Picciolo Etna Golf Resort & Spa, Curio Collection by Hilton

Excellent hotel, but a little remote. Hire car essential otherwise you will be confined to hotel. Little or no availability for drinks / food outside meal times

Amazing basically, lovely hotel set at foot of Mt Etna, golf course challenging as quite tight and a number of severe doglegs, certainly appreciated a buggy but thoroughly enjoyed. Staff throughout were so helpful and friendly. Hotel was superb with gorgeous spa and lovely heated pool. Too early in season for outdoor swimming.

It is a beautiful location. Very relaxing. The rooms are very comfortable and the food is amazing, we had a fantastic golf week. Super course. There is lots to see when not playing golf. We went up Etna and also to Taormina, and Messina. The staff are fantastic and can’t do enough to help. Be aware it is very rural - long winding road to get there. You need snow chains in the winter. The weather may be unpredictable as it is in a little valley of its own. So it was wet there but dry elsewhere. The WiFi was unpredictable in our room we downloaded in reception to watch upstairs and could not get the TVs to connect.

Lovely hotel with new or recently modernised rooms and facilities. Spa was excellent but you do need to book to ensure you get in at a time that works for you. Restaurant was very good with good and flexible menu choices and reasonably priced wine and drinks. Half-board was a good choice and good value. Breakfast was good but not in the same league as Verdura! If we would stay again we would probably upgrade to one of the larger room options. The hotel was preparing for winter and the A/C system was switched-off. Due to excellent insulation our room was too warm at night - we had to open the patio door to cool-down. There are small towns within a short drive which offer alternative restaurants. Taormina is less than an hour's drive away and well worth a visit.

Fantastic stay at the hotel. Great facilities and very comfortable rooms. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, and couldn’t do enough for us. The food was excellent, and a a huge selection of wines. The waiters/waitresses were very knowledgeable and attentive. Best hotel I’ve stayed at in the past few years.

Exceeded expectations. Just been bought by Hilton group and much upgraded since our last visit. Renovated Spa not open yet but not an issues. New swimming pool is fabulous. Food excellent.

This hotel is beautiful and above the standard I was expecting. The staff was very friendly and helpful

The hotel is situated at the top of a 5 mile extremely steep winding road. A car is essential. It’s a lovely hotel with 2 large pools outside. The spa is good and the package includes 90 mins a day. The staff were all very friendly, polite and helpful. The rooms quiet and comfortable. Ample parking. The restaurant has buffet breakfast and service in the evening. Excellent food. The half board includes 2/3 courses off a daily menu plus a seasonal menu. 4€ for water !.

Friendly staff and a comfortable room

Accommodation was adequate, a lack of tea/coffee facilities in room was dissapointing, breakfast was a bit of a flaff due to only one coffee machine for all guests, but breakfast itself was good, even8ng meals are avg on the weekly menu, the daily menu got better at the weekend, the pool is excellent, the pool bar could offer a bit more in the way of snacks , aside from all the negatives i have to say the staff are the best i have experienced, nothing is too much trouble, always polite and smiling, a good understanding of british humour, i cant remember all names, but Vinny (manager) Antoni in the resturant, Annabella, pool and bar, Rossetta evening resturant,the cocktail bar guy, and the young guy pool attendant and bar, absolutley made our stay the best, also at reception Carla, marco, fredrika?, sorry if all names not correct, it doesent really matter they are all great thankyou. I would like to add, we took two trips which the hotel arranged for us, one a guided tour of mount Etna, lead by Michele and Guiseppe from siciliaAdventure.it, this was a fantastic well informed day out, and the the Gambino wine tasting trip which was again absolutley brilliant, (thankyou Nino) SO for us golfers and none golfers there is a lot more to do at il Picciolo resort.

Short but tight course. Only used driver on 3 holes. Interesting holes. Loved the finishing par 5’s on each nine. Holes 1-6 in a separate area from rest of course and not up to the standard of the rest of the course. Stunning location and views

Once you had played it at least once you knew where you should be from the tee. So I would say an avg to mod hard course. Quite tight with many tree lined fairways, greens fairly quick but smooth and well kept. Some parts of the course need a bit of TLC but overall a very enjoyable course.

The golf is great for us - an interesting course (not dissimilar to our course in Cardiff Llanishen) we were happy playing it for 5 days - we didn’t actually get to play on our 4th tee time as it was raining and the course was closed. But 5 miles down the road it was dry. I would say we went a little early in the year. You need to carry snow chains until 15th April!

This is a very tight and challenging course for all levels of players. Lots of elevated tee shots and quite a few blind shots. This tends to make the pace of play quite slow. It is a scenic but strenuous walk, especially the back nine. A motorised trolley or buggy is definitely recommended but must be booked well ahead because they are in high demand. The free manual trollies are very poor and tend to fall over (very annoying). We enjoyed our second outing much better when we knew the course and were in a buggy (better scores, fewer lost balls and less tired!). The staff in the pro-shop were very friendly and helpful. Practice areas and range are adequate but not the same quality or scope as Verdura.

The golf course was very well maintained and the greens were kept in an excellent condition. It’s a challenging course with some very tricky holes, but then quite forgiving on others. The greens were quick at the time we were playing. The only criticism I have is there’s no real club shop as such. They had a selection of golf clothes and equipment but very limited. However the facilities and staff were great. Would love to go back, but don’t think I’ll be able to for some time unfortunately.

Great experience. Super course - well maintained. Staff were very helpful.

We hired golf clubs and we were very happy with them, for an extra €20 we had premium clubs. The course was in top conditions, narrow and quite challenging, think before you swing, very long hitters might be punished.

Buggies are not included in the package. A few thunderstorms so no run on the ball. Gritty sand bunkers. Staff very good. Nice drinks/food area post round. A good few long uphill par 5’s Reception golf staff were great.

We booked the first tee time at 8am. We could store our bags for all 3 rounds but that meant we couldn’t access them until our tee time for a warm up so changed tee time to 8.30am after day one. GPS worked. 4 pin positions. Buggies were needed as it’s long and hilly.

Tight golf course would benefit from an additional hectare or two