Antiche Cantine, Bed & Breakfast
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La facciata di Antiche Cantine in via Madonna del Riposo ad Alcamo, il portone ad arco e il monogramma inciso nella pietra

Alcamo, western Sicily

Where the wine used to rest

Four rooms inside a late nineteenth century wine cellar,
in the heart of a Sicilian gulf.

A cellar that stopped making wine and started taking guests

For almost a century wine was made and kept in here. The vaults, the beams, the thick walls that stay cool in summer: they were built for that.

Now they keep company to whoever sleeps here. Four rooms, two on the ground floor and two upstairs, a big room where breakfast takes its time, and on the roof a terrace with a hot tub, a sauna and Monte Bonifato in front.

La sala al piano terra, la scala in legno e i tavoli apparecchiati sotto il solaio

The hours

A whole day, from the suitcase to the night

A house is not made of rooms, it is made of hours. You arrive in the afternoon and the suitcase goes down by the entrance. The next morning the table is laid before anyone comes downstairs. Halfway through the day the armchair by the window does its work without anyone inviting it.

Then the sun turns and you go up to the terrace. The light changes, the pace changes, and the house behaves accordingly.

See the house
The entrance shelf with the white ceramic Moor’s head, the ears of wheat and two leather suitcases
01The arrival
The place setting with the ceramic plate and gold cutlery, the stone wall blurred behind
02Early morning
The Olea room with its wooden ceiling, the bed and the armchair by the window
03The morning
The hot tub on the terrace, the water moving and the Finnish sauna behind
04The afternoon
The bathroom with the square basin on the wooden top and the backlit round mirror
05The evening
The bed seen through the lavender stems, the lamp lit above the wooden headboard
06The night

Four rooms, four plants, no two of them alike

La camera Citrus, il letto sotto il tetto spiovente in legno al primo piano

The rooms

Vitis, Olea, Citrus, Myrtus

Each room carries the Latin name of a Sicilian plant. We liked the idea that each one had its own, instead of a number on the door.

Each one has its own name

The names

Vitis, Olea, Citrus, Myrtus.

The vine, the olive, the citrus, the myrtle. Four plants that grow everywhere in Alcamo, and four rooms that differ from one another: two on the ground floor, with high ceilings and exposed beams, and two on the first, under the pitched wooden roof.

The name comes back on the door and on the key. It is a small thing, but it is what makes a room your room.

All rooms
The desk in the Olea room, the lamp lit and the light from the window
The Myrtus room, the bed, the sofa and the window onto the street
Il portone ad arco in legno visto dalla strada
The kitchen corner and the laid tables of the breakfast room
La sala al piano terra con il muro in pietra e la scala in legno
La camera Citrus sotto il tetto spiovente in legno
Il tavolo della colazione apparecchiato
La sauna finlandese sulla terrazza, dietro la parete di vetro
La scala in legno accostata al muro in pietra a vista
Il muro in pietra a vista della sala, nella luce del pomeriggio

Breakfast starts when you are ready

Il tavolo della colazione apparecchiato, davanti al muro in pietra

The table

Fresh bread, cornetti, home made cakes, eggs, jams, seasonal fruit. Coffee, cappuccino, tea, juices. The table is laid for whoever is here that morning.

You eat in the big room, under the wooden ceiling and in front of the stone wall. Whoever gets up late still finds the table laid.

Discover

Nobody passes through the terrace, they stay

The terrace

The terrace sits at the top of the house and looks at Monte Bonifato. There is a hot tub, a sauna and an outdoor shower: they are included in your stay, with no surcharge, and you use them whenever you like.

Then there is a big table in the shade of the pergola. In the evening it is where the day ends by itself, without anyone deciding it.

Discover the terrace
La pergola della terrazza e il monte Bonifato
The hot tub on the terrace, the water moving

Where we are

Segesta is fifteen minutes away

Castellammare del Golfo from above, the harbour, the castle on the sea and the beach curving west
The Doric temple of Segesta, the pediment and the columns in late afternoon light
The Scopello tonnara, the white houses under the cliff and the clear water of the cove
A cove in the Zingaro reserve, the cliff and the sea going from turquoise to deep blue
Erice at dusk, the castle of Venus and the lit towers above the gulf
Palermo cathedral, the statues along the boundary wall and the bell tower

The temple of Segesta is fifteen minutes by car. Scopello and the Zingaro reserve twenty five. Erice forty five, Palermo airport forty, Trapani airport thirty five. The nearest sea, Alcamo Marina, ten.

These are the real distances, by car. From here you can see all of western Sicily and come back to sleep in the same place each evening.

Discover
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