Ortigia, the historic heart of the city of Siracusa, is the setting for Lùme, a six-bedroom boutique bed and breakfast owned by a Parisian hotelier that showcases this Italian city in as flattering a light as anything by a local. At this size, you get the expected warmth and intimacy of a private home; what’s more remarkable is to combine that feeling with the sophisticated stylishness that’s on display at Lùme.

Behind the stone walls old this farming estate, a half-hour inland from Syracuse, is Dimora delle Balze, an eleven-room masseria decorated in that inimitably Italian fashion, with the ancient and the modern existing happily side by side. Modernist furnishings and rustic, well-worn architecture create plenty of visual interest, and the tension is resolved by the sheer comfort of the guest rooms.

Nestled in the heart of the Val di Noto — a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the cradle of Sicilian Baroque — Country House Villadorata is the result of the restoration of a late 19th-century rural estate. Today, it stands as an elegant eco-resort surrounded by 57 acres of countryside, cultivated in harmony with the principles of biodynamic agriculture. The landscape is defined by ancient olive trees, almond groves, orchards, and a small vineyard.

In Ragusa’s historic quarter of Ragusa Ibla, there’s a seemingly limitless supply of 18th-century Baroque architecture, and a.d. 1768 Boutique Hotel, named for the year of its construction, is a prime example. Even in such rich surroundings, it stands out, with a privileged position alongside the cathedral and the Piazza Duomo. But for all of the history, its proprietors are not shy about incorporating modern and contemporary influences.

Near the south coast of Sicily, housed in a medieval-era convent once occupied by the Knights of Malta, lies the Eremo della Giubiliana, a remarkably posh boutique hotel hidden away within an imposing fortified exterior. These stone walls still look up to the task of repelling an invading force, but inside it’s elegant and sophisticated in a way that one doesn’t often expect from rustic, rugged Sicily.

You won’t find a hotel richer in grand monuments and architectural remnants than Sicily’s Villa Athena Resort. Set within the Valley of the Temples, a designated archaeological park, and originally an opulent 18th century private residence, Villa Athena is an ancient stone’s throw away from the 5th-century B.C. Temple of Concordia, as well as many other legendary treasures. Call it archaeology-by-bedroom-window.

Sicily’s Planeta family is perhaps best known for the wines and olive oils that they produce, but with La Foresteria Planeta Estate they turn their hand to hospitality, with impressive results. Here, in the remote far west of Sicily, they’ve created a small-scale country retreat, a contemporary 14-room luxury hotel overlooking the vineyards and olive groves of one of this island’s most gently scenic regions.

Calcarenite is a type of sedimentary rock. This fact is important to know because Cave Bianche Hotel is housed in a large calcarenite quarry on the island of Favignana, immediately off the far western coast of Sicily. Cave Bianche says they’re the first hotel in the world to be built in a quarry, and we have no reason not to believe them. If that’s not enough, there’s a large swimming pool and you’re never far from beaches and grottos along the Mediterranean.

Sometimes all it takes is a special location and a hotelier who knows how to handle the basics. The setting of Marina di Petrolo, an hour’s drive to the west of Palermo, overlooking the Gulf of Castellammare, is stunning. And we do mean overlooking, as the hotel itself sits in an elevated position right above the water, with many of its rooms facing directly out to sea or down the coast.

Designed by architect Ernesto Basile for the Florio family, Villa Igiea is a stunning Art Nouveau masterpiece that recently underwent a massive refurbishment care of Rocco Forte Hotels. Guests are welcomed into luxurious surroundings, including terraced gardens with sea views, Belle Époque halls, period furnishings, and frescoes. Originally intended as a sanatorium, the building has long been one of Italy’s most luxurious hotels.

Tough as the local competition may be, Susafa still manages to stand out. A working farm in Sicily’s rustic, hilly interior, this country boutique hotel distills centuries of hospitality and husbandry into a charming, restful bullseye — it’s commanded the verdant countryside for five generations under the stewardship of the Saeli-Rizzuto family. In fact, the 17 guestrooms retain their original ceiling beams and antique tiles.

While completing a project near the fishing village of Cefalù in the late 1960s, a Sicilian engineer fell in love with the green hills of the island’s rugged northern shore. He bought a piece of land to build his dream house, and half a century later, it’s still in the family — now in the form of a charming boutique hotel, Le Calette. The name refers to the wildly beautiful setting overlooking the coastline’s craggy coves.

Nestled beside the Greek Theatre and offering a unique view of the sea and Mount Etna, the Belmond Grand Hotel Timeo has stood as an opulent symbol of Sicilian aristocracy since 1873. It has welcomed guests such as Oscar Wilde, D. H. Lawrence, Guy de Maupassant, and Kaiser Wilhelm II — all undoubtedly captivated by the sublime views and the grandeur of the Timeo’s interiors, adorned with Sicilian Baroque flourishes.

Sicily is supposed to be wild and untamed, but Castello di San Marco proves Tuscany’s got no monopoly on the genteel, aristocratic life. Here, in the shadow of Etna, between Taormina and Catania, you may as well be in a different world, and here, you’ll find a hotel that combines a typically Italian obsession with food, wine and the good life with a very local — and quite unusual — Sicilian Baroque atmosphere.

In English, the word “typical” is reserved for things that are ordinary, unremarkable, anything but special. But in Romance languages, it’s more or less the opposite; to call a Sicilian hotel “typical” is to say that it’s an emblem of everything that’s unique to Sicily, and it’s in that sense that DonnaCarmela Resort & Lodges is typical of its setting — as you’ll see, it’s far from ordinary.