to moor their yachts on the sparkling Ionian Sea and chill out.

From actors and singers to footballers and supermodels …. all have experienced La Dolce Vita here.

Taormina has long attracted literary legends such as D H Lawrence, who wrote Lady Chatterley’s Lover here, Goethe, who compared Taormina to paradise, Tennesse Williams and Oscar Wilde to name just a few. Lady Chatterley's lover is supposedly inspired by the exploits of an English woman living in Taormina who had fallen in love with a local Sicilian Farmer.

Later in the 50’s and 60’s came the Hollywood legends Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Gregory Peck and Cary Grant, Robert Mitchum and Shirley MacLaine, the main meeting point being Villa Mon Repos now known as Tout Va, here they were entertained by the likes of Dionne Warwick. The villa was a luxurious hotel and the stars were enticed by its casino and nightclub.

Every year the Greek Theatre is host to The Taormina Film Festival attracting actors and actresses both Italian and International, those to have graced the stage include Ingrid Bergman, Laurence Olivier, Liz Taylor, Richard Burton, Sofia Loren, Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn and Gina Lollobrigida. More recently in 2014 Ben Stiller, Amy Adams, Jeremy Irons and Eva Longoria who helped celebrate the film festivals 60th anniversary.
The Greek Theatre venue for the Film Feste


The famous Wunderbar Café in Piazza IX Aprile is the location where Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were first spotted together as a couple after they escaped the set of Cleopatra to conduct their love affair. The Grand Hotel Timeo has long been a favourite with the stars and where supposedly Elizabeth hit Richard over the head with a guitar in a fit of jealousy.

2014 saw the introduction of Taormina Cult, a thematic route around Taormina passing through places of culture, history, literature, cinema and art. There are 21 places where the muses found their home, all that give honour to the glorious past of Taormina.

Jim Kerr's Hotel Villa Angela
The 80’s brought pop stars including Mick Hucknall who owns a vineyard on the slopes of Mount Etna and Jim Kerr who owns the beautiful Hotel Villa Angela in Taormina. Simple Minds and Simply Red have both played concerts at the Greek Theatre as part of Taormina Arte which happens every summer.

The most popular spots for celebrity spotting are the Bam Bar and La Botte restaurant, both are proud of their VIP guests and inside you will see photographs on the wall of all their famous visitors.

The designers Dolce and Gabbana have long used Sicily as inspiration for their collections, with recent advertising campaigns in Taormina being shot in the Hotel San Domenico Palace or down on Mazzaro beach below Taormina.

Dolce and Gabanna on Mazzaro Beach


So what are you waiting for? Make Taormina your destination to sample La Dolce Vita …….

This post is dedicated to our friend David who passed away prematurely last year … one of his favourite memories was whilst working for De Beers Diamonds presenting the actress Gina Lollobrigida with a diamond for an award on stage at the Greek Theatre as part of the Taormina Film Festival. 

R.I.P David .... a piece of glitter who sadly left our life too soon.

Loved this post? Then read our review from August 2014, Taormina .....The Pearl of the Ionian Sea.

Next blog post; Taormina ... The Greek Theatre

www.san-domenico-palace.com
www.belmond.com/grand-hotel-timeo-taormina/
www.hotelvillaangela.com
www.toutva.com
www.wunderbarcaffe.it
www.labotte1972.it/en/
www.taorminafilmfest.net
www.taormina-arte.com

Ben Stiller at Taormina Film Festival 2014

The famous Wunderbar Cafe
Thank you for following me at White Almond Sicily

For NEW Blog updates and all things Sicilian

You can also follow me on
Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google + and Linkedin

I am also a contributor to www.timesofsicily.com

for Travel Advice and Recommendations 



Popular posts from this blog

Forza d'Agro

Image
In the Godfather Part I, when Michael Corleone (Al  Pacino) and his two bodyguards are walking in the hills, they see a picturesque village in the distance, they point and remark “Corleone”. The town in the distance is in fact Forza d' Agro a short drive from Taormina. Forza d’Agro is an ancient hill-top town and is a warren of narrow streets and tiny houses leading up to a ruined Norman castle. Most of the stone paved lanes here are impassable by cars. The town was also used as a filming location for The Godfather Part II and III. In the opening scene of The Godfather Part II, following the assassination of young Vito Corleone’s father, the funeral procession was shot in the dry riverbed below Forza d’Agro, Michael’s older brother is assassinated in this scene after being found hiding in the hills. Following this his mother is also brutally murdered, and so being the only surviving male, Vito Corleone must escape Sicily and with the help of local residents he c
Read more

The White Lotus Season 2 Locations 🎬

Image
With its beautiful natural scenery, breathtaking landscapes and architectural marvels Sicily has set the scene for many Hollywood movies including The Godfather, Oceans Twelve, Star Wars Revenge of the Sith, Aquaman and most recently the musical Cyrano and Indiana Jones 5 plus many Italian speaking movies including the Oscar winning movie Cinema Paradiso. Earlier this year news broke that the producers of the American TV series 'The White Lotus' would be setting their second season in Taormina, Sicily.  The White Lotus is a comedy-drama television series, created written and directed by Mike White, that premiered on the US HBO channel in July 2021. The first series was filmed in Hawaii in late 2020 and featured an ensemble cast including Hollywood actress and comedian Jennifer Coolidge. The series swept the 2022 Emmy Awards with trophies.  The first season consisted of six episodes and features the lives of the staff and guests at a fictional tropical luxury resort in Hawaii. T
Read more

25 Sicilian Myths and Legends

Image
Sicily is a place full of myths and legends and there are many stories associated with the island. From the stories of nymphs and gods from Greek and Roman mythology to tragic love stories from an exotic era when the island was under Arabic, Norman and Spanish rule. Some stories have happy endings and some not so happy endings.  What is a legend? Legends are stories which are thought to be based on true events but have developed fictional elements that have deep significance to the culture from which they originate. For example historians claim that King Arthur really existed but his existence is shrouded in different legends, such as is his final resting place on Mount Etna?  What is a myth? Myths are stories derived from cultural traditions or legends most of which have a deep symbolic meaning and usually involve a lesson that will be helpful to the listener or reader. Mythical characters are often non-human in some form or related to a god or supernatural being, often set in ancient
Read more