Casa Cuseni is a special place rich in history: it is located in Taormina, Sicily. The Victoria and Albert Museum in London itself has called this structure the flagship of the history of art and of the international designer.
Several years ago, on a gloomy winter day, my dad gave me a book he had just finished to read.
I trusted blindly. It happened and still happens like this.
And in a few days I devoured "A house in Sicily". A story of art, humanity and nature set, in the first half of the 900th century, in one villa of Taormina.
After a few months we arrived on the Island of Polyphemus and brazenly went to ring the bell of that villa and to know the author of that book.
Casa Cuseni in Taormina
I still remember the emotion of the tales shared out loud and the tenderness of that trembling hand that scribbled, on the first page, mine and his name.
Miss Daphne is gone now, but in the meantime her home has become a museum. Inside this special place, in addition to her, you can meet - following the expert guide of Francesco - Picasso, Wilde, Ezdra Pound, Greta Garbo, Coco Chanel. And of course you can admire that unmistakable panorama made of sea and volcano that only Cuseni House can give to its visitors.
This house, on the sea side of the hill on which Taormina stands, was built in the years between the First and Second World War by the painter Robert Kitson, the son of a London industrialist. He immediately became one of the Mundane-cultural "salons" most coveted by Sicilian intellectual furniture, especially for the encounters they could have here with illustrious writers and artists from all over the world.
And it is precisely the "breath" of culture that fascinates and enchants guests. Here you can also stay with the B&B formula and occasional visitors.
The style of the villa
The manor house, in the architectural lines and furnishings, has the refinement and decorative imprint of English liberty.
It is a precious container of even more precious treasures. First of all the stories that the walls have seen unfolding, and then the finds it contains from all over the world: from ancient Troy to India, from England to East Asia. Every wall, every piece of furniture, every shelf holds great and unexpected wonders. Even the floors could tell something magical.
A splendid garden
All around, an immense garden, crossed by avenues made with beach pebbles, between stone walls half-covered with bougainvillea and jasmine cascades, seats in secluded corners (which seem to be made especially for moments of intimacy), basins of Egyptian papyrus, large and small flower beds with colors of geraniums and wisteria. Olive and citrus trees, ancient cisterns, a large cellar and an icebox frame the terraces of the villa which are open to the sea and to the mainland.
Cuseni House - its name derives from the neighborhood in which it stands - it was declared, for its particular history, National Monument by Unesco and is sponsored by the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, which considers it the flagship of the history of art and of the international designer.
Spring and summer are the best times to visit Cuseni House precisely because the nature so sought after and cared for by the first owner, then by Miss Phelps and by the current inhabitants, is in its maximum splendor. The colors of the flowers and the incredible shades of green and the clear sky, free from any cloud, allow the gaze to reach up to Giardini Naxos and at the smoking top ofEtna.
