4 Best Hotels in Eraclea Minoa, Torre Salsa, and Sant'Angelo Muxara, Sicily

A working farm producing almonds, olives, and wine (all of which feature in abundance at evening meals), Feudo Muxarello offers huge vistas toward the Sicani mountains and a to-die-for night sky. Rooms are of the very highest standard, both in the main farmhouse and in the adjoining outhouses. There is an ample swimming pool and the owners have gone out of their way to document footpaths and excursions from the farmstead. The evening meal comes via a single menu, affordably priced and served in one sitting, eating together with the owner and staff.

This exquisitely restored and furnished Art Nouveau palazzo is perhaps the most improbable hotel on the entire island of Sicily: it sits in the heart of Montallegro, a humble agricultural town with not many tourist highlights, yet the Briuccia and its fine-dining restaurant are special enough to deserve consideration as your main base for exploring this part of the island. It’s an easy driving distance of Agrigento, Scala dei Turchi, and Torre Salsa, and inland, you’ll find unspoiled landscapes where pointed peaks rise above undulating hills planted with olive and almond groves. With beautiful wallpapers, wooden staircases, beamed ceilings, encaustic tiled floors, and antique furniture, rugs, and mirrors, Briuccia is a little world of its own. The former courtyard has been transformed into a winter garden, where dinner and breakfast are served. There are just five rooms, the highlight being the suite with its own terrace (and hydromassage bath) on the top floor. Owner/chef Damiano Ferraro also runs cooking classes for guests. For breakfast, guests are presented with an elegant platter of seasonal fruit, yogurt, and delicious sweet and savory Sicilian morsels.

Here you'll find tasteful contemporary rooms within a small organic winery set among 50 acres of vineyards a short drive from the unspoiled beaches of the Torre Salsa nature reserve. Rooms are minimalist in style, with exposed beams, wooden parquet floors, and bathrooms walled with either Bisazza mosaics or hand-painted majolica tiles from Caltagirone. Color schemes vary, from soft blues, greens, and sand to geometric black and whites, giving each room a distinctive feel and character. Breakfast is served in the courtyard in good weather, and in the state-of-the-art tasting room. Although there is no restaurant, wine tastings with food—and a tour of the vineyards and cantina—are available three times a week.