Castelmola: Sicily's Strangest Bar Has the Best View in Taormina

Everyone standing on Taormina’s terraces eventually looks up and notices a village sitting on the rock above them, looking back down. That’s Castelmola — Taormina’s old acropolis, 529 meters up, and the single best place to see the coastline you were just admiring from below. It’s a short trip, but it’s not a drive-up-and-done one: the road up is narrow, the parking is genuinely tight, and the village’s most famous bar is stranger than anything else on this stretch of coast.

Getting up there

Interbus runs a direct route from Taormina’s bus terminal to Castelmola’s Piazza Sant’Antonio, with departures roughly every 30-45 minutes through the day — a straightforward 15-minute ride. If you’d rather walk, the Sentiero dei Saraceni (Saracens’ Path) is an old mule track that climbs through the Porta dei Saraceni gate, usually picked up from the Via Crucis near the Madonna della Rocca chapel. Budget close to two hours round trip if you’re doing the full hike both ways — plenty of visitors take the bus up and walk down instead, which is the version I’d actually recommend.

My honest take on driving: don’t, unless you enjoy narrow switchbacks with no guarantee of a parking spot at the top. The historic center has essentially no parking of its own; you’ll be leaving the car outside it and walking in regardless, so the bus removes that problem entirely.

Piazza Sant’Antonio and the view

The village’s main square, Piazza Sant’Antonio (also called Piazza Belvedere), was laid out in 1954 with mosaic paving and an ancient Roman arch built into it. This is the viewpoint — Taormina laid out below, the Bay of Giardini Naxos, and on a clear day Etna’s outline behind everything. It’s free, it’s not hidden, and it’s still worth planning your visit around: late afternoon light does more for this view than midday ever will.

Castello di Mola: the ruins above the village

Above the piazza, a 78-step staircase leads up to the Castello di Mola, a fortress with a 9th-century core and 16th-century additions, its entrance arch dated 1578. There’s not much left standing, but the extra height changes the view again, and there’s no fee to climb up and look.

Where to eat: Antico Caffè San Giorgio

Photo: Daniele Bellia

My honest take, from having eaten here myself with my wife: Antico Caffè San Giorgio, right on Piazza Sant’Antonio, is worth booking a table at rather than just passing through for a drink. The food quality held up well, and the terrace view — Taormina laid out below, the sea stretching out past it — is the kind you sit with for a while after the plates are cleared. It’s been serving the square since the early 1900s and it still shows.

Bar Turrisi: the actual reason people talk about this place

Founded in 1947 by Salvatore Turrisi as the “Taverna del Mandorlo in Fiore” — the Tavern of the Blooming Almond Tree — Bar Turrisi started out serving almond wine to travelers passing through. It’s still family-run, now by Salvatore’s grandchildren, and it still serves that same vino alla mandorla, a dry white infused with almonds, herbs, and citrus.

What it’s actually known for now is the décor: four floors covered in phallic imagery drawn from ancient Greek fertility symbolism — murals, sculptures, even the furniture — that earned it the local nickname “il bar dei falli.” This is not family-oriented decor, worth knowing before you bring kids inside; the upper floors also happen to have some of the best views in the village, over the Duomo, the gulf, and Etna. Go for the view, and the eccentric decor is what you’ll actually remember.

The Duomo, if you’re still there

The village’s Cattedrale di San Nicolò was rebuilt in the 1930s, reportedly on foundations going back to a 6th-century structure — worth a quick look if you’re already in the piazza, though it’s not a reason to make the trip on its own.

Practical tips

• When to go: Late afternoon through sunset, April-October for the best weather; spring and early autumn for fewer crowds.
• Parking: assume there’s none in the center — park outside and walk, or take the bus and skip the problem entirely.
• Time needed: 2-3 hours covers the piazza, the castle ruins, and a drink at Bar Turrisi without rushing.
• Combine it with: this pairs naturally with a day in Taormina — go up to Castelmola for the late afternoon and come back down for dinner. If the Teatro Antico is on that day’s list, book the skip-the-line ticket (affiliate link — booking through it costs you nothing extra and helps support this site) before heading up here, so the queue doesn’t eat the afternoon you wanted for Castelmola.

More on the area in the Taormina region guide.