Old hotel, patronized by aristrocrats and heads of state -- 50-100 years ago. In the offseason, when my wife and I visited, the staff just couldn't care less. Rooms are musty and the beds were torture. We had a car, so location was not an issue but it is some distance from the more interesting parts of Siracusa. You can do better in this town. Restaurant in the hotel not bad, just not as good as they claim.

Myself and my husband stayed in Syracuse the last week of August in 2011 for two glorious weeks of lazying by the hotel pool, sightseeing in our little hired fiat 500 and enjoying the finest of meals in the many many fine dining establishments in Ortegia .
We stayed in the grand hotel politi which is about a 15 to 20 minute walk from Ortegia . The Decision to stay in this hotel was mainly because it was one of the very few hotels within walking distance from Syracuse and Ortegia which boasted an outdoor pool. We weren't disappointed with our choice. We were greeted by Atallia at reception who became invaluable advisor during our stay. The staff were extremely friendly and helpful, rooms were charming, clean, well air conditioned and serviced daily. The flat screen tv's in the rooms had a variety of multilingual channels. The pool area was lovely with plenty of loungers for everyone. One of the advantages of staying here is that there is no charge for parking unlike the hotels in Ortegia who can charge over 10 euro per day.
The hotel serves breakfast lunch and dinner, we availed of breakfast and lunched by the pool several days but with all the fine restaurants within Syracuse itself unfortunately we didn't get a chance to eat in the main restaurant. Their is a restaurant nearby called jonacos which we can highly recommend. Overall a great old world hotel with great character and fantastic staff would recommend to anybody looking to stay in one of the finest parts of Sicily and Italy.

A fair location, depending on what you want to see and whether you expect to walk, drive or taxi. The free Wi-fi didn't work on your own device--you had to use hotel's pc/laptop which is okay as long as there are not a lot of others wanting the same. The menu in the restaurant wa unappealing and expensive. The breakfast was fabulous--all of whatever you could could want. It was about a 2-mile walk to Ortegia, but doable if you wanted (we didn't, we shared a cab for 12 E with another couple--not too bad). We were on a tour, so I don't know about cost, but it is definitely worth 4 stars (using the European system).

Beautiful hotel with a great pool and breakfast. Very close to all the sites in the area. We really enjoyed our stay of 4 nights. The Greek theater is very close and Ortiga Island is a 5 minute drive away. The quarry around the hotel is very interesting. I highly recommend this hotel.