Taormina Geography & Climate

Taormina occupies a natural terrace on the seaward flank of Monte Tauro, roughly 200 metres above the Ionian Sea on the east coast of Sicily. The site is the whole explanation of the town: a shelf of limestone wide enough to build on, steep enough on three sides to defend, with a view down the coast in both directions and inland to the volcano.

The coast below

The hillside drops sharply to a shore of small coves and headlands rather than a continuous beach. Isola Bella sits in one of them, a rocky islet joined to the shore by a narrow bar of shingle that the sea covers and uncovers depending on conditions, so it is sometimes an island and sometimes a peninsula. The cove is a protected nature reserve. North of it Mazzarò and Spisone have the town's usable beaches, and further along the coast the ground flattens into Giardini Naxos, where the original Greek colony stood.

Etna

The volcano is about thirty kilometres south-west and dominates the view from the town. It is the highest active volcano in Europe and among the most consistently active anywhere, and its summit carries snow for much of the year, which is why the classic view from the theatre shows a white peak above a blue sea. Eruptions are usually effusive rather than explosive; the practical effect on Taormina is occasional ash fall on cars and terraces and, rarely, a closed airport at Catania.

Above the town

Castelmola sits several hundred metres higher on the same ridge, with the remains of a castle between the two. The slopes in between are terraced and planted with olive, citrus and prickly pear.

Taormina has a Mediterranean climate moderated by the sea below it and softened further by its position on a south-east-facing terrace.

Summer

June to September is hot and dry, with daytime highs around 29 to 31°C in July and August and very little rain for months at a time. The elevation helps more than the numbers suggest: two hundred metres up, with a sea breeze funnelling along the coast, evenings on the Corso are markedly more comfortable than they are at sea level in Catania. Humidity is moderate rather than oppressive.

Winter

Winter is mild rather than cold. January and February highs sit around 14 to 16°C, frost is essentially unknown at this altitude by the sea, and the gardens stay green and flowering. This is why the town became a winter resort for northern Europeans in the nineteenth century rather than a summer one — the season it was originally built for is the opposite of the season it is busiest in now.

Rain

Around 600 to 700 millimetres a year, falling almost entirely between October and February and often in short heavy bursts rather than sustained grey days. Summer is reliably dry, which is the practical point for anyone planning around the outdoor theatre season.

Spring and autumn

April, May and October are the best months in every respect: warm days, cool evenings, sea still or already swimmable, and a fraction of the August crowd.

Etna and the scirocco

The volcano occasionally drops fine ash on the town, which is a nuisance rather than a hazard. The scirocco, blowing up from North Africa, can push temperatures sharply higher for a few days at any season and carries a haze of dust with it.