For the table
Monaci delle Terre Nere
Zafferana Etnea · Sicily
Terre nere means the black earths, and that is the whole idea here. The estate climbs the south-eastern flank of Etna at around six hundred metres, its terraces held by dry lava walls, the volcano smoking above and the Ionian laid out below. Twenty-five hectares run to vineyards, olives, citrus and vegetable beds, farmed organically, the vines by the biodynamic calendar. The manor at its heart dates to the 18th century and wears its age plainly, rough plaster and chestnut beams over stone. Rooms range from doubles in the old house to villas with a private pool cut into the hillside, and two infinity pools, heated by the sun, hang over the vines. Relais & Châteaux took the place into its fold in 2019, which tells you the standard without changing the temperature of it.
This is a farm first, so the table starts in the ground. Much of what reaches the plate is grown on the estate or sourced close by, and the cooking is Sicilian without theatre, seasonal and tied to the day's harvest. Locanda Nerello is the heart of it, named for the Etna grape, while Luce takes the evening up a register. The wine is their own, grown on these lava soils and made on site, Etna reds and whites that taste of where they come from. Breakfast happens in the garden among the fruit trees. You could eat here for a week and never miss the coast.
Plenty of hotels borrow the word sustainable. Few are an actual farm you can walk through, on soil this particular, with a cellar and a kitchen that answer to it. Monaci delle Terre Nere is the rare estate where what you pour and what you eat both come off the hillside you are looking at. It sits an easy drive from Taormina and Catania, yet the noise of both falls away the moment you turn up the track. We would go for the volcano and the vines, and book the evening table before we unpacked.
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