In Taormina, a terrace looking across Mount Etna and the Ionian Sea leads into a house where art and everyday life have lived side by side for more than a century. Paintbrushes, notebooks and the attention of major figures such as Pablo Picasso and Ernest Hemingway all crossed paths here, in a creative setting that has shaped Sicily’s cultural imagination.
Today, Casa Cuseni is a living museum, visited only by booking and in small groups, allowing people to step properly into its rooms rather than viewing them from behind a rope barrier.
A lived-in house that is now a museum
Casa Cuseni is Taormina’s City Art Museum and Sicily’s oldest house museum. Its full name, the Museum of Fine Arts and the Grand Tour of the City of Taormina, reflects the villa’s cultural foundation.
The main building was designed around the turn of the 20th century and built between 1902 and 1905. It is closely associated with English painter and patron Robert Hawthorn Kitson. Its rooms retain original furniture, textiles, ceramics and objects, in an aesthetic language shaped by the Arts and Crafts movement and the ideas of John Ruskin and William Morris.
An international creative circle of painters and writers
For decades, Casa Cuseni was an international meeting place for artists and writers. Regular visitors included Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dalí and Henry Moore, along with Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound and D. H. Lawrence, who worked on an English translation of Giovanni Verga’s Mastro-don Gesualdo at the villa.
After the house passed to Daphne Phelps, it remained a creative refuge for Tennessee Williams, Greta Garbo, Roald Dahl, Bernard Berenson and Bertrand Russell. Its defining feature is the conversation between art, literature and scenery, continuing the spirit of the English Grand Tour in Sicily and the East.
The rooms hold watercolours, canvases, rugs and objects collected around the Mediterranean and the Middle East between 1900 and 1940. Recurring names include British landscape painters Frank Brangwyn, Alfred East, George Clausen and Kitson. Their works do more than depict views. They catch particular light: milky skies above Etna, reflections in Taormina’s lanes and sunsets over the Ionian Sea in dark orange and deep violet, helping visitors see the town differently even now.
The Brangwyn room, a singular Arts and Crafts space
One of the most remarkable rooms is the dining room designed by Frank Brangwyn. It is considered the only fully designed dining room by the artist still surviving anywhere in the world, and one of the most important examples of Arts and Crafts style outside Great Britain. Dark-wood panelling, heavy tables and specially designed seating form a coherent whole, conceived as a complete work of art.
A large narrative mural unfolds across the walls, with references to a complex history connected to homosexuality during the first half of the 20th century. The work was concealed for a long time due to the moral and social attitudes of the period. It can now be seen, revealing an unexpected layer of interpretation that brings together delicacy and expressive force.
The historic garden: a green theatre facing Etna and the Ionian Sea
Created between 1905 and 1930 by Kitson, Brangwyn and other British artists, including Alfred East and Cecil Arthur Hunt, the garden was designed as a green theatre framing the surroundings. Terraces, stairways and large pots draw the eye towards Etna and the sea, while century-old trees, some officially recognised as Italy’s monumental trees, punctuate the route.
During the 1910s, Giacomo Balla and Fortunato Depero added decorative elements inspired by the avant-garde, with floral geometries showing the arrival of Futurism in this corner of Taormina too. The garden, shaped by Theosophical ideas, encourages nature to be read as an integral part of the villa’s aesthetic and spiritual project.
Recognition and heritage: its historic and cultural value
Over time, Casa Cuseni has received recognition confirming its historical and artistic importance. The property was designated an Italian National Monument and is now the official museum of the city of Taormina. It belongs to the Case della Memoria network and is a member of Grandi Giardini Italiani. Its collections, including the library, archive and historic photo archive, are considered part of Italy’s national cultural heritage.
Since 2023, its history has been included in the register of UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, reflecting the role it has played in shaping Taormina and Sicily’s cultural image.
Practical information: location and getting there
Casa Cuseni is at Via Leonardo da Vinci 5–7 in Taormina, in a quiet residential area slightly above the activity of Corso Umberto. It can be reached by a short uphill walk on a paved road.
There are three main ways to reach Taormina, depending on the time available and the starting point.
- By car, take the motorway along the Ionian coast, use the dedicated exit and follow the winding road up to the centre.
- By train, get off at Taormina-Giardini station on the Messina–Catania line, then continue to the historic centre by bus or taxi.
- By plane, fly into Catania and continue north along the coast by scheduled bus or hire car.
Fitting it into a Taormina itinerary
For anyone planning time in Taormina, a visit to Casa Cuseni can take up half a day, including the walk to the villa, the tour and time in the garden to take in its views and botanical details. The rest of the day can be spent at the Ancient Theatre, strolling along the main street or heading down towards the sea.
The villa’s library, recognised as being of considerable interest, along with its photo archive and records, helps piece together the links between ideas circulating in Europe and the aesthetic choices made by Kitson and his guests. It also provides a useful perspective on Taormina’s Liberty-style buildings and public gardens.
Article originally published on The Wom Travel: Il rifugio segreto in Sicilia che ha incantato Picasso e Hemingway: una villa da sogno sospesa tra vulcano e mare
