Caol Ishka Hotel

Hotel description

It’s odd, we’ll grant, to travel all the way to Sicily and end up in a hotel with a Gaelic name. But it’s not the only thing that’s out of the ordinary about this place. Caol Ishka seems simple enough from the outside, just a traditional masseria, a Southern Italian farming estate, in a field on the banks of the Anapo river, just outside of the coastal city of Siracusa.

But, as the saying goes, you can never judge a masseria by its pale-lavender paint job. The rooms are as modern as can be, visually spare with their plain cement walls and solid-white linens but full of detailed small comforts, from luxe ultra-modern furniture and fixtures to plasma televisions, DVD players and top-shelf bath products. Hardcore devotees of contemporary design will find the interiors unimpeachable, and may be driven to distraction turning over the chairs, checking for labels, but even the most casual fans will appreciate the utter absence of tired antique chic.

Zafferano, the restaurant, picks up where the rooms leave off: as strongly graphic as the room and the plates may be, the modern Sicilian cuisine is the main attraction. You’re close enough to Siracusa and the historic sights of Ortigia (barely a mile) for an easy day trip, but just far enough that come morning a day by the pool under the Sicilian sun may sound like more your speed.