Taormina, Sicily · Nature reserve · Historic garden
At a glance
A small rocky island in the bay below Taormina, joined to the shore by a strip of pebbles that appears and disappears with the sea. In 1890 it was bought by Florence Trevelyan, an Englishwoman married to the mayor of Taormina, who built a cottage on it and planted it with exotic species from around the world. It is now a nature reserve.
Key facts
- Bought by Florence Trevelyan: 1890
- She built a cottage on the island and introduced its first exotic plantings
- Declared a natural monument by the Region of Sicily: 1984
- Bought by the regional heritage administration: 1990, after two auctions failed
- Nature reserve: established 1998, by regional decree
- Managed by: CUTGANA, the environmental centre of the University of Catania (earlier by WWF, then the province of Messina)
- Access: on foot across the pebble bar when the sea allows, otherwise by boat
- Coordinates: 37.851956, 15.299694
What you see
From the road above, the island reads as a dark green mound in clear water, with the pebble bar running out to it. The vegetation is not what grew here: it is a garden, planted over a century and gone half wild, and the cottage is buried inside it.
From the beach the scale changes. The bar is coarse grey pebbles, the water shallow and very clear over them, and the island rises straight out of it — close enough to wade to, far enough to be a place apart. That is the whole of its history in one view: a private garden on a rock, twenty metres from a public beach.
The island today
Practical information
- Check opening times and access with the managing body before travelling.
Sources
- Regione Siciliana — Riserva Naturale Orientata Isola Bella: establishment by regional decree in 1998, the 1984 natural monument declaration and the 1990 acquisition
- CUTGANA, University of Catania — management of the reserve
Record researched and written by Luigi De Marchi for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
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