“I was looking for a small house in the area and found this place the very first day. I fell in love with it and decided to invest every drop of my energy into it”, proclaims Guido Alessandro – owner of Monaci delle Terre Nere, a new Sicilian boutique hotel that looks… well, like it’s had every last drop of energy invested into it. Having lived in England and the US, Alessandro’s labour of love fuses substantial international flair with truck-loads of his home-country’s charm.

Surrounded by acres of some of the world’s most significant countryside – the historic building sits on the slops of Mt. Etna – Monaci delle Terre Nere sees contemporary and classical mixing like peas in a pod (whereas so often they can jar like cat and dog). With just six rooms (and plans for six more), it’s more B&B than boutique hotel – but then this is the definition of ’boutique’ as it was intended, before the frightful bastardisation of said word – and there’s a real sense of staying the night at your movie-star uncle’s house (not that I have a movie-star uncle, but the atmosphere of this place just sweeps you away, doesn’t it?).

There’s a restaurant – just for guests – plying the typical Italian mantra of locally sourced, super-high quality ingredients, and the communal spaces are straight out of the pages of Wallpaper* magazine. Thank god Alessandro and his abundant energy stumbled across this majestic property…