St. George by Heinz Beck

The Verdict

If you are weighing St. George by Heinz Beck against Taormina's other €€€€ options, the calculus is direct: this is the most decorated restaurant on the hill, carrying two Michelin stars and an 84-point La Liste score in 2026. The question is not whether the cooking is serious; it is; but whether you want your fine dining experience anchored by one of Italy's most recognisable culinary names or by a chef with deeper roots in the island's own traditions. For food and wine enthusiasts who want technical precision, a dramatic terrace view over the Straits of Messina, a wine program built to match ambitious creative cooking, St. George is the right call. For guests who prioritise purely Sicilian provenance, La Capinera is the closer fit.

The Portrait

St. George sits inside The Ashbee Hotel, an early-20th-century villa at the edge of Taormina's historic centre. The room retains the proportions and feel of a private house rather than a formal dining room, the terrace, bordered by palm trees with the Straits of Messina below, is the kind of setting that justifies a booking before you have even looked at the menu. The visual experience here is doing real work: the combination of Belle Époque architecture and the open water beyond it creates a frame that few restaurants on Sicily can match.

The kitchen operates under a dual structure worth understanding before you book. Heinz Beck, whose three-Michelin-star record at La Pergola in Rome is one of the most sustained in European fine dining, sets the culinary direction. Day-to-day execution is led by resident chef Salvatore Iuliano, who brings a Calabrian perspective and a Mediterranean sensibility that grounds Beck's more cerebral instincts in the produce and flavours of the southern Italian coastline. The result is creative cooking with a regional anchor, not fusion for its own sake, but a dialogue between precision technique and local character.

For a guest coming to Taormina from a broader fine dining circuit, having previously visited, say, Osteria Francescana in Modena or Le Calandre in Rubano, St. George will feel familiar in its ambition and register differently because of its setting. Among Italian two-star tables, it occupies a specific position: it is not the intellectual rigor of Enrico Bartolini in Milan, nor the cellar depth of Enoteca Pinchiorri in Florence, but the terrace and the Beck name give it a profile that is hard to replicate elsewhere on the island.

Wine Program

The wine program at a restaurant operating at this price point and carrying Beck's name should be doing more than supporting the food, it should be a reason to book in its own right. Beck's work at La Pergola has always been accompanied by one of Italy's most serious wine lists, St. George benefits from that institutional knowledge. The expectation, consistent with a two-Michelin-star property in Sicily, is a list that draws on both Etna's volcanic white and red producers, now among the most discussed in Italian wine, a broader Italian and European selection capable of matching the creative direction of the kitchen.

For the explorer diner, the wine angle here is particularly compelling. Etna Bianco and Etna Rosso, made from Carricante and Nerello Mascalese respectively, have attracted significant attention over the past decade from sommeliers and collectors internationally. A meal at St. George is a logical occasion to drink them in their geographic context, paired with cooking that has been calibrated for the same southern Italian palate. If the sommelier service matches the kitchen's ambition, which the La Liste and Michelin recognition suggests it should, this is one of the more compelling wine-and-food propositions in Sicily. Comparable Italian creative tables like Atelier Moessmer Norbert Niederkofler in Brunico or Dal Pescatore in Runate illustrate how seriously Italian fine dining takes its cellar as a second signature, St. George is operating in that tradition.

Ratings and Recognition

• Michelin: 2 Stars (2024, 2025)
• La Liste: 84 points (2026), 85.5 points (2025)

The La Liste score places St. George in a competitive bracket internationally. For context, the best of that list is occupied by tables like Alléno Paris au Pavillon Ledoyen and Arpège. An 84-point score signals serious international standing, not just regional significance.

Know Before You Go