Verdura Golf & Spa Resort among the sexiest golf resorts in the world

Verdura Golf & Spa Resort has been nominated among the sexiest golf resorts in the world by A Position.com.

Here is what journalist Brian McCallen writes about Verdura Golf & Spa Resort, Sicily:

Crossroads of civilizations, Sicily—the triangular-shaped island at the tip of Italy’s boot—is etched with more than 3,000 years of history. But it’s a recent newcomer that’s proven to be every bit as smoldering as Mt. Etna. Slated to open on March 1, Verdura is a 45-hole seaside complex set on a large estate near the Valley of Temples, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Well-preserved antiquities not sexy enough? The stylish resort is a stage set for La Dolce Vita, from its private beach (perfect for intimate cuddling) to an airy, contemporary hotel accented by volcanic tufa, exposed timber, and vibrant splashes of local color. The Roman within you will love the spa: blood oranges, lemons, volcanic mud, and seawater season the treatments. Musicians will serenade you at the Torre Bar, but there can’t be a better place under the Mediterranean sun to nuzzle than La Granita, which serves Tapas-style dishes and vino on a terrace above the pool and gardens. While the resort’s brawny East and West courses weave through olive and orange groves near the sea, the nine-hole short course is ideal for a let’s-not-keep-score, his-and-hers outing. Exotic, sun-drenched, and intensely beautiful, Verdura is the perfetto place to ignite or rekindle a romance.

More about A Position.com:

Mixed twosomes, rejoice. The A Position.com has named the best golf resorts for mixing your favorite indoor and outdoor sports. The second installment of “The A List”—a monthly compendium of expert golf and travel info—discloses where these experienced golf and travel experts most want to swing. The A Position’s writers searched for locations that put the “hot” in hotel, with balmy weather, hands-on spa treatments, secret passageways for midnight trysts, succulent meals, even provocative golf course mounding. From Sicily to Thailand, Mexico to Ontario, The A Position’s laborers of love reveal where to take your paramour for Valentine’s Day—or any time of the year—when you want to play a round.

Orient-Express Hotels acquires 2 Sicily hotels

Orient-Express Hotels Ltd. announces expansion plans in Italy. The company has signed a binding agreement to purchase two distinctive properties in Taormina, Sicily from The Framon Group, subject to completion conditions.

The 83-key Grand Hotel Timeo is considered by many to be the most luxurious hotel in Taormina, and the nearby 78-key Villa Sant’Andrea has a private beach on the Bay of Mazzaro. Under the agreement, scheduled for completion in late January, Orient-Express Hotels will acquire both properties for a combined price of EUR81million (US$117 million) including the assumption of existing financing of EUR44 million (US$64 million), a new medium term bank loan of EUR6 million (US$9 million) and vendor financing of EUR5 million (US$7 million). The company plans to invest EUR11 million (US$16 million) in a major refurbishment program, to take place over three consecutive winter closures. The hotels will reopen to Orient-Express Hotels’ standard in time for the 2010 summer season.

More at HotelsMag.com

Interview with Sir Rocco Forte

Who follows SicilyGuide knows that we have been big fans on the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort of the Rocco Forte Collection. Here is an interview with Rocco Forte featured in The Luxury Travel Magazine.

A conversation with Sir Rocco Forte, Chairman of The Rocco Forte Collection, a family of 13 luxury hotels and resorts in Europe, with four new properties due to open within the next three years in Northern Africa and the Middle East.

When you established The Rocco Forte Collection in 1996, what was your vision?

With The Rocco Forte Collection, the strategy from the beginning was to create a luxury hotel group which covered all the major cities in Europe, because there was no one else doing that. Our hotels have a very strong design element which is overseen by my sister Olga Polizzi, Director of Design for The Rocco Forte Collection. We try to relate the hotel to the local market and environment it’s in. Our hotels aren’t too big. There’s an intimate feel to them. You can treat a customer as an individual. Once a hotel is larger than a certain size it gets difficult to do that. It’s a combination of all those things.

Has that vision changed? If so, how and why?

We have spent the last ten years building The Rocco Forte Collection brand in Europe and our vision and brand values have remained the same throughout. About two years ago, as part of the evolution of the brand, we made the decision to start thinking outside of Europe and signed management contracts for properties in Abu Dhabi (opening mid 2010), Jeddah (opening autumn 2010), a golf & spa resort in Marrakech (opening 2011) and Cairo (opening 2012). The fact that we are moving towards management contracts, and have in fact fought off competition from other leading five star brands, shows how far we have come in the last ten years, and that we are now in a position to leverage The Rocco Forte Collection brand.

Tell us about your newest hotel, which is actually your first resort (pictured above), and how this project came about?

From the outset I wanted to create a truly luxurious resort which offered exceptional golf, spa and dining experiences amid panoramic views and spectacular design. The rugged south west coast of Sicily provided the ideal setting for the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort.

The decision to move into resorts was a natural progression for us and a key element in the growth strategy of the business. We will be looking to attract the same leisure and corporate customers that currently stay in our other properties as well as expanding into the family market.

For golfers Verdura offers a first-rate experience with 45 holes of the highest design set into the Sicilian countryside with superb views of the Mediterranean. As a resort it presents every possibility with a spectacular 4,000 square metre Spa, specializing in luxurious Thalassotherapy and Aromatherapy treatments.”

Families will also be very well looked after with Verdura’s Kids Club and Teenagers Club, enjoying many of the land and sea activities on offer including the 60-metre two tiered swimming pool, tennis, sailing and windsurfing.

Verdura brings together the talent and experience of some of the world’s best hotel, golf course and spa designers, who have used the vivid Sicilian setting as the inspiration for their new work here.

What are your criteria for selecting new destinations?

It’s all about finding a great property in the right location and of course at the right price. I like acquiring buildings that have a sense of history, are well located and have a real connection to the city.

There are still key cities in Europe that I would like to be in including Paris, Madrid, Milan, Barcelona and Moscow. I would also like to have a property in New York as it is the most Eastern looking US city and is an important destination for us.

Most of your hotels are historic buildings. Why did you build new hotels in Manchester and Munich?

Our hotels are a mixture of older historic buildings and new builds. It really is all about the location of the property and its connection to the city. The Lowry Hotel (above left) with its dramatic glass-fronted façade is a real landmark in Manchester and was the first five star hotel in the city.

There are different sets of issues with developing hotels in both new build and historical buildings. For example when we were building The Augustine (above right) in Prague, we had to work with the local fine art authorities because a lot of the buildings have historical significance. At our new resort in Sicily, Verdura Golf & Spa Resort, I had always wanted to create a high-class golf resort. When we looked at Sicily, we found a place that is interesting historically, has beautiful countryside, good tax incentives and the weather is usually quite good. Of course, this year while we’re building there’s been more rain than in the last 70 years! And the land had 72 different owners, so we had to negotiate with everyone.

Is there one of your properties where you feel most “at home” and why?

This summer, I spent quite a lot of time at our new golf & spa resort, Verdura in south west Sicily which opened in August. I am extremely proud of the resort and think we have created something very special there.

Out of all the hotels in The Collection, I probably spend the most time at Brown’s Hotel (below) as it’s located in the heart of my hometown, London and is a quick walk from my office in Jermyn Street. The fact that it was an old Forte hotel makes it extra special to me. I think my sister has done a great job in creating a quintessentially English hotel with a contemporary feel. The Donovan Bar and The Albemarle restaurant (below right) in Brown’s have become two of the places ‘to be seen’ on the London circuit.

Source: LuxuryTravelMagazine.com

Verdura Golf and Spa Resort voted leading new spa hotel in Europe

Verdura Golf & Spa Resort features one of Europe’s most advanced luxury well being centers, designed to ensure that a holiday can be a life-changing experience. At 4,000 square meters, the spa is one of the largest in Europe.

Set amid fragrant, sun-kissed olive groves and gardens, Verdura Spa offers a complete holistic approach to health, well-being and fitness. An extensive menu of spa treatments, lifestyle, exercise and nutritional programs will leave the body revived, relaxed and rejuvenated.

Treatments are focused around the four key areas of anti-aging, detox, rejuvenation and diet. The experienced health and therapy staff will consult with each guest and develop a personalized program of treatments and fitness activities. Treatments can be tailor-made to concentrate on massage, golf-related exercise, diet and nutrition. Treatments such as facials and body wraps take inspiration from the island, using local ingredients such as blood oranges, lemons, volcanic mud and Sicilian seawater.

More at TreatmentAbroad.net

EasiearTravel reviews Hotel Palazzo Failla

Need seclusion or a double dose of romance for your loved-one? Well, bolt-holes don’t come any better than this boutique gem. Situated in the heart of Modica in one of the most spectacular corners of Baroque Sicily, the Hotel Palazzo Failla combines effortless chic and fine dining with the warm hospitality of a family-run venture.

An original baroque palazzo of the 17th century, it’s got a wonderful old-world grandeur, while the sumptuous rooms are furnished with the latest comforts such elegant modern style double Jacuzzi and steam shower box.

More at www.easier.com
Hotel Web Site: www.palazzofailla.it

She’s got Sicily under her skin

Ondine Cohane, a travel journalist at Condé Naste Traveler, describes her recent trip to Sicily and her visit to the Rocco Forte’s Verdura Resort & Spa.

Sicily has gotten under my skin. This marks my third annual trip to the Italian island–I first covered it on a pilgrimage to find an Italian wine baron and then last year I scouted its best beaches. This year I found myself first in Palermo, and then at Rocco Forte’s new resort, Verdura Resort and Spa, for a quick September getaway.

Palermo, as always, didn’t disappoint; a dilapidated chaotic gritty city that’s still home to grand palazzi and amazing examples of Arab and Norman architecture. This isn’t a sanitized tourist destination, though: on my first night there, all the street lights went out, leaving me in a small alley in total darkness for a good five minutes. Among my new discoveries was the BB22, a chic bed and breakfast next to the Vucurria food market, another one of my picks. BB22 was great, especially for 150 euros, and the staff was friendly and helpful. I also checked out Cana Enoteca, a little wine bar not far from Piazza Marina that proved a gem for its selection of Sicilian vintages (don’t miss the reds from Mount Etna), large plates of cheese and local salamis, and cozy wood-paneled atmosphere. If I lived in town, it would definitely become my favored neighborhood spot.

The following morning I headed on to Verdura, a resort that’s been generating a lot of buzz in Italy.

More at Condé Naste Traveler

Guess what? Sicily among the world’s sexiest affordable destinations

Sicily is listed among the world’s sexiest affordable destinations and this is what Travel + Leisure Magazine writes about it:

Why Go Now: The southwestern coast of Sicily—just 1 1/2 hours outside Palermo—remains relatively undiscovered, but a host of new hotels is putting this region on the global travelers’ map.

The Details: Make the town of Mazara del Vallo your base for exploring the area. The recently opened Mahara Hotel (doubles from $138) has 77 rooms housed in an 18th-century walled fortress that faces the sea. And down the road, the new Kempinski Hotel Giardino di Costanza Sicily (doubles from $411), a 91-room Spanish-style manor house, is the hotel group’s first Italian property. Thirty-five miles south, the new Verdura Golf & Spa Resort (doubles from $580), set on 570 acres, marks the first Sicilian hotel for the Rocco Forte Collection. In nearby Marsala, local artist Daniela Neri sells jewelry made from native sea salt, resin, and coral at Ettore & Infersa. For the best seafood on the coast, don’t miss L’Oste e Sagristano (dinner for two $114), in Licata, 100 miles away. The pasta in fish broth with red prawns and chopped pistachios is worth the stop.

T+L Tip: Cooking classes are offered at the private estate of Gabriella Becchina at Castelvetrano (classes from $142), where the robust olio verde is produced.

Source: Travel + Leisure Magazine

Verdura Golf and Spa Resort Featured on Forbes.com

Finally, this resort is open and receives the deserved headlines! The Rocco Forte portfolio consists of extravagant spots like Brown’s Hotel in London and the Hotel Savoy in Florence, so it’s no surprise the company added this 540-acre resort off the southwest coast of Sicily to its collection. A one-hour drive from Palermo, the Verdura–which opened on Aug. 1–includes 1.2 miles of private coastline, two 18-hole golf courses, a 43,000-square-foot spa and four restaurants. If the gorgeous Sicilian coast isn’t enough to entice you, maybe the introductory perks are.

Guests who reserve a room for now through Dec. 31, 2009 receive complimentary dinner for two every evening of their stay, waived greens fees and a free spa treatment when booking at least three nights. Rates start at $590 per night.

More at Forbes.com and look at the fantastic slideshow at www.verduraresort.com/gallery

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