Southern Italy, and especially Sicily, is frequently cast through the lens of a traditional patriarchal society, yet women have long been foundational to its history and are now stepping forward as its leading entrepreneurs. This dynamic is vividly illustrated across two diverse and captivating Rocco Forte properties in the region, where the surrounding territory and culture serve as an extension of the hospitality model. From the Verdura Resort’s innovative wellness and design leadership to Villa Igiea’s Belle Époque hostess heritage and contemporary craft ventures, Western Sicily reveals a surprisingly matriarchal society where women shape the standard for modern luxury.
Set against the shore near Agrigento, the Verdura Resort is actively redefining Mediterranean luxury through a design-led renovation that carefully marries coastal modernism with deep local roots. Spanning a sprawling estate that encompasses two kilometers of private shoreline—a scale remarkably rare in densely built Italy, bearing more resemblance to America’s grand coastal retreats—the property successfully balances sweeping openness with intimate seclusion. Two Kyle Phillips-designed golf courses, which are frequently favored by sports icons like Roger Federer and serve as the host venue for high-profile corporate retreats for companies such as Google, complete a destination where architecture, landscape, and lifestyle effortlessly converge.
Irene Forte, the daughter of hotelier Sir Rocco Forte and the brand’s wellness director, permeates the identity of the property. Her signature spa, anchored by holistic treatments and skincare products derived directly from the resort’s organic farm, shapes a wellness narrative that is simultaneously scientific and deeply sensory. Demonstrating its commitment to the local ecosystem, the Verdura Resort recently helped found a blue zone research project for the nearby historic village of Caltabellotta. Impressively positioned atop a high mountain just behind the resort, Caltabellotta is home to several centenarians who actively navigate the village’s steep roads and continue working well beyond standard retirement age. Among them is the accomplished sculptor Salvatore Rizzuti, whose works recurrently explore themes of motherhood, pregnancy, and birth.
“I’ve been visiting this town for over a decade,” says Irene Forte, reflecting on her enduring connection to the region. “I love it so much that I chose to get married here, and I’m proud to be an honorary citizen. To now see it recognized through such rigorous science is deeply moving. It confirms what we’ve always felt in our bones—this place has something special and is one of the reasons why Irene Forte Skincare is deeply rooted in Sicily.” The beauty products in the line utilize authentic Sicilian botanicals while overseeing the brand’s spas and holistic programming across all Rocco Forte properties.
At Verdura and at Villa Igiea, the other key pillar of this female leadership is Olga Polizzi, sister of Sir Rocco Forte, who serves as the Deputy Chairman and Director of Design for Rocco Forte Hotels. At Verdura, she oversaw the resort’s original development and has since guided its successive design chapters. A recent renovation of 58 rooms, developed in collaboration with Studio Moschino, utilizes natural stone, warm woods, linen, rattan, and bespoke ceramics to frame sweeping views of the sea and the golf course. Beyond the guest rooms, the resort’s twenty private Rocco Forte Villas, perched gracefully on the hillside with individual pools and meticulously landscaped gardens, extend this architectural language of privacy and refined minimalism. Polizzi co-designed them with ASA Studio Albanese and is currently spearheading a new phase of 47 larger off-plan homes, ensuring complete privacy, seamless integration with the surrounding landscape, and exclusive access to the resort’s world-class facilities.
A short drive from Verdura, in the coastal town of Sciacca, this matriarchal thread continues through Laura Nocito Di Giovanna, a master goldsmith and coral sculptor who serves as the fourth-generation heir to Nocito Gioielli. Founded in 1905 by her great-grandmother Concettina, the atelier blends antique Sicilian techniques with contemporary design, working exclusively with rare, environmentally sustainable subfossil Sciacca coral, gold, and fine gemstones. In recognition of her exceptional craftsmanship, she received the prestigious title of Maestro d’Arte e Mestiere d’Italia from Fondazione Cologni in 2024 and was selected for the Michelangelo Foundation’s Homo Faber Guide. She also runs the family’s dedicated atelier and museum space, the Museo Nocito del Corallo.
“Working coral is like a dance between you and nature,” Laura explains, describing the delicate balance required by her medium. “Your hands want to sculpt something, but the coral will lead you to what can really be done. Each piece hides a surprise about colour, texture, and strength. You can’t force your vision.”
When the coral-rich waters off the coast of Sciacca became one of the largest coral-fishing areas in the world between 1875 and 1914, Concettina Venezia—then married to the nobleman Giuseppe Nocito—made the bold decision to open a jewelry shop in the family palazzo. She established herself as an influential entrepreneur in the coral commerce, operating in direct defiance of her husband’s wish that she cease working. The business was subsequently inherited by her daughter Rosa and granddaughter Lina before eventually closing in 1975. In the late 1990s, Laura made the pivotal choice to become a jeweler and later a coral sculptor, successfully restoring a female entrepreneurial tradition that encompasses not only working, polishing, designing, and carving coral, but also rigorously preserving its historical context.
Just as her great-grandmother did 120 years prior, Laura encountered considerable male resistance to her vision when she decided to enter the male-dominated field of coral sculpting in the late 1990s, but her undeniable talent ultimately prevailed. Within her family, the female tradition was never simply about the physical act of working the coral; it extended fundamentally to the business of commerce—trading, buying, polishing, designing, hand-carving, and marketing. While Laura’s own children are still young, budding future artists are already growing and learning within her active laboratory.
Located just 90 miles north, perched dramatically above the Gulf of Palermo, Villa Igiea functions less as a traditional hotel and more as a restored Belle Époque stage set tailored for contemporary luxury. Originally constructed as a private villa, the property was transformed in 1900 by the influential Florio dynasty and architect Ernesto Basile into a Liberty-style palace that swiftly became Sicily’s most glamorous social retreat. During the height of the era, the “lady of the house” at Villa Igiea was Donna Franca Florio. The Florio family had built one of the greatest fortunes in Italy between the mid-19th and early 20th centuries through expansive ventures in shipping lines, Marsala wine, tuna fisheries, sulfur mines, and broader financial investments, establishing themselves as notable patrons of architecture, theater, and the arts in Palermo.
When the family acquired the villa, they converted it into the Grand Hotel Villa Igiea, with Franca emerging as its true leader and social architect. She personally designed the elaborate program of balls and salons, meticulously curated the guest lists, and staged the evening gatherings that turned the hotel into an irresistible magnet for European aristocracy, politicians, and artists during the Belle Époque. Celebrated widely for her striking beauty, personal charisma, and formidable cultural authority, she was affectionately nicknamed the “Queen of Palermo.” Today, the hotel honors her enduring legacy through a dedicated suite and the Palazzina Donna Franca.
Under the stewardship of Rocco Forte Hotels, the property underwent an extensive structural restoration. Olga Polizzi’s design direction, executed in partnership with Paolo Moschino and Philip Vergeylen of Nicholas Haslam Ltd., successfully restored Basile’s frescoed salon, the mirrored ballroom, and the vaulted bars while completely reimagining 100 rooms and suites as a serene Sicilian oasis filled with classic antiques, sumptuous fabrics, and sea-inflected color palettes. The public spaces pulse with layered history—featuring Louis XVI dining rooms, sandstone terraces, and metal pavilions modeled after the historic Palazzo Butera—while maintaining an effortlessly current atmosphere, from the time-travel elegance of the Florio Restaurant to the Igiea Terrazza Bar, which famously serves as a landmark setting for the second season of The White Lotus.
The surrounding gardens sweep gracefully down toward the Tyrrhenian Sea, framing yacht departures and sunset aperitivi in a rhythm that remains both aristocratic and deeply relaxed. Guest suites pair soaring ceilings and period stucco work with tailored contemporary pieces, including linen sofas, walnut consoles, hand-painted tiles, and bespoke lighting fixtures. The curated art collection spans vintage Sicilian prints alongside bold abstract canvases, while deep-toned velvets and marble-clad baths anchor the refined residential feel. Polizzi carefully introduced contemporary comfort, authentic local materials, and traditional Sicilian craftsmanship, utilizing a light color palette drawn directly from the local sea and stone to create interiors that feel firmly rooted in Sicily yet resolutely modern.
Inside Villa Igiea, this rich matriarchal narrative is further sustained within a small boutique dedicated to MANIMA, a Palermo-based luxury house that presents Sicilian hand embroidery as a living, contemporary heritage rather than mere nostalgia. At the heart of the brand is a matriarchal culture centered on women’s shared knowledge, patience, and authorship, with every piece bearing the distinct trace of the artisan who made it. MANIMA creates skilled, dignified employment opportunities for Sicilian women, including those coming from fragile economic or personal backgrounds, enabling them to work either within the central Palermo atelier or remotely.
Founded by Carolina Guthmann and her husband Piero Di Pasquale, the house connects Sicily’s layered cultural heritage with refined design, natural materials, and international relevance. Its objects transform traditional embroidery into a vibrant language of memory, identity, and cultural transmission, offering a vision of Sicilian talent that is elegant, contemporary, and anchored in community. Collaborative projects with international partners—such as Japanese designer Kazumi Yoshida, Jaipur Rugs, and Ambra Durante—consistently place Sicilian craftsmanship in direct dialogue with the global design community.
Also situated in Palermo, the Giardino Duca di Serradifalco represents another historic site brought back to life in the heart of the city. Originally established as part of an aristocrat’s estate, the garden was conceived as a landscaped park complete with tree-lined paths, artificial hills, grottoes, a labyrinth, allegorical statues, and small pavilions. Following decades of abandonment, the nearly two-hectare garden, which is rich in century-old trees such as magnolias and Livistona decora, functions today as a vibrant cultural venue and event space in central Palermo.
The revitalization project is led by the younger generation of the Licata di Baucina family: Amalia and her cousin Giuseppe manage the property, curate the ongoing restoration, and coordinate cultural events and programming. Meanwhile, Giuseppe’s sisters Federica and Roberta have conceptualized Ficus, an unconventional ice cream formula served creatively with alcoholic toppings. All four family members were raised by mothers who actively ran family properties and consistently encouraged their daughters to be bold and adventurous in their pursuits.
Across western Sicily, matriarchy is not treated as an exceptional circumstance, but rather as the foundational operating system of the region. Irene Forte and Olga Polizzi have successfully built a hospitality model where wellness, design, and a strong sense of place are entirely inseparable, while local artisans and entrepreneurs continue to translate female skill into enduring cultural and economic value. The resulting expression of luxury and good taste feels distinctly Sicilian: deeply rooted, robustly structured, and resolutely led by women.
