I recently stayed for 2 nights in the Sicilian coastal town of Taormina, using it as a base for visiting Mt. Etna. There’s no way that I can write up 500 words about it (the usual size of my blog entries), so I’ll keep this a short TWHS review.

The roots of the town go back to the Siculi, a tribe that inhabited the area before it became part of Magna Graecia. The Greeks came, then the Romans, the Byzantines, the Normans, the Spanish and finally the Anglo-Saxon Grand Tour travelers. This impressive list of civilizations unfortunately isn’t reflected in a wealth of historic points of interest in the current town.

The most prominent sight is the Greek theatre, but it is not particularly attractive when you know the type already. Its only selling point is that Mt. Etna can be seen in the distance behind the stage – at least when you come during the morning, otherwise the sun will shine from that direction. Also worth a visit is Florence Trevelyan's garden, a quirky leftover from the time when some British made Taormina their second home.

And what about Isola Bella? I only saw it from the bus on my way up to Taormina. It’s a tiny island, also once owned by Florence Trevelyan. The owner of the B&B where I was staying in Taormina used to be the park ranger on Isola Bella, until it changed ownership for the umpteenth time and ceased being a formal nature reserve. It still is under some protection – by the Archaeological Park of Naxos according to the Italian wiki – but seems not to be ready for any serious evaluation regarding a prospective WH status.

So overall this results in a ‘thumbs down’ rating by me. Taormina is already totally overrun by tourists anyway, why would they aim for more?