Bar Vitelli

Bar Vitelli is one of Sicily's most famous film locations, a rustic café in the mountain village of Savoca in the hills above Taormina on the island's eastern coast. It featured indelibly in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, as the spot where Michael Corleone asks the bar's owner for the hand of his daughter Apollonia, and the village's steep lanes and church served as the backdrop for the wedding scenes. Decades on, the bar remains in the same family and trades happily on its cinematic fame, its walls lined with original stills, posters and memorabilia from the film. Visitors come as much for the atmosphere and the pilgrimage as for the refreshments, but the café still serves a genuinely good homemade granita al limone — the sharp, refreshing lemon ice that is a Sicilian summer staple — alongside coffee, Godfather-themed cocktails and simple snacks, taken on a shaded terrace with views over the surrounding hills. The mood is relaxed and a little time-capsule, busy with film fans in the high season yet retaining the calm of a small mountain village. Prices are modest. No reservations are needed; visitors simply arrive, order at the bar and soak up the setting. Savoca is reached by a winding mountain road and is best combined with a visit to nearby Forza d'Agrò, another Godfather location, on a half-day trip inland from Taormina or the coast. Arriving earlier in the day helps avoid the busiest tour-bus periods. For film buffs and travellers curious about Sicily's mountain villages alike, Bar Vitelli is an atmospheric and characterful stop.