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Simplicity, tradition, agriculture, fishing, and long siestas are what this seaside village south of Sicily is all about.

Portopalo di Capo Passero can be found where the crystal blues of the Mediterranean flow into the Ionian Sea, complete with fields of tomatoes, wild-olive fringed coastal paths, and dotted with Greek temples, Roman amphitheatres, and baroque architecture.

That’s part of what attracted one 78-year-old British rock legend, The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger, and his family.

The island has also seen interest from other celebs bubbling up over the years, making it what The Telegraph described as the “secret corner of Sicily that has become a celebrity stomping ground”.

Image: Roberto La Rosa / Shutterstock

Jane Sheen, who has owned a villa in the region since the 1980s, describes the sleepy ambience being shaken from its slumber by Jagger, a “lithe septuagenarian who enjoys daily eight-mile runs”.

The rockstar escaped to the region during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdowns, joined by partner Melanie Hamrick, a 34-year-old American ballerina, and their five-year-old, Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger.

Try to get your tongue around where they stayed for that stint:

[An] 18th-century villa owned by Sicilian aristocrat Prince Lucio Bonaccorsi and renovated by his Milanese stylist wife Luisa Beccaria, and a plush villa converted from a 17th-century monastery in baroque Noto, owned by French architect Jacques Garcia (the designer behind opulent hotels including the Peninsula in Paris and NoMad in New York).

Falling head over heels for the place, Jagger bought his own property in Portopalo in August 2021, tucked away along the seaside.

Image: e-borghi.com

As for the other stars attracted to Sicily’s south:

“Mick Hucknall [also an English singer and songwriter] has had a vineyard on the slopes of Mount Etna since 2014,” says James Davies, a Briton who runs a property search business in Sicily and is married to a Sicilian.

“And the baroque town Noto, near to where Jagger has bought, has a growing but discreet community of famous artists and gay power couples.”

Celeb attention picked up in 2014 with the help of Google:

Google began hosting its ultra-exclusive annual conference Google Camp at the glitzy Verdura Resort in Sciacca on Sicily’s southwest coast, featuring lavish after-parties at the Valle di Tiepolo, an ancient Greek archaeological site.

The events brought film stars including Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks and business magnates such as Elon Musk and Bill Gates to Sicily in their private jets.

In 2021, a lavish celeb favourite, the Sicilian Four Seasons popped up, “with a multi-million renovation of a former 14th-century monastery at Taormina”, sealing the deal for the region and its high-profile guests.

Image: The Telegraph

The fact that there is no “selfie culture” in the area, as Davies believes, also helped, apparently.

But celebs are happy to settle in this area for a whole lot more than that.

Samantha Vukmirovic, founder of luxury villa specialist the Sicilian Villa Company, describes it:

“You will see the full beauty of this unspoiled coastal area by boat, passing by the Isola di Capo Passero – a fort island that strong swimmers can swim to from the beach – and the ruins of an old tuna-canning factory that falls picturesquely into blue-green seas,” she says.

“I would recommend packing a bottle of organic grillo from the nearby Feudo Ramaddini winery and fresh peaches. Locals wash them in sea water for a beautifully salty-sweet flavour.”

In terms of local delicacies, the nasello alla palermitana  – hake with anchovies, breadcrumbs, and lemon juice – sounds particularly tempting.

See you in Portopalo di Capo Passero, Mick.

[source:telegraph]