Best Craft Beer Bars in Taormina for Serious Beer Drinkers

The first thing you notice when you start hunting for the best craft beer bars in Taormina is that most of your friends back home have no idea what they're asking for. Sicily is wine country, through and through, and the local bars have been pouring Etna reds and Nero d'Avola for generations. But here's the thing, the craft beer scene in Taormina has quietly been building over the past decade, and if you know where to look, you can actually find some solid pours without leaving the centro storico entirely. I'm not going to pretend it's Berlin or Portland, but for a town of 11,000 people that doubles in size every summer, the selection has gotten genuinely better. Over the years, I've mapped out the spots that actually care about what they're serving, and I'm going to share them with you now.

The Corso Umberto Scene: Where the Selection Is Strongest

The main drag of Corso Umberto runs through the heart of Taormina, and it's where you'll find the highest concentration of places with actual craft beer taps Taormina drinkers have come to appreciate. The upper stretch, near Piazza IX Aprile, catches the afternoon shade from the buildings across the street, making it tolerable even in August when the stone pavements radiate heat like a skillet. My favorite spot here is a narrow establishment that many tourists walk right past because the facade looks more like a traditional cafe than a beer destination. Inside, they've got six rotating taps that actually change weekly, and they source from microbrewery Taormina area producers when possible, though you'll also see bottles from mainland Italy stacked behind the bar. Order the current houseIPA if they have it, but don't sleep on the Italian blonde ales which tend to pair beautifully with the local bruschetta topped with Sicilian tuna. The owner is a former chef from Milan who moved here twenty years ago and now spends his summers obsessing over malt bills and hop varieties. You can find it on the left side as you walk uphill from the Torre dell'Orologio, look for the wooden tap handles visible through the window.

A Note on the Lower Corso

The lower portion of Corso Umberto, heading toward Porta Catania, has a different energy entirely. The bars here cater heavily to the tour bus crowd, and while you'll find beer, it's mostly the usual suspects: Peroni, Moretti, the occasional Ichnusa. The prices jump up the closer you get to Piazza Duomo, so if you're set on drinking well without spending a fortune, stay in the middle section of the Corso where the regulars actually drink. One exception is a place tucked into a side alley just off the main drag, down a flight of about twelve steps. The staircase is easy to miss, and most visitors never find it, which is exactly why the regulars love it. They keep a small but carefully chosen selection of Sicilian craft beers in the fridge, and the owner will happily recommend something based on what you're eating.

Piazza IX Aprile After Dark

The terrace at Piazza IX Aprile offers one of the most famous views in Sicily, looking out toward the coastline and Mount Etna beyond. During the day, photographers stake out the stone balustrade, and the cafes charge accordingly for the privilege of sitting there. But as the sun drops behind the volcano and the church facade gets lit up, the square transforms into something more local and less performative. The bars along the piazza's edge vary wildly in quality and price, but two of them have quietly upgraded their beer menus over the past few years. One of them, positioned at the corner where the piazza meets the steps going down toward Via Teatro Greco, now dedicates two of its taps to rotating Italian craft selections. They open at six in the evening and tend to be half-full by seven when the day-trippers have retreated to their cruise ships. Come around eight when the Sicilian dinner hour starts, and you'll find a much more relaxed crowd nursing craft pours while watching the light change on Etna.

Via Teatro Greco: Close to the Ancient Theatre

The street running along the southern edge of the Greek Theatre is lined with souvenir shops and small restaurants during the day, but a few doors down from the main entrance to the archaeological site, there's a pub-style establishment that opened about eight years ago and has maintained a loyal following ever since. The interior has dark wooden furniture and local ceramics on the walls, and they take their beer seriously enough that they've installed a proper nitrogen tap system alongside their standard啤. Their food menu leans toward burgers and hearty Sicilian meat dishes, which pair surprisingly well with the stouts and porters they sometimes get in from mainland producers. The place gets absolutely slammed during pre-theatre dinner hours, so if you want to actually sit down and take your time with a flight of tasters, aim for a late afternoon visit before the show-goers descend. One thing most tourists don't realize is that they maintain a small back room with just four tables that's significantly quieter than the main space, and you can often snag a reservation there if you call ahead.

The Porta Messina Quarter

The northern gateway to the centro storico, Porta Messina marks the transition from the tourist-heavy Corso into a more residential neighborhood where local families have lived for generations. The bars in this area don't rely on the cruise ship crowds, so they tend to be more authentic in their pricing and atmosphere. One place that has quietly built a reputation for having the best actual craft selection in this quadrant of town is run by a young couple from Catania who spent two years traveling through Belgium before returning to Sicily to open their own spot. They have twelve bottles in the fridge at any given time, with a focus on Belgian-style saisons and farmhouse ales, and they'll open anything you want to try before you commit to buying. The prices here run slightly higher than what you'd find on Corso Umberto, but the knowledge behind the bar makes it worth it for anyone who takes their beer seriously. The only real downside is that they keep irregular hours depending on whether the owners have other commitments, so calling or checking their social media before making the walk up here is a good habit to develop.

Around the Giardini della Villa Comunale

The public gardens at the bottom of Corso Umberto provide a green respite from the stone and crowds, and the cafes ringing the perimeter cater to a mix of tourists resting their feet and locals catching up on neighborhood gossip. One of these establishments, the one closest to the fountain at the garden's main entrance, has made a quiet commitment to stocking local breweries Taormina area producers have worked with over the past few years. They don't advertise this fact, and the chalkboard menu behind the bar only lists the names without explaining the styles, so you'll want to ask questions if you're not familiar with the Italian craft scene. Their shaded terrace faces the gardens rather than the street, which makes it noticeably cooler during summer afternoons when every other outdoor seat in town turns into a seat of purgatory. The craft options rotate based on what they can source from their suppliers, but they've consistently got at least one pale ale and one darker option available on tap.

The Taormina-Mare and Mazzaro Beach Area

Taking the cable car down from Piazza Giovanni XXIII to Mazzaro beach gives you access to a completely different world from the centro storico above. The beachside promenade is dominated by seafood restaurants and aperitivo bars catering to the day-trippers who come for the clear water, but among them, you'll find a couple of places that have invested in proper beer infrastructure. The best of these is run by a former professional volleyball player from Modena who opened it after retiring, and his obsession with quality beer is immediately apparent the moment you step inside. He has a draft system that he maintains meticulously, and he sources from Italian microbreweries that share his commitment to clean serving lines and proper temperatures. The downside is that this place closes entirely during the winter months, usually from November through March, so it's not an option if you're visiting outside of peak season. During summer, though, it's one of the most comfortable spots to drink well anywhere in the Taormina municipality, and the fact that it sits right above the pebbly beach means you can take a dip to cool off between rounds.

Local Neighborhood Spots Off the Beaten Path

Every Italian town has its quiet corners