Grand Hotel Ortigia

Grand Hotel Ortigia has no golf course and offers no golf services: to play, book directly with the club.

The local course is at I Monasteri Golf Resort, in Traversa Monasteri di Sotto, a few kilometres from Syracuse. It has 18 holes, par 71, designed by David and Vincenzo Mezzacane. The layout crosses the resort's estate, a former Benedictine monastery surrounded by citrus groves, olive trees and palms.

The course and resort are independent of the hotel in Ortigia.

The Grand Hotel arose in the years after the demolition of the 16th-century fortifications that ringed Ortigia. The first report of its opening is in the Gazzetta di Siracusa of 20 January 1900, describing musical and dance evenings. In the Sala dei Fiori e dei Cristalli, now the Sala Athena, local bourgeois and aristocrats and passing tourists watched early film screenings and fashion shows.

Between 1991 and 1995 the building underwent a conservative restoration that brought back its architecture and added the roof garden. Inside you can still see the Spanish Walls of the Sala Bastione and the finds of the Piccolo Museo.

There are 57 rooms and suites: from the Singola at 12 m² to the Classic at 15 m², Deluxe at 25 m², Duplex Junior Suites on a mezzanine, up to the Suite Alfeo at about 40 m² and the Suite Aretusa at about 65 m² with mezzanine. Some face the sea. A private car park across from the hotel costs 20 euros a day, has an electric charging point and cannot be reserved.

The spa is carved into an ancient cistern with stone vaults and is offered for private use only. It has a Turkish bath, an aromatherapy shower, a relaxation area with loungers and a herbal tea bar, and a massage room for individual or couples' treatments.

The private beach is open in July and August, reserved for guests, with showers, changing rooms and a first-aid room; it is reached by land or by boat, with paid transfers. Spots cannot be booked and are assigned daily.

La Terrazza del Grand Hotel is the rooftop restaurant, overlooking the Porto Grande and Ortigia's seafront. The cuisine draws on Sicilian tradition with local produce and seasonal menus. Dinner is served 7.30 to 10.30 pm.

The lounge bar is another historic corner: it occupies the ancient cistern and serves light lunches, aperitifs and cocktails, also on the panoramic terrace. A buffet breakfast is served on the terrace each morning, with sweets from the Sicilian pastry tradition.

• Spanish walls in a hall. The Spanish Walls are preserved in the Sala Bastione.
• A small museum. Archaeological finds are displayed in the area called the Piccolo Museo.
• Cinema and fashion in 1900. The Sala dei Fiori e dei Cristalli hosted early film screenings and fashion shows by national tailors.
• Spa and bar in cisterns. Both the spa and the bar occupy ancient cisterns.