In the summer, Sicily welcomes an influx of tourists who arrive with the intention of living out a main character moment (inspired by The White Lotus, no doubt) in Taormina, tracing the footsteps of ancient civilization at Agrigento, and scrambling up the volcanic slopes of Mount Etna. Nowhere in the first-time-to-Sicily starter pack will you find a map—or even a mention—of Favignana.
Hop on a quick hydrofoil ferry from the port city of Trapani and you’ll arrive in Favignana just 30 minutes later. Despite proximity to mainland Sicily—it’s just 11 miles off the northwest coast—the Mediterranean jewel has a far-flung appeal. While the largest of the Egadi Islands, it’s small by comparison to Sicily, and even its high-profile neighbors further afield in the Bay of Naples. In Favignana, time seems to stand still, and development has yet to capitalize on the quietude. There aren’t designer stores, high-rise hotels, or Instagram-famous restaurants with lengthy waitlists.
The preferred mode of transportation is bicycles. Some folks rent a scooter. You’ll see a few cars (mostly locals and travelers who need a shaded, air-conditioned way to get around). Two feet work well, too. Speaking from experience, you can walk for 25 minutes in the middle of the day in late June without seeing another soul. Though, realistically, that’s because everyone is at the beach or, equally enviably, taking a riposo. The port town remains quiet until the evenings when visitors and locals come to amble around the cobbles and dine on fresh-caught tuna at the restaurants.
For travelers nostalgic for the days before algorithms sent the masses to the same beautiful places in search of the perfect souvenir photo, Favignana feels like a delicious throwback with untouched beauty, a relaxed rhythm, and lasting tuna fishing traditions. While I’m not sure anywhere quite qualifies as a best-kept secret anymore, Favignana comes pretty close.
Where to Stay
Favignana doesn’t have the same caliber or volume of well-heeled hotels and resorts as mainland Sicily (San Domenico Palace, Taormina, A Four Seasons Hotel; Hotel Villa Sant’Andrea, A Belmond Hotel, Taormina Mare; Mazzarò Sea Palace; Villa Igiea, a Rocco Forte Hotel—the list goes on). Nor does it compete with the boutique hospitality prowess of the Aeolian Islands (where I love Hotel Signun and Therasia Resort). But you do not go to Favignana for high-touch design or white-glove service. That would be antithetical to its allure. A hotel should reflect its destination, and the accommodations on the island feel adequately homey and charming.
We stayed at Il Baglio sull’Acqua, a 10-key gem with the sort of Mediterranean-Arabic aesthetic you might stumble upon in an oasis in the Moroccan desert. Tucked inside a traditional stone country house dating to the 19th century, the rooms surround an inner courtyard with a large fountain. There are lush gardens and an idyllic pool setup for cooling off on hot summer days.
On the other side of the island, set on a hill, as if suspended between land and sea (to be more specific, it takes 300 steps to reach the waves), Dimora Cala del Pozzo is a boutique stay in a previously abandoned farmhouse. The eight individually styled accommodations are complete with the added character of stone floors, vaulted ceilings, and gossamer drapes that flap in the salty breeze.
Where to Eat and Drink
Meals follow the natural rhythm of the island. Breakfast is best enjoyed on a quiet terrace. Most hotels put out a nice spread—but for a change of scenery, venture out for a granita and brioche at Caffe Mazzini or sip a caffè al pistacchio while watching the colorful fishing boats bob in harbor outside of U Bar du Marinaru.
Expect a similarly uncomplicated and unhurried affair for lunch. Located on Lido Burrone, La Nassa is the sort of place you’re likely to happen upon by accident (at least, that’s what happened to us) and return to multiple days in a row for the fresh raw tuna with a drizzle of olive oil and spaghetti alle vongole.
Prefer to skip the sit-down experience? Grab a sandwich (or two) from Pacelli22. I still dream about the porchetta-style tuna with caramelized onions and arugula on fresh-baked focaccia. Sunbathers on the rocky coastline of Cala Scivolo are quite literally a stone’s throw from Er Paninaro, a food truck that slings tuna paninis, arancini, and house-made granita that spins in machines all day long.
After a shower and slipping into something effortless (or simply tossing on a tank top and shorts over your bikini), the town calls with its warm glow and the scent of briny-ness and grilled fish wafting through the air. For an aperitivo in the heart of it all, nab one of the high-top tables on old barrels at Viino. Patrons can order a spritz or Sicilian wine by the glass or, better yet, pick a bottle from the shop inside, which the staff will gladly open and put on ice. Chips, olives, and peanuts come in little dishes to nibble as you sip and soak in the scene.
La Bettola is a cozy trattoria for seafood dishes, such as fish couscous and pasta with pistachio pesto and prawns, and warm hospitality. For chef-ier presentations that retain a sense of place and soul, book a table at Formica. Run by Federica Figliomeni, whose grandfather worked in tuna fisheries, and Japanese chef Kokichi Takahashi, the osteria blends Sicilian ingredients with Japanese technique. Standouts include carpaccio, tuna tartare, and paccheri with lobster sauce.
One of the prettiest spots for sundowners with a more off-the-beaten-path charm, the alfresco terrace at Dimora Cala del Pozzo pours natural wines and cooks up produce plucked from the on-site organic farm. Attached to but under different ownership than Il Baglio sull’Acqua, Giardino SottoSale leans into romance with candle-lit tables on a stone terrace and comforting yet refined dishes like tender octopus and fusillone with pesto, stracciatella, and raw red shrimp.
What to Do
Favignana is often theorized to be the “island full of wonders” in Homer’s epic, The Odyssey. While it’s tough to confirm without asking the ancient Greek poet (an impossible feat, I’m afraid), looking around at the transparent water and rugged stone cliffs, it tracks that he would have been so deeply inspired by its beauty.
Life and vacation on Favignana unfold slowly with dolce far niente (“the sweetness of doing nothing”) guiding the pace of languid days and nights. This is not a place to pack an itinerary, but rather to go where the gentle, warm wind takes you. In the summer, that’s most likely catching rays and jumping off the craggy limestone outcrops at Cala Rossa, snorkeling amongst fish at Cala Azzurra, or lazing on for-rent lounge chairs that dot the white sand and cooling off in the clear, turquoise tides of Lido Burrone. Swimming season lasts from May to November, giving visitors plenty of months to float and frolic. A motorboat tour around the island is another leisurely way to see the scenic coastline.
Beyond beach days and boat rides, there’s plenty to discover on land. Whereas many volcanic dots in the Mediterranean rise dramatically toward the sky, Favignana is largely flat (hence, it’s well-suited for low-intensity cycling and strolling). One of the most striking sights along the roads in the eastern part of the island is the landscape carved by centuries-old tuff quarries. For over 250 years, quarrymen manually extracted large white stone blocks, locally called conci, which were shipped by boat to mainland Sicily and North Africa. The practice left visible scars in the form of squared pits, many of which have since been transformed into hypogean gardens for growing vegetation below ground level.
Tuna fishing has been the lifeblood of Favignana since the Paleolithic era, with traditional methods, some rooted in Phoenician times, still practiced today. When the Florio family built the Tonnara Florio in 1859, it transformed the tiny island into a major hub of Mediterranean tuna production. Once one of the largest commercial centers in the region, the facility closed in the 1980s. Today, the former factory houses a museum dedicated to the enduring legacy of its tuna industry.