Mandranova

Rooms

The rooms and suites have been beautifully but unpretentiously restored, with wooden granary doors and patterned pavimenti (majolica floors). Their muted colours are lifted straight from the Sicilian landscape (olive green, warm grey, pale yellow), and feel simple, bright and uncluttered - the epitome of comfortable farmhouse living. You'll find rustic wardrobes, soft white sheets, antique cherry-wood tables, and perhaps plexiglass Philippe Starck chairs ("to show we are looking forwards as well as backwards", explains Giuseppe). Windows look out over olive groves and low rocky hills; you can hear occasional cars on the main road, but it's not intrusive. Bathrooms are simple but adequate, with tiled showers or tubs and rainfall heads.

Of the 10 Room Plus', 4 (which we haven't seen yet) are in the casello building in the grounds; the rest are in the main house. Piccionaia is the most romantic: a penthouse room in terracotta and sky blue, with French windows to the shared (though little used) roof terrace. Agave also caught our eye with its cosy eaves, while Tunisina is a ground-floor room that can be converted into a twin. Eritrina and Ficodindia both have single sofabeds - useful for families with a child.

If you have a couple of kids in tow, it’s worth choosing a Superior Room, which have space for up to 2 extra beds. Biggest of all is the Frantoio Suite, formed from a Superior Room and the adjacent living room.

There is also a self-catering cottage La Robazza, available for weekly rentals. It's is blessed with a panoramic terrace and a private pool, plus 2 double bedrooms with ensuite shower rooms, wrought-iron four-posters and space for an extra bed; there's also a further twin room.

Features include:

• Air conditioning
• Central heating
• Cots available
• Hairdryer

Eating

Dinner is one of the highlights of any stay here: home-grown, home-cooked and highly sociable. A fixed 4-course daily changing menu, it's prepared with a deft, assured touch by the charming Silvia, who also offers cookery lessons to anyone wanting to take a leaf out of her herb garden. Giuseppe seats the guests at shared wooden tables in the warm ochre dining room, or outside in a closely set row on warm summer evenings, so that everyone gets a chance to chat and compare sightseeing notes.

Expect a choice of 2 pastas - perhaps creamy lasagna with fresh artichokes, or anelletti (hoops) with spicy fennel and juicy minced veal; both are delicious, but don't accept too many refills! Then comes a meat or fish course, such as involtini di maiale: rolls of succulent beef softened with melted cheese, garlic and parsley, and wrapped in breadcrumbs. All the savouries come drizzled in one of their 3 olive oils; you'll soon learn to differentiate between them. Assuming you've any space left, dessert might be a mousse, some sorbet or (if someone happens to have a birthday) a huge cake.

At lunchtime you can expect a buffet of light and fresh options like salads, local cheeses, homegrown vegetables and simple Sicilian dishes.

Breakfast, served from an unhurried 9am, is "continental plus" i.e. half a dozen homemade jams (including a delicious citrus marmalade and a pistachio paste), freshly baked bread, various yoghurts, fruit juices and several cakes.

Features include:

• Breakfast
• Communal dining
• Dinner by arrangement
• Kids' meals
• Lunch by arrangement
• Organic produce
• Vegetarian options
• Basic kitchen supplies in cottage

Activities

• Visit the Valley of the Temples at Agrigento: one of the finest Greek sites in the world, and just half an hour away by car. Perched on low hills overlooking the sea are 3 well preserved Doric temples from the 5th century BC, plus various jumbled ruins and a rich museum
  
  
• Explore the sandy beaches which line the coast between Licata and Agrigento. Many of them are inaccessible by road, so consider booking the hotel-owned speedboat or a skippered 8-berth yacht for the day (available May-September only; see Rates). Alternatively, ride on horseback across the deserted sands of Punta Biancha (5km away), walk across chalky hills to find your own secluded bathing spot, or drive to Malerba (10km away) for clean waters and child-friendly sands
  
  
• Stop off at the 15th-century castles of Palma (5km away), Montechiaro (10km away) and Falconara (25km away), all occupying atmospheric hilltop sites above the rugged coast with good swimming spots nearby
  
  
• Don't miss the spectacular mosaics at the Roman Villa del Casale, 1 hour's drive (80km) inland near the pretty town of Piazza Armerina. You could tack on a visit to the nearby Greco-Roman ruins of Morgantina, too
  
  
• For a dose of modern urban life, head to the bustling port and market town of Licata, with its Art Deco town hall, colourful Piazza Progresso, Prehistory Museum, Byzantine rock-hewn chapels and Michelin-worthy restaurant. Or explore the crumbling medieval centre of dusty Palma di Montechiaro, where Benedictine nuns silently sell marzipan in their wedding-cake chapel. The neighbouring palazzo is the setting for Tancredi and Angelica's hide-and-seek courtship in Lampedusa's The Leopard, not that you would guess from its down-at-heel appearance
  
  
• Back at the ranch, join one of Silvia’s daily cooking classes (enquire in advance) or ask Giuseppe for a bumpy tractor tour of the estate. Come in October and you can join in the olive harvest, too

Activities on site or nearby include:

• Boat trips
• Cooking classes
• Farm tours
• Hiking
• Historical sites
• Horse riding
• Mountain biking
• Museums / galleries
• Pool table
• Sailing
• Shopping / markets
• Snorkelling
• Swimming

Kids

Children of all ages are warmly welcomed, though we'd say it's better for older children than toddlers - there are some big steps, the pool is deep, and there's limited shade. Note that the price for an extra bed is much higher in July and August.

Older children will be entertained by tractor rides around the olive groves, occasional family cookery lessons and games of pool (note they must be accompanied by an adult around the pool table). Teens might get bored - it's a little distance from anywhere else and there's not a lot to do independently.

Best for:

Babies (0-1 years), Children (4-12 years)

Family friendly accommodation:

Our pick would be La Robazza, the self-catering cottage, which has 2 double bedrooms, a twin room, space for an extra bed, a large terrace, and a private pool. In the main hotel, 2 of the Room Plus' (Eritrina and Ficodindia) have single sofabeds, and the Superior Rooms and the various suites all sleep 3-4 (see Rooms) in a combination of double beds, rollaway beds and sofabeds. Cots are available in all rooms on request.

Cots Available, Extra Beds Available

Distances:

• Airport: 2 hours (Catania)
• Hospital: 5 minutes

For more family-friendly places, see our Kids Collection

Location

Mandranova is 22km southeast of Agrigento and about 2km beyond Palma di Montechiaro, on Sicily's southern coast.

By Air
Fly into Comiso (62km away/ 1.5-hours drive) or Catania (150km / a 2-hour drive away) or Palermo (180km / a 2.5-hour drive away). Click on the links below for a list of airlines serving these airports.

By Car
You'll need a hire car to get here: see our car rental recommendations.

If you're driving from southern mainland Italy, take the regular ferry from Villa San Giovanni to Messina (every 20 minutes; sailing time of 20 minutes) and then follow the A18 motorway south to Catania (155km / 1.5 hours) before picking up country roads from there.

Detailed directions will be provided when you book through i-escape.

More on getting to Sicily and getting around