Sikelia

Hailed as one of the best new stays around by the sort of magazines well-heeled travellers peruse, Sikelia Luxury Retreat on the tiny Italian island of Pantelleria is well deserving of the hype. An elegant white-washed outpost on the wild and windswept isle, whose name is derived from the Arabic for 'daughter of the winds', Sikelia's a first-class escape amid the farmsteads and their rough-hewn volcanic-rock walls. Outside, the traditional dammuso-style structures with their domed roofs have an archaic appeal; indoors, the style is contemporary, the spa treatments serene, and the creative cuisine is the island’s very best.