Waterfront Villa on the Sicilian Coast

On the point where the Mediterranean meets the Ionian, with steps down to the rocks. On the south-eastern coast of Sicily at the gates of Ispica, a villa standing on its own headland where the waters of the Mediterranean and the Ionian meet. Terraced stone walls step down the cliff to a paved sun deck and a pavilion at the water’s edge. The 200 m² is not one house but three independent buildings set in the garden and linked by outside paths, which is how a Sicilian summer is actually lived, moving between shade and water rather than between rooms. The main villa of 90 m² sits closest to the sea: a living room, a kitchen and dining area behind a glass wall that opens completely, and a double bedroom with its own bathroom and a sea-view terrace. The two guesthouses hold the other three bedrooms across 110 m². Every one is en suite with its own entrance and its own shaded terrace, so guests arrive and leave without crossing anyone’s morning. The renovation is contemporary and restrained, white walls, reed ceilings, no attempt at grandeur. Marzamemi is twenty minutes away and Noto forty.