What to do in Capo d’Orlando?

Capo d’Orlando is one of the Sicilian tourist centers par excellence. In addition to the splendid beach, the town of Messina hosts historic buildings to be discovered.

Shopping lovers with its many shops. Among the buildings to visit in the Orlandino area are the Bastion Castle, Villa Piccolo with its characteristic “dog cemetery” and the Roman Baths of Bagnoli archaeological complex.

Impossible to forget the Sanctuary of the Madonna, the suggestive Borgo di San Gregorio, where Gino Paoli wrote his masterpiece “Sapore di sale”, the Goletta path and the Orlandino lighthouse, absolutely unique beauties of their kind.

And in the evening there is no shortage of restaurants, pubs and discos to give a wide choice to every kind of tourist.

Do you love having everything at your fingertips? Discover the apartments in the center of Costa d’Orlando

Do you need to relax after months of hard work in the chaos of the city? Do you want to spend your days by the sea, sipping a good drink under the sun? Capo d’Orlando is the perfect destination to make your dreams come true and experience a top-notch holiday!

To make the most of all the opportunities that the center of Messina offers, stay in one of the apartments in the center of Costa d’Orlando Vacation Rentals in Sicily, you won’t even need a means of transport!

Balconies d’Orlando is the solution for a carefree stay! Right in the centre, a few steps from the sea, you can divide your time between the beach and the pedestrian area of the Paladino centre, between diving in the crystalline blue of the Tyrrhenian Sea and shopping in the shops of Capo d’Orlando!

Penthouse d’Orlando is instead an attic equipped with every comfort! The Orlandina beach is only 200 meters away and can easily be reached with a pleasant walk.
The terrace, with access from the living room and bedroom, is partly covered and equipped with table and chairs and sofas, to enjoy the balmy Sicilian days even when the climate in the rest of Italy is colder.

Relaxing afternoons and nights on the track!

Costa d’Orlando holiday means enjoying 100% of the attractions that the Tyrrhenian coast of Sicily can offer. Our facilities are conveniently connected to the most popular tourist centers such as

Cefalù and Taormina, which can be reached by car in just over an hour.

If you don’t want to travel, that’s not a problem: you’ll be spoiled for choice on what to do during the weekend!

The magnificent Orlandine seafront will be the backdrop for your swimming in the summer or for your afternoon walks, which will end by admiring a splendid sunset on the horizon, perhaps enjoying an excellent granita or an ice cream.

The beach will be the ideal setting for your days on the Tyrrhenian coast, go sunbathing while sipping an excellent and refreshing drink.

In the evening, then, choose to let your palate be delighted by the local specialties with a taste of the sea: you can choose from the most varied culinary options of the place, before going wild on a dance floor. If you prefer to end your evening by the sea to the rhythm of music, often even live, you can opt for one of the many lidos on the beach, for a quiet chat with family and/or friends!

Places to visit

Bastione castle

Castello Bastione, located on a plateau overlooking the Malvicino district of Capo d’Orlando, is a mighty castle measuring approximately 16 by 16 meters. Dating back to the second half of the 16th century, it performed the function of control and sighting and then became, until the of the twentieth century, noble residence. In ancient times it was called “Torre del Trappeto” due to the presence, nearby, of flourishing plantations of cannamela (sugar cane) and trappeti (mills) used for its transformation. After the death of its last owner, the English Maria Eugenia Johnson, in the first half of the twentieth century, the Castle fell into ruin until it was bought and restored by the Municipality of Capo d’Orlando.
Since then, Castello Bastione has become a location for cultural and recreational events.

Opening hours: every day from 9.00 to 13.00 and from 15.00 to 19.00

Villa Piccolo

About 4 km from the center of Capo d’Orlando, on a small hillock overlooking the Piana gardens, stands Villa Piccolo. A place of memories, which adds to the beauty of a breathtaking panorama of the Paladin center and the Aeolian Islands the literary suggestions that its last refined tenants have bestowed on it: the Piccolos. In the early 1920s, Baroness Teresa Tasca Filangeri di Cutò, wounded in her pride as a noblewoman by her husband’s extra-marital adventures, decided to abandon the salons of Palermo to retire to the country villa of Capo d’Orlando, with her three children Lucio, Casimiro and Agata Giovanna. These last ocelots also chose a secluded life, as if to physically represent their living on the edge of an era in which they felt they were survivors.

Lucio Piccolo (1901-1969), was a refined poet, one of the greatest of Italian literature of the ‘900. His poems enchant for the precious and rare language, for the polyphonic complexity of the rhythm, for the depth of the ontological research on the meaning of being.

Casimiro Piccolo (1894-1970) theorized the existence of plans of intermediate life between individual death and the complete dissolution of the individual in cosmic eros. Photographer and painter, he dedicated himself to the nocturnal frequentation of these evanescent and uncertain otherworldly existences, representing them in magical watercolours.

Agata Giovanna (1891-1974), botanist, dealt with the management of the family assets.

Among the visitors to Villa Piccolo was Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, who was a cousin of the Piccolos, who wrote several chapters of his “The Leopard” right in Capo d’Orlando. Where from his desk in Villa Piccolo, turning towards the window of his room he could see the island of Salina (hence, probably, the name of the protagonist of the novel).
Villa Piccolo is currently a foundation with cultural purposes and a venue for conferences. During the summer season, concerts and various types of cultural events are held in the open space in front of the villa.

Opening hours: Monday-Friday 16:00-18:00; Monday-Saturday 10:00-12:00

Village of San Gregorio

Time seems to have stopped in the wonderful and suggestive Borgo San Gregorio. Traveling east on provincial road 147 for a kilometer and a half from the lighthouse, you arrive in a village where the sea is crystal clear and the houses are the characteristic beautiful and simple houses of fishermen.

An evocative place, which has often captured the attention of artists and painters, and above all singers. In fact , during one of the summers spent in Capo d’Orlando, Gino Paoli wrote “Sapore di Sale” there, an unforgettable success that originates from that strong and pungent smell.

A song that was the undisputed anthem of those idealized and regretted 60s, in which life was like a jewel box open to all.

Archaeological area of Bagnoli

Capo d’Orlando is not lacking in history either, with the beautiful archaeological area made up of the Baths of Bagnoli (3 km from the center of Capo d’Orlando).

These magnificent baths of Roman origin were found during excavation operations in 1987, it is thought they were part of a Roman villa of the III-IV century. AD and are made up of eight rooms, divided into three areas:

Frigidarium: the place of the cold bath, it consisted of three rooms

Tepidarium: the intermediate tepid environment;

Calidarium: consisting of two rooms, one for the hot bath and the other for the steam bath.

The hot rooms of the baths were made warm thanks to the Praefurnium, the room in which the furnace was located. Finally, the polychrome mosaics in tassellatum (in stone and marble) that embellish the entire flooring are very interesting.

Opening hours: From Tuesday to Sunday including holidays from 9.00 to 16.00 in solar time and from 9.00 to 19.00 in summer time