Via Teatro Greco (Greek Theatre Street), Taormina
Greek Theatre Street is Taormina鈥檚 most theatrical approach, guiding visitors from Abbey Square straight to the town鈥檚 crown jewel, the Ancient Theatre. Its stones have carried generations of footsteps since Greek and Roman times, when crowds climbed this slope for tragedies, comedies, and later Roman spectacles. Even as centuries passed and rulers changed, the street kept its role as the artery leading into Taormina鈥檚 cultural life.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, it had gained a second life as part of the Grand Tour. Poets, painters, and aristocrats wandered here, with Goethe and D.H. Lawrence among those who praised both the ruins and the views that frame them. Their rapturous accounts gave the street an almost literary reputation, binding it to the romantic imagination of Europe.
Landmarks lend the walk its character. The staircase of Timoleon rises in honor of the Corinthian general who once defended the town, staged like a Sicilian answer to Rome鈥檚 Spanish Steps and dressed with azaleas each spring. Not far away are the legacies of Taormina鈥檚 more recent past: the villa of Lady Florence Trevelyan, who left the town its celebrated gardens; the medieval Corvaja Palace, now housing the Museum of Sicilian Art and Traditions; and Cuseni House, an Art Nouveau villa that hints at Gaud铆 in its curves. The Hotel Timeo, a 19th-century favorite of visiting elites, still watches over the street with quiet grandeur.
Today, Greek Theatre Street is more than a passage-it is an unfolding sequence of shops, caf茅s, and glimpses of sea and mountain, with the Ancient Theatre waiting at the end and the fortress of Mount Tauro towering above. It feels less like a walk and more like a rehearsal for the spectacle ahead.
By the 18th and 19th centuries, it had gained a second life as part of the Grand Tour. Poets, painters, and aristocrats wandered here, with Goethe and D.H. Lawrence among those who praised both the ruins and the views that frame them. Their rapturous accounts gave the street an almost literary reputation, binding it to the romantic imagination of Europe.
Landmarks lend the walk its character. The staircase of Timoleon rises in honor of the Corinthian general who once defended the town, staged like a Sicilian answer to Rome鈥檚 Spanish Steps and dressed with azaleas each spring. Not far away are the legacies of Taormina鈥檚 more recent past: the villa of Lady Florence Trevelyan, who left the town its celebrated gardens; the medieval Corvaja Palace, now housing the Museum of Sicilian Art and Traditions; and Cuseni House, an Art Nouveau villa that hints at Gaud铆 in its curves. The Hotel Timeo, a 19th-century favorite of visiting elites, still watches over the street with quiet grandeur.
Today, Greek Theatre Street is more than a passage-it is an unfolding sequence of shops, caf茅s, and glimpses of sea and mountain, with the Ancient Theatre waiting at the end and the fortress of Mount Tauro towering above. It feels less like a walk and more like a rehearsal for the spectacle ahead.
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Via Teatro Greco (Greek Theatre Street) on Map
Sight Name: Via Teatro Greco (Greek Theatre Street)
Sight Location: Taormina, Italy (See walking tours in Taormina)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:
Sight Location: Taormina, Italy (See walking tours in Taormina)
Sight Type: Attraction/Landmark
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:
Walking Tours in Taormina, Italy
Create Your Own Walk in Taormina
Creating your own self-guided walk in Taormina is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.
Taormina Introduction Walking Tour
In 396 BC, the notorious tyrant Dionysius I of Syracuse instructed his commander Andromachus to establish a settlement at the foot of Mount Etna. This came after Dionysius had destroyed the ancient Greek city of Naxos, leaving its displaced inhabitants in need of a new home. The settlement's original name, Tauromenion, meaning 鈥渄welling on the Taurus,鈥� referred to the nearby mountain... view more
Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.0 Km or 1.2 Miles
Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.0 Km or 1.2 Miles