First, I want to look like Monica Vitti... a man in a slim fitting suit takes me on a vespa ride, at sunset we go down to the sea and drink lots of aperitivos and eat big plates of pasta with clams...

This summer, I relished in the opportunity to have my very own Jennifer Coolidge in White Lotus moment, (albeit sans the vespa ride.) We visited magnificent Taormina in Sicily after our Wedding in Capri this early June, (more on that undoubtably later on.)

Until the White Lotus aired, I have to admit, Taormina wasn't on my radar, but Sicily was. I grew up in an area of Sydney, Australia that was full of second generation born Sicilians and Calabrese, and their culture, cuisine and passion for enjoying life left me inspired.

When we were thinking of a place to go in Italy after the wedding, Taormina naturally came to mind, as I had binge-watched the white lotus season 2 like an addict and wanted to experience IRL for myself.

I asked my fellow "Blondes" for Recs on where to stay, as Carlin had visited the year prior. She has said without a doubt to stay at Taormina beach, since it was picturesque and not difficult to get into the main town.

After a little research on the best hotels to stay at in Taormina, and armed with trustworthy recommendations, we decided to book the BELMOND VILLA SANT'ANDREA at Taormina beach, and I can't recommend it enough.

We flew into Catania airport, the views over a smoking Mount Etna were absolutely breathtaking, I had never seen a live volcano blowing plumes of smoke like that before, and it spurred in us an excitement about what we had in store for us. We found a taxi that was happy to take us the near hour drive from Catania airport to Taormina and settled in for the drive.

As we turned off the main road, and into the drive of the Belmond Villa Sant' Andrea, we were ushered down the gentle slope of the driveway flanked by lush and colorful bougainvillea, dotted with topiaries and an abundance of manicured foliage. It was beachside luxury at its best, and we hadn't even gotten out of the taxi!

At check-in, we were offered small dishes containing a lemon sorbet, and we happily savored it while our check-in process was completed. We were offered a tour of the property, and followed our hostess around the labyrinth that is the Villa Sant' Andrea. Room upon room opened up to us like scenes out of a film, The bar area with its grand bay windows overlooking the water, rock formation islets framed by arched windows that were begging to be perched under with either a cocktail or a croissant at breakfast... insert swoon.

The bar area has two exits, either to the boutique area that has an assortment of Italian style luxury beachwear, over-the-top sunglasses and bags that could be worn to the opera, or you can go out another side that takes you to the indoor section of the restaurant.

The restaurant has an indoor and outdoor aspect and is perched above the private beach club of the hotel, and what a beach club it is. I've been to hotel beaches in a lot of parts of the world, but this one is otherworldly in its luxurious simplicity and style. Plush and comfortable beach chairs awaited us in twos dotted with blue and white sun umbrellas, prepared for guests with hotel branded canned chilled water, sunscreen and Evian water face sprays. Waiters were on hand to bring roasted almonds, olives and salted snacks while the bar staff prepared a Belmondini - comprising of white peach puree, Aperol, spumante brut, ginger, heaven!

An absolute nonnegotiable for my husband when we travel is a heated swimming pool. Not all hotels in Europe have them, so we were delighted to find that not only was the swimming pool at this hotel magnificent, but it was heated to a lovely warm 84F and we spent a lot of our time going from beach to pool, and pool to beach because we couldn't decide which we enjoyed more. The pool has a bar that can cater to any cocktail desire, and plentiful bar snacks on offer along with a gelato cart that was sampled more than once!

The town of Taormina is just a short ride up on the Funicular, which has its beach stop across the road from the entry to the driveway of the hotel. We took a taxi one day and decided the funicular was the way to go. 6 Euros per person per way, or 10 Euros for a return trip, and the ride is about 10 minutes long versus a 20-minute 30 Euro taxi ride. Once you get off the cable car, you walk out of the station onto a small street, and we just followed the crowd. We ended up arriving in the main street of Taormina town Corso Umberto. I was brimming with anticipation, as I was walking through the town where white lotus was set, and my poor adoring husband was very patient as I snapped pictures and oohed and ahhed over every minute detail. Corso Umberto is brimming with life, cafes and sidewalk bars, cozy restaurants and boutiques. The ceramics shops are endless, and I decided that I simply must have a Testa Moro to take home with us! As far as luxury shopping in Taormina, there was a beautiful Dior store, adorned on its exterior by sweeping bougainvillea. There is a Louis Vuitton store that had a very creative shell installation in its window, and we went inside the La Double J store to admire the stunning display of ceramic plates they had decorated the interior wall with. The standout store in Taormina for me was D'O or Dell'Oglio Donna Located at 170 Corso Umberto. It's a beautifully curated collection of designer items such as ready to wear, shoes, bags and accessories. There is also a men's store on the same street, but the women's store is magnificent. Each room holds a collection of different apparel such as evening wear, formal and resort style wear. My sales associate Francesca was a delight, and low and behold she styled me up in a Zimmermann outfit and off I skipped into the evening, An Australian girl making an Australian designer purchase in Italy...

We continued walking until we arrived at the Four Seasons Hotel, the famous hotel where the characters in the white lotus actually filmed the hotel scenes. You can't actually enter the property unless you are a guest or have a reservation, and it was at this moment I wished we had asked our concierge to call ahead and make a booking, The doorman asked if we were guests or if we had a booking, we said no to both but that we'd love to have dinner if they could accommodate us in any of their restaurants. The doorman promptly got on the phone and had a conversation and gave a nod, and we were in! Anciovi restaurant could accommodate us, and I practically skipped through the lobby, sighing and admiring the magnificence of the architecture around me. We passed a bar area at the lobby where guests were sipping their apéritifs and continued down the grand hallways with vaulted ceilings. The hotel interior is grand and reminded me a lot of a hotel we had stayed at in Amalfi. We crossed the garden, taking a few wrong turns through the majestic gardens, and eventually came to the top of the stairs by the pool area. If I mention white lotus one more time, I'm sure you will stop reading this, so I won't, but... you get the idea.

We descended the stairs and were met by a very hostile hostess that was not happy to hear we didn't have a room number at the hotel, she was joined by another lady that said it was ok, the concierge had called ahead, and they were expecting us. Brilliant! We were seated close to the exterior of the balcony which gave sweeping views of the coastline, the sunset sky and Mount Etna pluming smoke in the distance.

Our meal was delicious, and the scene was something out of a dream, the colors, the music, the gentle chatter of multi-language conversations around us. We were satisfied and happy to be spending our first meal in Taormina here.

Overall, we spent 3 nights in Taormina, and looking back, we are very satisfied we stayed at the Villa Sant' Andrea. Breakfast was included in our booking, and although I'm not a breakfast eater, I couldn't resist sitting on the terrace and enjoying a custom-made vegetable juice and omelet to start the day. They also made excellent Oat milk Lattes (another item that isn't always easy to find in Europe)

For guests at the hotel, they offer free boat tours, we decided to charter our own private boat tour as my sister, nephew and one of my husband's friends were also in Taormina staying at Air BNBs and we wanted to spend the day together. Boats can be arranged at the left side of Taormina beach, there are a couple of companies, and they do private tours for a few hours, but we thought two hour was plenty. Our boat captain told us (you guessed it) he was an extra in the filming of white lotus, he was employed to act as a server in the hotel restaurant, he proudly showed us screen grabs of all his scenes and happily pointed out all the various filming locations used in the show.

We sipped prosecco as we visited the various caves and grottos, boated around isola bella and marveled at the coastline, until stopping for a quick and freezing cold swim. Early June is only the beginning of the Summer, and while the air is warmer in Sicily than it was in Capri, the ocean was colder.

That evening, my husband and I had reservation at the hotels fine dining experience at the water's edge- Brizza, Executive Chef Agostino D’Angelo, LVMH Virtuoso of Métiers d’Excellence took us on a culinary journey like no other. Diners choose between two tasting menus, land or sea. I chose the Sea, and my husband chose the Land option, both tasting menus comprised in total of about 10 small courses, savored over approximately 3 hours. Upon being seated, we were given bug spray, which initially was a bit of a turn off, but to be fair, the mosquitos disappeared once the sun went down, and we were almost alone (bar the 7 other tables of two) to enjoy the serenity of the sea and the tide coming in.

The dishes at Brizza were spectacular, a fine assortment of delicate and sometimes adventurous flavors. My standouts were the matcha tea raviolo with stewed tuna belly and mint scented cherry tomato water, and the Crustacean emulsion served with lobster and coral powder, sweet and sour onion and tuber medallion. My husband's stand out dishes were the Beef tartare on potato millefeuille, truffle perlage, parmesan cheese foam and Marsala-marinated free-range egg yolk, and the Ash-sprinkled chicken breast and vegetables glazed with Sicilian black bee honey.

We both said we would definitely come back to Brizza if we were ever here again, it was definitely the standout meal for the both of us in Taormina, and I was pleased I booked ahead, as they only do one seating per evening and there are only 8 tables of two.

The rest of our time in Taormina was spent either exploring the town or relaxing at the Villa Sant' Andrea. Taormina is relatively small but spread out between the center which is at the top of the hill and the coastal areas. On our last evening, our group walked the town and stopped at some terrace bars and drank aperitivo before finding a cute little hole in the wall restaurant that served classic Sicilian dishes. I had my second Pasta alla Norma at ristorante il Ciclope, and my 12 Euro dish was as good as the one I had at Anciovi at the Four seasons. I discovered the secret to the traditional eggplant and tomato sauce dish is the Ricotta salata that goes on top (you know I've been adding it to every dish I make at home since!)

Taormina was every bit as beautiful as I imagined, and our hotel took my breath away. Each moment of our time here was special and unlike any other place I had been before. If you ever find yourself in Sicily, be sure to visit this gem on the coast of the rugged and storied mediterranean isle.

Fallon xo