Villa Mon Repos
Villa Mon Repos

"Villa Mon Repos". The name was not chosen at random for this extraordinary building of the early 1900’s that was converted into boutique hotels. The owner of the time, the Russian Joseph Stempel, chose the name still unaware of the glorious future that would come to mark the history of this architectural jewel in Art Nouveau style. Marlene Dietrich was in love with the ground-floor terrace, from there she admired the sea when it came to the villa, but by the will of the owner Dominic Guarnaschelli, in the sixties it became the first casino of Taormina. 1963 and 1964 mark the "golden era" of Mon Repos. The tenth anniversary of the Film Festival of Taormina was celebrated there and he did not want the beautiful world to miss its appointment with the city and the epicenter of its worldliness. The casino was now a destination for international stars like Gregory Peck, Marlene Dietrich and Cary Grant, to stars and rising stars of Italian cinema, the era of famous artists and members of the aristocracy. Today, mindful of its fabulous past, the villa is reborn as a luxury boutique hotel in the lushness of the Park of Olives. There is Isola Bella on the one hand, and the summit of Mount Etna with its impressive volcano on the other.