Tenuta Falconeri

• La Suite delle Colonie/Bedroom 1: double bed (160x200cm), en-suite bathroom with separate indoor pool
• La Suite dell'Elefante/Bedroom 2: double bed (160x200cm), en-suite bathroom with separate indoor pool
• La Stanza delle Stelle/Bedroom 3: double bed (160x200cm), en-suite bathroom with separate bath tub
• La Stanza degli Aironi/Bedroom 4: double bed (160x200cm), en-suite shower room
• La Stanza delle Musciarabie/Bedroom 5: double bed (160x200cm), en-suite shower room
• La Stanza del Riad/Bedroom 6: double-twin beds (80/160x200cm), en-suite shower room

NB: Please note that there is an interconnecting door between bedrooms 4 and 5, which can be locked or left open.

NB: A double-twin bedroom has two single beds that can either be joined together to create a double bed or left separate as two single beds.

Inside

accommodation at Tenuta Falconeri is spread over two separate wings, one hosting the communal areas, the other the bedrooms.

The Tenuta has been restored to exacting standards and every room brims with charm, grace and elegance. The interior design works in complete harmony with the venerable allure of the building's original architectural features and is an object lesson in how to blend timeless elegance and 21st-century luxury.

The main entrance to the first wing leads in to a welcoming hallway, where a door on the right opens into a fabulously well-proportioned open-plan living and dining pavilion, whose walls of glass, lofty white wood-beamed ceilings and creamy stone flooring combine to create a wonderfully luminous and airy atmosphere.

To one end is an impressive dining table, while to the other, wrapping around a fireplace, is a carefully assembled assortment of armchairs and sofas, Ottomans, and antique furniture. Glass doors allow the space to flow out onto the surrounding terrace courtyards and gardens, encouraging guests to fully indulge in a seamless indoor-outdoor lifestyle.

On the opposite side of the entrance hall, moving past a guest WC, is the wonderful kitchen, where your private chef will rustle up delicious Sicilian feasts using ingredients grown on the estate. Spacious, professionally equipped, and featuring the same lofty wood-beamed ceilings and creamy stone floors as the living space, the kitchen includes a large central island and a double-sized range cooker.

Accommodation in the first wing is completed by a WC accessed from a vestibule next to the kitchen.

Just across the courtyard from the communal wing are the sleeping quarters, which comprise two suites and four bedrooms, all of which are accessed independently from the terraces. Each one features original flagged floors, a mix of stone and smoothly plastered walls, antique tiles, and opulent wallpaper depicting exotic scenes from the Indian subcontinent.

• La Suite delle Colonie includes a double bedroom with sitting area, fireplace and a luxuriously appointed en-suite bathroom with a large square indoor pool and a separate shower
• La Suite dell'Elefante, whose name recalls the discovery of the fossilised remains of a prehistoric dwarf elephant on the estate, is a voluminous suite with a double bedroom with sitting area and a huge en-suite bathroom. To one side is a large square indoor pool and sitting area, while to the other is a good-sized shower room.
• the four remaining bedrooms, La Stanza delle Stelle, La Stanza degli Aironi, La Stanza delle Musciarabie and La Stanza del Riad, all feature beautifully finished double bedrooms (though Riad can be made up as a twin), walk-through wardrobes, and luxuriously finished en-suite shower rooms (one also has a separate bath tub).

Outside

al fresco life at Tenuta Falconeri is a feast for the senses and a balm for the soul. The 100-acre estate surrounding the property is planted with thousands of lemon trees, which act as a secluding and verdant buffer against the outside world.

Immediately outside the two wings of the house are a series of large terraces, some flagged, some cobbled, some with in-laid designs. Dotted with olive, palm and banana trees (to name a few) and delimited by low dry stone walls, serene water features, a polychromatic assortment of flowers, exotic cacti and ambitious climbers, these terraces are also home to a generous sprinkling of sitting areas, both shady and sun-kissed.

On the northern side, accessed from the communal space of the pavilion, is a dreamy dining area, one of several possibilities for al fresco meals. Next to this, outside the sleeping wing is a large porticoed quad, whose graceful surrounding arches offer tantalising glimpses of the magnificent sea views and a veil for the first tempting pool. With its deeply verdant greenery and its stylish sunloungers and seating, this is a magnetic spot.

A path from these north-facing terraces cuts through the lemon groves to the pièce de résistance of the property, the second pool, a voluminous, curvaceous affair which measures some 25m in length. Its elegant, lake-like form, which incorporates a shallow, beach-effect border and a long infinity edge, offers endless vistas over Sicily's southeast coastline. Put simply, it's one of the most spectacular pools in our collection.

The pool area itself has been designed for those who wish to spend the whole day swimming, sunbathing and lounging in the shade. There are shady pergolas, numerous sitting areas, daybeds, loungers, a bar, showers, a WC and a dining area.

Back on the south side of the house, the terraces give way to swathes of deep green lawns, while to the west is the glorious Arabic garden, whose cool shady fountain, screened by a trio of arches, feeds a 35m-long saia - an ornamental water feature that evolved from the agricultural irrigation channels introduced to Sicily by the Arabs over 1,000 years ago. Flanked by walk-ways and fragrant rose bushes, the saia comes to an end at another large expanse of lawn. Here there is a second fountain and a pair of historic caffeaus, an intriguing feature of 18th-century southern Italian aristocratic country houses, where guests would withdraw after dinner to sip coffee under the stars and the cooling night skies.

Tenuta Falconeri is a fully-serviced villa whose excellent staff, including a chef and maids, will ensure that you fully enjoy your stay without having to worry about anything domestic.

Dining at Tenuta Falconeri
Delicious meals will be prepared and served by the villa’s superb staff. Guests have complete flexibility to take as many or as few meals as they like at the villa, giving the opportunity to sample both the in-house cooking and the excellent local restaurants.

Prices for ingredients per meal per person for 2026 are as follows*:
Breakfast: €10 per person
Lunch: €30 per person
Dinner: €40 per person

*Children under 8 pay ½ price for all meals

Drinks
Water is included but wine and other drinks are not.

An interview with the owner

What’s the story behind your choice of location where you bought your villa? Is there any personal connection? Any story about your search?

Tenuta Falconeri is a collective desire that unites my entire family. It's a beautiful story based on a dream of my father, who was always a man of great intuition and visionary genius when it came to great projects. I remember that as a child, on summer afternoons, he took me on his motorbike to the top of a splendid rocky spur in the Iblei Mountains. The land had been abandoned by the owners and we made our way through mastic bushes and wild brambles to the top, where we sat on a cliff and looked out at the infinite horizon. He asked me, “What do you think? Do you like it here?"

I was only 6 years old, but I could see in his eyes the great projects he was conceiving. I was to bring them to fruition.

It took more than 20 years and more than 20 notarial deeds to reunite the various parts of the large estate, whose previous owners, a noble family from Noto, had parcelled out the land and sold it to farmers in the area in the early 1900s.

We found many treasures in the small plots that we purchased: rural houses, ancient orchards, spring water wells, specimens of spontaneous vegetation in extinction, and also the famous Spinagallo Cave. Now protected by the local authorities, this is where the remains of a dwarf elephant (Palaeoloxodon falconeri – hence the name of the Tenuta) were found in the late 1950s. It is remarkable to think that dwarf elephants had lived in Sicily up to around 200,000 years ago. It is evidence of truly ancient links between North Africa, the Middle East and Sicily.


What do you love most about the location?

Imagine being on a small island suspended in the sky. Before your eyes, 360-degree vistas range from snow-capped Mount Etna to Syracuse’s Castello Maniace. Continuing south, your gaze takes in the entire coastline and the sparkling sea right down to Sicily’s southernmost and Isola dei Correnti. Turning southwest and then northwest, you can see the long chain of the Iblei Mountains and the plain of Catania. Completing the full circle, Mount Etna rises on the horizon once more.

From up here, everything appears slow and silent. You can only hear birds, cicadas and the gurgling of water flowing in the ancient irrigation channels. It’s a poetic peace that has something magical and extraordinarily healthy about it. I call it happiness.


Who designed the house, and what were your specifications? What’s the philosophy behind the choice of mateirals, style, interior design, etc?

Tenuta Falconeri is the evolution of a primordial family dream. Each one of us has put love and passion into this project. Initially, my father transformed the land into a large agricultural estate producing lemons. He designed roads, he brought the old dry-stone walls back to their ancient splendour and built new ones to bring order to what had become an abandoned woodland. He brought earth where it was missing, and gave water back to the dried up or interrupted Arab irrigation channels.

Later, following my brother's intuition, we decided to restore dignity to the structures we’d found on the property - ruined rural huts, farmhouses and old barns.

Finally, taking advantage of my interior design studies and the aesthetic taste inherited from my mother, I decided to dedicate myself totally to the project. It was a turning point. Year after year, always with new ideas for expansion and improvement, we all worked together, supported by the best local artisans, architects, and engineers. In our opinion, we’ve managed to create a small slice of paradise: Tenuta Falconeri is back to its very best.


How did you go about choosing furniture, colour schemes, etc for the villa?

For me, the interior design was the most exciting part of the 10-year project. I personally chose to take care of the division of the spaces, the choice of materials and furnishings, and the creation of every small corner of the garden. I didn't want to convey the idea of the classic Sicilian masseria but rather to create something even more authentic and ancient, something that could show off another side of Sicily. I wanted to find a key that would allow me to evoke and pay homage the island’s Arabic and Spanish colonial heritage, as well as the Middle Eastern flavours and aromas that are part of Sicily’s DNA.

And so, drawing after drawing, stone after stone, I created an atmosphere of exotic colonialism.
I tried to tell the story by using local materials, antique furnishings, painted wallpapers, Arab cement tiles and thousands of plants, flowers and essences. Depicting the long journey made by the dwarf elephant from distant lands to Sicily wasn’t easy, though.

Specialists helped us to renovate the existing parts of the properties in absolute compliance with age-old Sicilian traditions and techniques, but we also wanted to respect two fundamental principles: never to block the infinite views of the landscape; and, wherever possible, to maximise the natural luminosity of the site. Perhaps the best examples of this can be found in the common areas, once old barns, now renovated and transformed into glass-walled orangeries.

We have created terraces and gardens of all kinds around the house to make guests feel that they are surrounded by the colours and scents of pure nature. We have recovered the ancient irrigation channels and created new ones. Each one flows naturally, and no matter where you are in the grounds, you will feel the coolness and hear the gurgling of water.

For the interiors, I imagined elegant and sophisticated spaces but without distorting the simple concept of a country house. Consequently, we decided to use a lot of local stone and natural materials.

Each room has its own precise colour palette that’s echoed in Arab cement tiles, painted wood, and French wallpaper. This last feature brings a certain exotic quality, with depictions of Indian landscapes and colourful birds.
Each piece of furniture has been conceived and designed specifically to bring a precise character to each individual room. Some were brought back from trips to distant lands, such as the coffee table in the living room, which is an authentic Indian howdah (elephant saddle). Another example is the wonderful wooden Moroccan ceiling that’s been reused as a large decorative panel at the main entrance.

There are original lanterns from North Africa, ancient Sicilian jars, and old, recycled furniture such as the Sicilian carpenter's bench and the long kitchen table that was recovered from an old French tailor's shop. And one can’t forget the glazed, ceramic Saracen pieces that hint at the inseparable link between Sicilian and Arab history.

Last but not least is the kitchen, a space that I devoted much attention to and which is now the heart of the house. In Sicily, kitchens have always been the meeting place for families, the room where you can experiment, chat and experience moments of convivial joy. I really wanted to create a dream kitchen that would be all this and more.

I chose to position it at the centre of the house and give it the role of "command cabin" - thanks to the large windows, one can observe all the external spaces, and enjoy panoramic views out towards the city of Syracuse. In terms of style, I wanted to create something that would evoke a Provençal country house. A gigantic hood in Noto stone frames a splendid 7-hob, free-standing stove that is always in use. A large stone sink hosts mounds of fresh vegetables from our garden, waiting to be washed and then cooked. The central island, with a large pastry board, allows guests to observe the work of our chef and to test themselves with fresh pasta dough and traditional recipes.


Is there any item of furniture, artwork or design detail that you particularly love?

It's difficult to choose just one thing over another. Every detail in this project is the result of a precise idea and each one has its own rationale. Rather than starting from a finished project on paper, we chose to design one space at a time, precisely to better understand and evaluate the various opportunities that the natural morphology of each space offered us. It's no coincidence that it all took such a long time! But if I really had to choose, I believe that Tenuta Falconeri would not be so magical without the Arab irrigation channels (saie and the sweet sound of the water flowing non-stop in every corner of the gardens.


How do you “live” the villa? What do you do when you’re there?

Experiencing Tenuta Falconeri in all its spaces means detaching yourself from your thoughts and immersing yourself in the sounds of nature, the scents of the flora, and in the absolute peace of the belvedere. We dreamed that the project would be experienced by the whole family but would also offer an unforgettable experience to those who come to visit us. The first thing that I do after being away is to walk along the flower-flanked paths, rediscover the views, and re-explore the secret gardens. I never get tired of observing the small and large changes that take place in every part of the grounds. We often organize yoga lessons and barefoot wellness activities on the lawns, always a much-loved moment.

Meanwhile, over in the kitchen, our chef experiments with seasonal fruit preserves and organizes memorable breakfasts for us. By the large “lake” swimming pool with its infinite infinity edge, we let ourselves be pampered by our staff, who prepare delicious aperitifs and light lunches to be served in the shade of the date palms.

Hot summer days to a soundtrack of cicadas cannot end without a bit of reading under an ancient olive tree, followed by some lounge music to accompany the magical colours a Sicilian sunset.

I'm lucky… I know! I live and work in a real open-air spa that purifies the body and spirit from all the heaviness of daily life.


What’s your favourite place to be in the villa?

Everywhere, not least the wonderful bedroom suites that we have furnished with every comfort in mind. They all come with super beds and some have mini heated indoor pools... what more could you want?


When you arrive at the villa, what’s the first thing you do?

The first thing I do as soon as I arrive at the estate is to see what's cooking in the kitchen! Our chef is usually already at work when I arrive, and the scent of freshly baked bread has already invaded every room in the house. It's always very early, the sun has just risen, giving us the most beautiful colours of the day. With a freshly made coffee, we choose together which delicacies to prepare for lunch, which fruits to pick from the garden, and how to organize the day's menu. Then I take a quick tour to say hello to all our staff, who lovingly keep the villa alive, functioning and spotless every day. Then off we go to work! Which for me means taking care of every corner of this property like you do with a child. We never stop expanding and improving the spaces as we want to guarantee an unforgettable luxury experience.


When you go to stay at your villa, what are the first dishes you cook?

Tenuta Falconeri is a 40-hectare organic agricultural estate and our gastronomic traditions, passed down to us over generations, focus on 0km recipes using produce grown on the grounds: aubergine parmigiana, tomato sauce, caponata, bruschetta, focaccia and other breads, homemade pasta...

Then, after a quick trip to Syracuse’s fish market, which is a theatre of wonders, we have all we could possibly need.


What’s your favourite day out from the villa? The beach, the mountains, a village or town, etc?

Tenuta Falconeri is located in a strategic position, very close to the historic towns of Noto and Ortigia (Syracuse’s island heart), and just a few kilometres from some of Sicily’s most beautiful beaches. Every day, in just a few minutes, you can reach many different places and then return to the villa and enjoy the rest of the day relaxing by the pool and in the gardens.

If guests ask, I suggest a walk through the suggestive alleys of Ortigia to explore the markets, the small puppet theatre, the colourful fish market, wonderful Castello Maniace, and spectacular Piazza Duomo (the favourite location of the director Giuseppe Tornatore).

Or a trip to Syracuse’s Neapolis Archaeological Park, with its amazing Greek Theatre and its Ear of Dionysius (so named by Caravaggio).

Also, you shouldn’t miss out on a walk in Noto, the capital of Sicilian baroque, whose ancient stones taken on golden-yellow and pink hues as the sun passes overhead.

Or why not take a boat trip to discover the jewels of the beautiful coastline … Or a nature tour of the Cavagrande del Cassibile Reserve and Avola Antica for a swim in the invigorating waters of the natural lakes of the canyons of the Iblei Mountains. Or head further south towards Pozzallo, where it’s possible to see colonies of flamingos stopping off on their great migrations.

Maybe it's too much or maybe it's simply...Sicily!

Tenuta Falconeri features a fantastic infinity pool, offering swimmers stunning views while in the pool. There is a drop off the infinity side so we recommend children are supervised at all times. Please refer to our general safety page if you would like more information about infinity pools.

Due to the nature of the property including terraces low walls and several drops around the grounds, children must be supervised at all times.

One section of the access road to Tenuta Falconeri is a little rough, so we recommend guests hire a car with high ground clearance.