Review of Capofaro Locanda & Malvasia in Salina

Capofaro Locanda & Malvasia is a luxury hotel in Salina, the second largest of the Aeolian islands in Sicily. It has 27 rooms, suites, and villas and is located between Santa Marina and Malfa. ‘Faro’ in Italian means lighthouse and there is a working lighthouse on the property, which has been transformed into six rooms from the original Lighthouse keeper’s quarters.

Capofaro in Salina is owned by the Tasca d’Almerita family, who are eighth generation wine makers with vineyards around Sicily – including the hotel itself.

We have stayed in some wonderful hotels in Italy but I have to say that Capofaro is probably the best hotel in Italy I’ve ever stayed in. The location, with the vineyards, sea and the mountain actually reminded me a lot of the Cape in South Africa.

If you’re thinking about visiting the beautiful island of Salina and booking a stay at Capofaro, here’s my honest review of the hotel.

The Junior Suite

We had booked a Superior Room for five nights and when we checked in we were delighted to be told that we’d been upgraded to one of their Junior Suites. Both have a similar design and decor, and a sea view, however the Junior Suite is much bigger at 30 – 40 sqm as opposed to 18 to 26 sqm.

Our room was right by the wine tasting area and shop and we had access to a large communal terrace and our own smaller, private terrace that looked over the vineyards to the sea. Despite being right next to another room, that was occupied, we never heard anyone. The room was very quiet.

The front patio had a lovely view but was also so pretty with all the pink bougainvillea, which is even more striking against the white of the building. I enjoyed sitting here in the morning for a bit before heading to breakfast.

As the hotel is owned by the Tasca d’Almerita family and has a working vineyard, we were very happy to find a chilled bottle of their Tenuta Regaleali Bianco wine, along with a lovely welcome note and some delicious homemade biscuits, in our room.

As well as the welcome gift of a bottle of wine, all the drinks (apart from alcohol) in the mini fridge were complimentary and restocked daily. There was also a fancy coffee machine and a kettle for tea. There weren’t any milk or cream sachets though but they happily brought me fresh milk, which I then stored in the fridge.

The room was really spacious with a large area to keep our luggage in. There’s a room between the indoor entrance area and the bathroom, which has a built-in seating area which I’m assuming is also a bed for a child if needed. It also has a large wardrobe and doors that open on to the outside patio.

I loved the colour scheme, the wooden beams in the bedroom and also the hanging baskets. The bedroom also opened onto the outside patio that overlooked the mountain.

Watch a short room tour on YouTube to get a sense of the bedroom and the private outside patio.

If there was anything about the room that I could improve, it would be a bath in the bathroom as I love a bath. That would’ve been perfect!

Facilities at Capofaro

The hotel has a spa, if you want to indulge in a little bit of relaxation. There is also a padel court for those who want to get some exercise or try a new sport (I had never heard of padel, which is a racket sport like tennis.)

The pool at Capofaro is just absolutely gorgeous and was a perfect temperature. Also it was never fully busy when we stayed so you could always find a sunbed.

As guests of Capofaro, you can also go to Lido Gharb in Lingua for free – you just need to get a voucher from the hotel reception. And of course the hotel provides a beach bag with towels, which they replaced daily. Lido Gharb has an area reserved at the front for hotel guests and is one of a few lidos on the island. We went twice and whilst it wasn’t our favourite place to swim (that was Punta Scario), it was nice to have the option to go somewhere different.

For me, one of the highlights of Capofaro is the wine tasting. After all, if you’re staying in a vineyard it would be rude not to indulge in the wine! Although you don’t have to be a guest of the hotel to enjoy a wine tasting – anyone can book it.

The hotel offers a number of different tastings and it’s recommended you book in advance as there are limited numbers. We booked the sunset tasting with bubbles and we booked it about three weeks before our stay. The experience lasts about an hour and you’re given three glasses of wine with some nibbles – including capers, which is one of the products Salina is famous for. In fact, Capofaro grows capers on the property.

Of course all the wine is from their own vineyards across Sicily and including Capofaro itself. We tried their Almerita Brut sparkling wine, followed by two different Malvasia wines – another product that Salina is famous for. One was dryer and one was sweeter.

And of course the best thing about booking a sunset wine tasting? Watching the sun go down of course! I mean… look at those colours. Just incredible.

There is a lovely aperitivo area by the restaurant and pool, which overlooks Stomboli and Panarea. A few nights a week there is also live music. It’s open to guests and non-guests. Often people outside the hotel who are coming for dinner will enjoy either an aperitivo or wine tasting before their meal – and maybe even a nightcap afterwards.

The restaurant

Breakfast is served in the covered part of the restaurant and is a buffet style of pastries, cereal, fruit, cold meats etc. There is also hot food, such as pancakes and omelettes but they are not included. I have to say, for a hotel that charges the rates that they do, I would really expect to be able to have an omelette or some kind of eggs included and not have to pay extra for them. Breakfast was nice but it didn’t blow me away.

We booked dinner at the restaurant on the same night we had the sunset wine tasting. The setting for dinner is absolutely stunning! And when it gets darker, it’s lit just with small table lights so is very beautiful and atmospheric. Also the tables are very well spaced apart.

The kitchen has a system of gardens where they grow herbs and vegetables, which is used in 70% of their dishes. They also follow the ‘short kilometer’ concept, meaning that everything is as locally sourced as possible. One of the kitchen gardens is in front of the pool and restaurant area and we sometimes saw a chef collecting herbs and vegetables when we walked past.

The restaurant has a tasting menu concept with three different menus to choose from, or you can just order two or three courses. We’re not huge fans of tasting menus so we opted for three courses. As it’s a fancy restaurant – think Michelin star quality – we were offered a selection of amuse bouche to start, which were delicious. The bread was also really good and the grain actually comes from the estate.

The pasta and the fish course were both fabulous. I wasn’t personally a fan of the desserts but my husband enjoyed them. Hands down, dinner at Capofaro was definitely one the best meals we had whilst we were in Salina. The setting is gorgeous, the food was excellent, the wine was lovely and the service was professional and attentive.

What we loved about Capofaro in Salina

We loved the spacious, stylish yet minimal room and of course the resort itself. But it was also the little touches that made our stay special. Such as the room upgrade, the bottle of their own wine, handmade biscuits, help with changing our ferry tickets, recommending beaches and more. The resort also picks you up at Santa Marina when you arrive and drops you off when you leave, so there’s no need to book your own taxi. They also offer a shuttle service to Santa Marina and Malfa for guests who don’t have a car or a scooter – or who just don’t want to drive.

We would definitely stay again at Capofaro in Salina. It is an incredible hotel and almost perfect in every way. If they included hot food, like omelettes, in their breakfast then they may have got top marks!

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