The Proibito suite sits in the estate’s original manor house, where the noble Barone delle Balze once lived. The 33sqm whitewashed room benefits from airy, double-height ceilings, a cozy mezzanine equipped with a comfortable dormeuse able to accommodate a third guest, and a balcony overlooking the verdant garden. Proibito’s refined palette of deep blues and weathered grey tones call to mind Sicily’s surrounding waters and are expressed in the queen bed’s sapphire-hued Signoria Firenze sheets, bathroom tiles inspired by traditional Sicilian ceramics and touches of modernity in the form of the collage-like headboard by designer Draga Obradovich, wooden wardrobe by Katrine Ahrens and minimal bedside lights. Traces from its previous life as the Barone delle Balze family’s residence can be read in its rough stone walls and original wooden doors.

The name Proibito takes after one of the most significant masterpieces by Oscar-winning director Frank Capra, who was born in Sicily and later emigrated to the United States. Presented at the first edition of the Venice Film Festival in 1932, the film follows the torrid and tragic story of the affair between a local Sicilian girl and a politician, who together hide their relationship until the very end.