Palazzo Salomone

An excellent boutique hotel in a great location. From the moment we arrived the staff were attentive, friendly and helpful. Particular mention to Tiziana at reception and Cristina at breakfast. The hotel is modern but retains a warm and welcome vibe. The rooms are spacious, and clean and the beds comfortable.

My wife and I booked a lovely room, Room 110. It was a junior suite, and had a nice downstairs with a small eating area and a sofa. And the room had two air conditioners, one for the top and one for the bottom. Unfortunately, the band that performs in the restaurant was performing on the other side of the wall — and it was quite loud with the drums and saxophone and piano. We could not possibly sleep. We went to the desk and asked a receptionist for help. She was very nice and gave us a different room, room 102. This was a significant reduction from room 110 — very small seating area, no downstairs air conditioning, so it was too hot to sit there. It was nowhere near the quality of room 110. We managed to sleep, but we decided that this was not adequate for us, and so we decided to leave. We had breakfast first. A very nice person gave us coffee and pastries. She offered nothing else, and so we had nothing else for breakfast. She never offered anything! So we packed up and decided to check out. We thus had a miserable stay, but we were sure that the hotel would fix the problem, and offer us the rate for the room we ended up in (102) and not the rate for the room we booked (the much nicer and bigger 110). At the least! Our discomfort was such that we actually expected the manager(who was very nice) to offer to simply void the room and not charge us at all. That would have been the courteous thing to do. After contact with the owner, he was able to offer a voucher for the next night of 50 euros. We tried to have a conversation with the hotel, but they treated us disrespectfully and were very defensive. They refused to even acknowledge even that the rooms were different! Subsequent attempts to conversation were not returned. I very much wanted this to be a good experience. I have never written a negative review. Ever. But I'd recommend staying elsewhere. And if you do stay there, don't stay in the otherwise lovely room 110 when the band is playing!

This place is magnificent. We stayed in the windowless suite which was stunning - the bedroom on a mezzanine and a large living area and shower room downstairs. It was quiet and cool and the perfect place to switch off after a day's exploration of beautiful Ortigia. It is right at the tip of the tiny island - a few mins to the main square and via Roma but also very close to the beautiful Lungo Mare road which is the best spot to watch the sunrise and a minute or two to the other side where you can watch the sun go down with a Campari Spritz at one of the sunset bars. Really the perfect location! Admittedly we were a little disappointed at the lack of windows initially but this soon wore off as the plus points of this stand alone suite outshone any negatives. The building is ancient and sleeping under the arched ceiling on an incredibly comfortable bed was completely relaxing. The team are just so lovely. We stayed for four nights and were very well looked after. The breakfast was beautiful. They have a highly skilled pastry chef who really goes to town with pastries, little cakes, tiny chocolate fondants and a really good selection of gluten free things - I even got an apricot croissant each morning. Freshly squeezed juice from the sweetest Sicilian oranges, posh yoghurts... there was a menu for cooked things but we couldn't possibly have squeezed anything else in. (Plus needed to save space for all of the other delights to be found in Ortigia!). On one morning I didn't make it to breakfast so they brought the whole thing to our room. The charming service was impeccable and a special shout out to Christina who was understandably so proud of everything. We asked for a couple of champagne cocktails one night and after a few moments the most delicious drinks arrived, served with hot nibbles. I wish I could remember the name of the man who served us (he was also the one who brought my breakfast to our room). He was so kind and made us feel so welcome and spoilt! The whole thing was flawless and we were reluctant to leave. Wouldn't hesitate in recommending. Can't wait to return. Also - you absolutely must eat in the restaurant. Best food and service we have ever experienced. We ate on the last night but wish we had eaten on the first so we could have done the whole thing twice (at least). It was better than the Alain Ducasse and Per Se meals that had previously been our personal top-rated!