Restaurant The “Dodici fontane” restaurant has glass windows from which you can admire a view stretching out till the top of Mount Etna. In this setting, Sicily’s scents and flavours become an unforgettable experience. Elia Russo, for three years now executive chef of the “Dodici fontane” restaurant, has evolved with Massimo Mantarro, 2 star Michelin and chef of the San Domenico Palace of Taormina. Chef Russo blends technical excellence with the respect for local ingredients, reproducing in a creative way local recipes and giving birth to incredible experiments and matches.
Amongst Elia’s most appreciated dishes there’s the Carnaroli Rice creamed with lemon and pepper on chopped fresh shrimps, yellowfin tuna with celeriac crème brulée, tips of mulled wine, orange blossom honey-glazed spring onions, piglet capocollo (for this recipe Elia uses the local breed Nero Siciliano) low-temperature cooked with fennel seeds roasted potato mousse and chicory leaves stir fried with garlic.
The endeavour and abilities of chef Russo brought the restaurant “Le dodici fontane” to be enlisted in the “Guida Identità Golose” and is also mentioned in the Michelin Guide.
Open from 12.30 - 14.00 for light lunch menu and from 19.30 - 22.30 for dinner à la carte.
Services providedPetra Spa
In the wet area of the cozy Spa, with the bath tub, the sauna, the steam room, the multi-sensory shower and icefall, you can experiment a journey through water and heat, combined with lights, sounds and colours. The wellness centre also has three therapy cubicles and a relax area with warm waterbeds and herbal teas. Petra Spa offers a range of programmes and treatments whose main ingredients are the typical products of Sicily, massages with organic oil produced by Villa Neri or scrubs with Sicily’s oranges. The therapies follow the cycle of the seasons and natural cosmetics are the main elements of the pleasant and successful Spa treatments.
EXPERIENCES
Etna’s wines train
Aboard the Ferrovia Circumetna train, on narrow gauge, you travel along the Etna slopes, Europe’s highest volcano, whilst admiring the panorama inside the lands of Etna Park and of Alcantara’s Fluvial Park. With the Nebrodi mountains on one side and the Etna’s north ridge on the other, the journey proceeds into a real paradise made of lava, forests, sea and vineyards. At Randazzo you take the Wine Bus and, travelling along the Etna wine roads, discover the most beautiful cellars and the typical local products. This itinerary can be also admired in Carmen Consoli’s music video of the song Alba.
Wine tour & testing
This experience is a walk through the vineyards and olive groves up to the districts’ cellars of Etna where excellent wines are produced and the names resemble the ones of the places where they are made, for example Arcuria, San Lorenzo, Rampante, Marchesa, Feudo, Arrigo, Salice, Petto Dragone, Cavaliere, Scacchiere (these names are also found in the hotel’s junior rooms and suites).
Volcanic Aperitif
At sunset, a romantic aperitif is served at 2000 m of height at the very top of Europe’s highest volcano, with a breathtaking view of Sicily’s Ionic coast.
Golf: the collaboration with the Little Golf Club, at only 7km from Villa Neri resort & Spa, offers the golfers the possibility to play on an 18-hole course with a par game of 72 on a 5870 metres track and with driving range, putting and pitching green. The golf course stretches along the Etna’s slopes, in a unique landscape, with holes dug in the molten rock.
Trekking & Horse-riding: a walk or a ride amongst the olive trees and ancient pathways to discover close up the Etna natural park and the territory surrounding the housing.
Mountain Biking for nature-based trips: Villa Neri is equipped with bikes and mountain bikes available to clients so as to allow them to explore, in an environmental-friendly way, the surrounding landscapes. An example of this is the Alcantara bike tour from Linguaglossa to Calatabiano: almost 7km of abandoned railway from Linguaglossa to Castiglione. After said pathway, you enter into the valley of Alcantara, up to the Sea and the San Marco beach at Calatabiano.
Boat excursions: the boat trips start from Naxos bay or the Bella Island at Taormina. In the Riposto port it is possible to rent various kinds of boats.
Etna Trekking upon donkey: starting from Piano Provenzana through pathways and traffic-free roads, it is possible to stroll amongst the ancient pines of the Ragabo pine grove.
Etna in Quad: starting from Ragabo refuge, it is possible to reach Randazzo via the woods.
Etna Skiing: Villa Neri resot & Spa is located a couple of km away from the touristic station of the northern side of the Etna. It is equipped with skiing instalments and 5km ski slopes for cross-country skiing. Both of these are validated for international competitions. The volcano is the ideal location for those who practice ski-mountaineering or to simply take a promenade in snowshoes. Skiing in high-altitude with good weather allows you to see up to the Ionian Sea and the Aeolian islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Upon request
- Transfer to and from: airport, touristic port and railway station
- Car renting
- Etna tours and all over Sicily with specialized guides
- Baby sitting (upon reservation)
- Helicopter and yacht reservations
- Individual excursions (provided also in English)
- Free Mountain bikes
- Meeting hall for up to 110 people
