Villa Athena Resort

L'emplacement

Rien

Fantastic position with direct access to the archaeological site. Spacious, comfortable room with a magnificent view of the Temple of Concordia. Excellent breakfast.

The only down side was the expensive barbecue meal in the evening. The food was average however the staff and other guests were excellent.

This is a great place to stay to visit the park- the private entrance! So handy. The dinner was excellent, we had the Gea Tasting menu- expensive but worth it. Best beef cheeks ever. Waiters cheery and helpful. We parked in the 1st spot outside reception under the pine tree- huge mistake. Car was covered in sap. But this is the sign of a first rate hotel, the staff organised a car detail on a Saturday morning to clean the sap. Excellent service from them, handled very professionally. Finally the best till last- a huge shout out to young mate Bruno at the pool. He is an asset! So attentive, and even remembered our drinks order ( mojito/campari spritz)- made our day at the pool even better. Bang up job Bruno you legend.

Nothing. It’s a beautiful property. Ignore other reviews. This is the review to read as Aussies don’t complain!

Room was small and lacked seating

The view of and the proximity to the temples is wonderful. I also really enjoyed the pool, the pool bar, the view from the restaurants and the beautiful live piano music over dinner. The staff were welcoming and efficient.

The room was very small for two people, I'm glad we only stayed two nights. Also the food wasn't wonderful, especially at the dinner in the garden, and it was VERY expensive. The dinner in the garden was a set menu with wines and I felt that the quality of the food and the wine was very disappointing, especially as it was billed as showing off Sicilian cuisine and wine. I'd already tried some very good Sicilian wine in other places (my favourites are the Etna biancos and some of the D'Avola Neros) so the ordinary red that was served up at this dinner didn't fit the bill.

Fabolous

You cannot beat this location- looking at the temple of Concordia from everywhere on property and using the private path to access the site- fantastic. The swimming pool was great, breakfast was plentiful but for the room price I feel the quality of the food could be better especially the bread and pastries. Most of the staff were helpful.

I have mixed feelings about the Sicilian BBQ dinner. The location in the vegetable garden with temple view is fantastic as is sharing the long table with the other guests. What we all remarked on was the choice of music played- the theme from the Godfather- seriously? Plus other shmaltzy American pseudo Italian songs. We were in Sicily, looking for authentic Sicilian music and experiences not a canned fake Italian experience you might get in Vegas. The maitre d’ was really hamming up the sort of Hollywood Italian accent etc which was off putting. Also, the amount of food was over the top and there was a lot of waste, I feel like the management could cut down the amount of meat served- 2 heaping plates each - it was too much, although very tasty. The side dishes and bread served were not really very good which is saying something in a region with such incredible food.