For better or worse, tourist trails through Sicily often overlook Noto, a bijou town in the island’s east. Which means that, unlike the rest of Siracuse, there is a charming atmosphere of captured time, especially in the superb collection of Baroque architecture.
Completely in step with the setting, the newly minted three-bedroom Casa Scianna mines a faded vintage aesthetic courtesy of its co-owner Edoardo Marchiori who has channeled a long stint as senior fashion editor at Italian Glamour into a second career as an interior designer. Interestingly, the B&B’s creative DNA is subliminally amplified by its moniker, a tribute to the Sicilian born photographer, Ferdinando Scianna.
Which explains the 1950s cinematic quality of the interior décor – the cool stone floors underfoot dressed with four poster wrought iron beds, Empire chairs, the obligatory prints of Roman emperors, and exuberantly colourful ceramics, drop crystal wall chandeliers, and antiques crafted by local artisans.
Each room features a different configuration, but the first floor suite has the advantage of a capacious day-bed set in a private al-fresco terrace that opens to that blue-on-blue sky.
Meanwhile, the in-house kitchen serves only breakfast, but in Noto, this is no hardship as the casa leads directly into a neighbourhood of small grocery stores, restaurants and bars, the latter quietly humming with the flick of card games.
ADDRESS
Via Ascenzo Mauceri 50 96017 Noto Siracuse Sicily
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