From Winery to Hotel
Architecture by Antonio Iraci
ZASH grew out of the restoration of an old manor house and winery between Mount Etna and the Ionian Sea.
The whole houseZASH Country Boutique Hotel
A former winery between Mount Etna and the Ionian Sea, set among citrus groves — historic fragments meeting pared-back design and a Michelin-starred kitchen.
ZASH sits where Mount Etna meets the Ionian Sea: in an old country estate near Archi, a hamlet above Riposto on Sicily's eastern coast. From a former winery and manor house came sixteen rooms and suites, set into 130,000 square metres of citrus groves. Lava-stone walls, aged plasterwork and old wine presses meet clear contemporary volumes — and a kitchen that has held a Michelin star since 2019.
The Build
An old wine estate at the foot of Etna. The palmento — the stone pressing hall — was kept and is the dining room today.
The Rooms
Sixteen rooms, no more. Lava stone, citrus wood, linen; the rooms sit between the old walls instead of in a new building next door.
The Table
The cooking is done in the palmento, where the pressing used to be. Etna wines from the neighbouring slope, citrus from their own garden.
The Cut
- No expansion — it stays at sixteen rooms
- No new building beside the estate
- No second restaurant
"Which is why the wrong people rarely sit at the next table."
Five reasons that stay
- The restaurant in the old fermentation tank — Giuseppe Raciti's starred cooking beneath vaults of lava, limestone and pumice.
- Architecture by Antonio Iraci that keeps the historic fragments and dissolves the glass into the citrus groves (PIDA Award 2013).
- 130,000 m² of citrus groves where you pick your own oranges — and a pool made of Etna lava stone.
What makes the house
Giuseppe Raciti
One Michelin star since 2019
At 22, Giuseppe Raciti cooked under Maestro Santin (2 Michelin stars), and a year later with Massimo Mantarro at Principe Cerami in Taormina (2 stars). In 2014 he took over the ZASH kitchen.
The whole house
The Spa: Lava and Water
Mediterranean and volcanic nature
Nothing here is left to chance: the pool is made of Etna lava stone, dark and powerful. Bare feet touch water and wood, while the warmth of intimate spaces meets the aromas of the island.
The whole house7 categories
Historic Room
On the first floor of the old manor house, with high vaulted ceilings and full-length chestnut windows — Mount Etna on one side, the Ionian Sea on the other.
Iconic Room
In the former cellar where wine was once stored: clean white volumes for intimate bedrooms, their bright white deliberately contrasting with the pre-existing volcanic stonework.
Blend Room
A room where historic fragments and contemporary design blend — lava-stone inserts at the headboard and bathroom, pared-back and warm at once.
Unique Suite
A generous suite with oak floors and a calm, flowing layout — the spaces run into one another almost without division, true to the spirit of the design.
Pool Villa
"In the garden": immersed in the citrus groves, with large windows onto a private garden and a small private outdoor tub, a few steps from the pool.
Pool Villa & SPA
The largest of the villas: its own small spa — sauna and Turkish bath — plus a terrace and outdoor tub among the orange trees.
ZASH lies near Archi above Riposto on Sicily's eastern coast — where the "sciara", the cooled lava of Mount Etna, meets Arab citrus groves and Greek olive trees. The beaches are just 1.7 km away, the harbour of Riposto 3.6 km. Catania and its airport are about 45 minutes to the south, Taormina and Etna's northern slope (Piano Provenzana) each a little over half an hour away. All around: the Alcantara Gorges, the baroque towns of Catania and Acireale, the wines of Etna and lively Taormina.
Kitchen and cellar
Ristorante Zash — 1 Michelin Star
Inside the old fermentation tank, where wine once aged, sits the intimate restaurant — beneath vaults of limestone and pumice, a product of the still-active volcano. Chef Giuseppe Raciti cooks a Sicilian cuisine that draws on the honesty of its products and retells tradition in a modern key. In summer the gourmet restaurant moves to the terrace above the citrus grove.
Pool Bar & Summer Terrace
An aperitif facing Mount Etna: a bottle from the cellar of Sicilian and international labels, gourmet bites in the historic millstone, on one of the terraces or at the pool bar in the citrus grove.
The house, without words
No expansion.
The restaurant inside the old fermentation tank where wine once aged: an intimate room beneath vaults of limestone and pumice, where Giuseppe Raciti serves his Michelin-starred Sicilian cooking.
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