Grazie mille di tutto, Paola, e grazie anche a tuo padre :)
We had a lovely holiday in Taormina at Paola's amazing flat. The flat is beautifully furnished and everything works, the terrace is fabulous and very big - the view is breathtaking! You have the sea and an unobstructed view of Etna from the beautiful terrace, what more does one need really! Paola's father, Aykut, welcomed us and he is such a lovely man, so kind and helpful. He lives downstairs with his family and is always ready to help out.
You can probably cook in the flat, although we didn't as we wanted to take a break also from cooking and enjoy the great restaurants nearby. The restaurant just below the steps to town (next to where the step begin by the museum) is a great place with extremely friendly staff and gorgeous food. There is also a Sicilian restaurant in the middle of Taormina, you can find it if you google it. The area Naumachia has lots of nice restaurants, so you are wise to steer off the main street for dinner and drinks.
As for a roof terrace, there is the SKY Rooftop Bar in the hotel Continental. But for the most amazing views and a beautiful terrace with great service (and the most expensive drinks....), we recommend the Grand Hotel Timeo (a Belmond hotel) right next to the Teatro Antico. We ended up there by accident, but the view is just unbelievable. The drinks came with complimentary arancini, very nice!
The amphitheatre is also a must-see, very impressive. We visiting during night-time visiting hours and it was stunning, and it must be even more so in the daylight. From up there, you have a view on both sides of the hill. For swimming, we found the Lido la Pigna to be nicer than the beach of Isola Bella, but this is of course a matter of opinion. The rates for the umbrella and sun beds is reduced after four o'clock and the sun is still very hot so it's a fine time to go swimming. We took the stairs of Taormina both ways: first down to the beach with the idea of taking the funivia up, but as the funivia happened to be closed, we also walked up... it wasn't too bad, so I also recommend taking the steps down. Lovely views, and the steps are built so you can have a rest every now and then. There are a lot of steps in Taormina, also going up to Paola's flat, but we don't mind steps. We are looking forward to returning to this beautiful flat in the hills of Taormina.