Zash Country Boutique Hotel

Zash Country Boutique Hotel

At Zash Country Boutique Hotel in Riposto, Sicily, at the foot of Mount Etna, the restaurant sits in and around an old stone vat once used to ferment wine, a relic of the building's history as a palmento, a traditional wine-pressing house. Chef Giuseppe Raciti runs the kitchen and holds a Michelin star awarded in 2026, a distinction that separates this restaurant from most hotel dining rooms on the island. The rest of the property keeps to the same small scale: sixteen rooms across two floors, no elevators, and a garden of citrus trees that stretches to the two freestanding Pool Villas, each with glass walls, a private outdoor tub, and a view split between the volcano on one side and the sea on the other. The Blend rooms occupy what was once the wine cellar, white resin floors set against untouched lava-stone walls, while the Historic, Iconic and Standard rooms sit closer to the manor house with air conditioning, minibar and safe as standard. Outside there is an outdoor pool near the beach, a spa with sauna, steam room and massage treatments, a terrace, and bicycles free for guests covering the three kilometres into town. Staff speak English, German, Italian and Spanish, and pets under five kilos travel for a fee. None of this suits anyone who needs a lift, or a property large enough to disappear into: it is sixteen rooms and one kitchen, better suited to a couple wanting discretion than a group wanting options. What larger hotels on this coast cannot offer is a Michelin-starred table built inside the vat where the estate once made its own wine. In Riposto, at the foot of Etna, Zash sets a Michelin-starred restaurant inside an old wine vat, then keeps the rest to sixteen rooms and two Pool Villas in a citrus grove. It suits a couple, not anyone wanting elevators or more rooms to choose from.