Mazzarò Sea Palace

Mazzarò Sea Palace occupies a steep site directly above the water in Taormina’s Mazzarò Bay, its stepped architecture descending towards the private shoreline rather than rising away from it. That geography shapes the experience. Terraces project towards the Ionian Sea, lower-level suites gain an unusual sense of proximity to the beach, and every room opens onto its own private outdoor space. Mount Etna remains part of the wider landscape, adding a volcanic counterpoint to the coastal setting. For its latest transformation, De.Tales did not attempt to compete with that scenery. The studio instead made it the organising principle of the interiors.

Sicily Without the Souvenirs

The material palette is unmistakably local but deliberately abstracted. Sun-bleached tones, lime plaster, timber, handmade ceramics and lava stone reference Sicily without reproducing its architecture literally. De.Tales works in curves rather than hard divisions, allowing walls, furniture and circulation to flow into one another. In the lobby, a radial floor pattern responds to the building’s geometry and guides the eye immediately towards the sea, while three-dimensional finishes suggest the movement of water. The reception desk combines lime plaster, a lava-stone top and hand-woven blue leather, turning familiar island materials into something distinctly contemporary.

Seventy Rooms Facing the Water

The 70 rooms and suites continue the same restrained language, with vaulted forms creating softer, almost alcove-like sleeping areas. Sand, pale stone and neutral surfaces are interrupted by deeper blues drawn from the Ionian Sea and Sicily’s volcanic landscape. Bespoke ceramic and lava-stone details appear in wardrobes, desks and bathroom elements, while organic forms prevent the interiors from becoming overly formal. Every room has a private sea-facing terrace, while six suites add private pools. The relationship between bedroom and landscape remains constant: the room is composed, but the view does most of the work.

Blue Becomes a Material

The public spaces expand the same ideas in different directions. At Almarè Bar, blue is treated almost architecturally. Geometric wall finishes reference Sicilian ceramics, a three-dimensional tiled bar front creates a woven effect and lava-stone inserts introduce depth. Textured glass and layered ceiling elements suggest the movement and reflection of water. Armònia Restaurant is softer, organised around curved walls, ribbed timber, handcrafted ceramics and a continuous transition between indoors and outside. Blum moves in the opposite direction, becoming darker and more intimate through blue-veined floors, lime-plastered walls, marine-inspired wallpaper and blue-toned lava-stone tables.

Life Between Terrace and Beach

Velvet Panoramic Terrace brings the architecture fully outdoors. Palladiana flooring, teak platforms, muted greens and lime-plastered walls create distinct lounge and dining zones without interrupting the view across the bay. The private beach carries the design language all the way to the water through striped blue-and-beige textiles, rounded red-and-white umbrellas, iroko tables and customised ceramic details. Rather than treating beach furniture as something separate from the hotel, De.Tales makes it the final layer of the same project. Food follows a similar relationship with place, with Executive Chef Riccardo Fazio focusing on seasonal produce and Sicilian culinary traditions across the hotel’s different restaurants.

The Sea Moves Indoors

What makes the redesign convincing is that De.Tales rarely illustrates Sicily directly. Instead, the coastline appears through geometry, texture and material: radial floors, curved walls, filtered light, deep blues, volcanic stone and transitions that dissolve the boundary between room, terrace and sea. Each space has its own character — social at Almarè, open at Armònia, intimate at Blum, relaxed on Velvet — yet the architecture remains coherent throughout. At Mazzarò Sea Palace, the Mediterranean is not decoration. It has become the design system.