Country House Villadorata

Country House Villadorata

At Country House Villadorata, the loudest sound most afternoons is crickets, carried across the Aqua Madre pool, where the water is threaded with magnesium and potassium salts that recall a thermal spring rather than a resort pool. The property sits on a 23-hectare biodynamic estate in the hills above Noto, Sicily, its olive groves, almond trees, citrus orchards and small vineyard folded around a converted nineteenth-century palmento, once used for crushing grapes. Fifteen rooms across a single floor keep the place small by design, and it is adults only, so it will not suit anyone travelling with children or hunting for a lively pool scene. What sets it apart from other Sicilian country retreats is that mineral pool paired with a restaurant, Orti Villadorata, that runs almost entirely on its own land: chef Matteo Carnaghi's kitchen is built around a wood-burning thermo-cooker fired by prunings from the estate's own olive and citrus trees, and the tasting menu is the default, though individual dishes can be ordered for those who want more choice. Days can be filled with a cooking class in that same kitchen, a picnic basket carried out under old olive trees, or a morning yoga session with a local instructor who has taught in Noto for seventeen years. Some suites open onto their own private pools, others simply look over the garden. The resort runs largely on its own photovoltaic system, which will matter to guests who care where their electricity comes from and not at all to those who don't. It suits travellers who want stillness with substance, not travellers who want to walk to dinner in town. Fifteen rooms, one converted palmento, and a mineral-salt pool set among biodynamic olive groves above Noto. Chef Matteo Carnaghi cooks over a wood fire fuelled by the estate's own pruned branches. Adults only, and better suited to those who want stillness than a lively scene.