High on a hill on the Italian island of Pantelleria, 62 miles southwest of Sicily and some 40 miles from Tunisia, newly opened Sikelia is the passion project of Giulia Pazienza Gelmetti, a former professional basketball player and financier. Long captivated by Pantelleria’s rugged landscape—all black-lava cliffs, craggy coastline, and arid farmland—the ebullient Pazienza Gelmetti, whose hearty laugh is as striking as her six-foot height, has created a 20-suite hideaway out of ancient Arab dammusi, the island’s iconic stone dwellings. It’s both reclusive and exclusive, with the same insider cachet that has long made Sicily’s largest satellite island a haven for Italian cognoscenti like Giorgio Armani.
This off-the-grid appeal, combined with a windswept, sun-baked climate, underpin Pantelleria’s rough-hewn charm. Once home to the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and Romans, among others, the island became an agricultural stronghold more than 1,000 years ago with the arrival of the Arabs, who cultivated cotton, figs, and olives and designed the dammusi with gently domed roofs to collect rainwater. Pantelleria’s nutrient-rich volcanic soil has helped the flora adapt to the sparse rainfall; evidence of its fiery origins, which date back some 250,000 years, lingers in the hot springs studding the seabed just off the coast, and Benikulà Cave, a natural sauna near the resort.
Sikelia’s suites, all different, reflect Pazienza Gelmetti’s impeccable eye. It’s all in the detail: embroidered Frette linens and sculptural Gessi fixtures nod to Italy’s knack for functional luxury, while pieces by acclaimed Italian artist Gennaro Avallone accent both the rooms and Sikelia’s common areas. Half the suites face the hotel’s palm-filled central courtyard overlooking the free-form pool, and others offer panoramic views of the sea (and, on a clear day, Tunisia).
Pazienza Gelmetti, whose boundless energy is contagious (she spent mornings during our visit landscaping in Converse sneakers, then flitted between tables at lunch chatting up guests), is hard at work on other enhancements, including a “rock club,” a secluded enclave on the coast with platforms for sunbathing, just minutes away. The spa—for which she’s developing a product line inspired by a majestic pink peppercorn tree at Coste Ghirlanda—is under construction, and will offer treatments incorporating Zibibbo grapes and the island’s volcanic mud.
