OUR SICILY TOUR IN BRIEF

SICILY: Island of the Sun
Stories, and voices of Greeks sailors, Byzantines, Arabs, Normand warriors, and Spanish landlords, still echo in the air, when the “Greek” wind, or the Mistral blow, or when the Scirocco dusts red sands from the Sahara.  Sicily appeared  fertile, and beautiful to the people which conquered it, whether they came from the deserts, or from the cold northen countries. Each of them left a legacy: temples, castles, and churches, new plants, fruits, and spices, and hence dishes that you can only find here.  They left strange words, and different faces too, since many remained. What we look is for a full immersion in the blend of cultures, perfumes and flavors, in the breathtaking natural views, in the habits and traditions that make Sicily an outstanding melting pot, of real Mediterranean lifestyle.

Itinerary - Where
Palermo, castles and churches, Gattopardo places, lively streetlife. Marsala, the calm of a windy coast, Europe’s land’s end, warm, and blissed for meditation wines. From its dark, silent cellars, to sun drenched, timeless temples in Selinunte, facing the African sea.  Across the best vineyards of Menfi, in the deeper countryside, away from the usual must-see. Piazza Armerina and its Roman mosaics, Vittoria, its the fertile coastal plain, and its fruity wine Cerasuòlo. Then up the green, rocky Hyblean Plateau, and down in cooler canyons, concealing ancestral dwellings, or dashing Baroque sceneries, as in Ragusa and Modica.  End in Siracusa, time-honored old capital, charming and elegant. Explore the Greek area, the little streets of Ortygia, enjoy a gourmet, seafood farewell dinner by the sea.

* Taormina Extension:
Two-three days more, to visit Taormina, its unforgettable views and shops, and to explore the Etna, its pristine lava fields, and to taste its wines.

How the trip is like - Activities
Lodge in two cities, and in two towns, to blend art and sightseeing, local life, culture and nature. This itinerary, following the best wine roads - leads to places where you better catch the unique Sicilian history and character: the Greek roots, the Arabs traces, the cities and traditions  dating to the Spanish rule. This shows in our foodies experience too: rich, tasty, usually light cuisine, and very different specialties in each area. Simply creative, it blends ancient hearthy food, “exotic” ingredients, falvors from Asia and from the new world, as well as delicacies from the noble’s French chefs.
Optional activities, on request:
walking-trekking, cooking, in-depth archeological tours.

 * Wines: Nero d’Avola, Alcamo, Monreale, Marsala, Zibibbo and Passito, Menfi, Cerasuolo di Vittoria, Eloro, Moscato di Noto, Etna DOCs.  Note: Wineries are picked case by case. * Food: farmer’s and nobles traditional dishes, fresh seafood, best cheeses in hand picked slow-food trattorie.  Top dinners in the Hybleans and Siracusa.

* Private guide, your guest and interpreter in any moment of the tour.
Extra activities, on request:
*Walks in archeological areas, across vineyards, by the coast, in a canyon, on the Etna volcano. * Cuisine: pasta with swordfish or sardines, caponata, ...

Trip details at-a-glance.

Lenght
We propose 10 days, given that Sicily is so various, and wide, it’s the best. Or 7-8 days, skipping a leg of the itinerary below, at your choice.

Choosing the right trip

How. We give you a sample itinerary, yet we can tailor the trip to your taste and budget.  If you prefer, cities or countryside, or a blend of ? Culture or nature or pure relax? Just let us know and we will fine-tune each day as you like. Where. Sicily has to much to show, even for a two weeks trip. Here we suggest our favourite 10 days itinerary, yet it can’t cover all Sicily. Agrigento, Cefalù, Taormina, Salina, and Vulcano, are not there for some reason!  If you wish to include one of those places, or if you want a shorter trip, let us sketch a new trip for you.

Lodgings-> Pricing 

Our Sicily Tour in Brief, Example.

Day 1-2    
Palermo, the Capital, the story
Meeting in Palermo for an introduction to Sicily and to our trip: classic city tour, to the Normand’s palace the Palatine chapel, the Cathedral, and the Martorana. Intro to characters and choices of the local wines and cuisine, through a wide spectrum tasting, and dinner.

Days 3-4  
Marsala, the Royal Navy wines Greek temples of Selinunte
Rounding Sicily’s western corner, an unexpected scenery of windmills, and old-fashioned saltpans, reveals Mozia, once the last Phoenician stronghold. Reach Marsala, welcoming, pleasant small town, and natural landing point from Africa. Its story is marked by important arrivals: Chartaginians, Arabs, the “Italians” - just 150 years ago- alllanded here. The climate is the best for dessert wine: Moscato, Zibibbo, Passito di Pantelleria, and - above all - Marsala: not one, but actually a pyramid of wines, from easy, captivating sweet and flavored ones, to elegant dry Virgin, to the Soleras long-aged, meditation wine. In one - or more - historical cellars, you get aquainted with their variety, and you surely find a favourite one. The Marsalas, first developed for the Royal Navy officers palates, now compare well with the finest Portos, Cherry and Madeiras.

Day 5-6    
Wine country: Menfi to Vittoria
Mosaics, ceramics: Piazza Armerina and Caltagirone
On a less touristic traverse of Sicily, a national road, we find  Menfi, a large rural town, planned like a Greek colony, now a new wine city, with world known vineyards, as the huge Settesoli winery,  and some of the finest family estates, where we get our tasting, maybe at Planeta, or at the Olimpo. Later we drive by the Gela coast, a WWII landing beach, cross solitary ex-feudal properties, and - up the hills - reach Piazza Armerina.

A big imperial Roman Villa preserves amazing, huge mosaics: mythological scenes, gods and African animals, witnessing culture, beliefs, and whealth of a Roman merchant. Caltagirone is a dream stop, well if you love ceramics, with workshops of different style, all displaying the finest pots, dishes, and above all, the big, inscrutable Moorish head-shaped pots.  Vittoria, in a wide, fertile coastal plain, is an European center of wine, and vegetables production. Cerasuòlo, in particular is the more fruity, refreshing red of Sicily, not by chance matches pretty well a tasty parmigiana, and the tangy flavours of the veggies from here. We tri it at Valle dell‘Acate, for example, or, at Cos winery,  where we can taste the phytos wines, aged in the ways of the ancient Greeks, in huge terracotta jars underground.

Days 6-7  
The Hyblean Plateau: Ragusa, Modica, Pozzallo
The Hybleans, at the SE corner of Sicily, is a limestone plateau, cut by several canyons, combining flat fields, higher elevations and a cooler climate. Though small, it’s the main area with cattlefarms, and, of course a bent for good meat, and cheeses: Caciocavallo, Ragusano, and saffron flavored Piacentinu.

Ragusa and Modica, were largely, an nicely rebuilt due to the 1693 terrible quake. The Baroque style evolved in an unique, refined manner, radiating force and calm, which - “under the Sicilian sun” - and due to the gleaming local stone, is a pleasure for the eyes to see. The Hybleans have revealed, too, an haven for all the Italian gourmets. After a guided tasting of the perfumed, spicy Modica chocolate, evoking Mexico and Spain, walking around the amazing Baroque scenery, we step in one of the top restaurants, and get a feel for a great “new” Sicilian chefs can create in these days. Or we head for the coast to savor the exquisite seafood flavors, in the shade of the ancient tower, by the wide beach of Pozzallo.

Days 8-9
Siracusa
On the road again, we round Capo Passero - you can’t be more south than here and still be in Europe - and cross a coastal pain bearing the best cherry tomatoes, strong, mellow Eloro reds, smooth and fresh Moscato di Noto wines, before than Siracusa appears in front of us.

Syracuse stretches from the new city to Ortygia, the islet where Greek  settlers arrived. It was later to rule the whole Sicily, to defy Athens and win, and to face a long story of whealth, peace, and dramatic sieges. The atmosphere of the old city, with sea all around it, concentrated in few streets and squares, with walls, forts and Greek temples mixed with the recent buildings, and the delightful street market, is somehow really unique. Definitely “old world”, showing the best art of living of a southern city. The large Greek theater, the “ear of Dyonisos”, an ancient quarry-prison, the fine archeological Museum, are the best stops for the history lovers.

You can take a day on your own: rest, museum, market to fetch sundried tomatoes,  bottarga, capers and specialties that you can take home... or take a short trip with us. We get to the mysterious Pantalica gorge, its the walls showing thousands of cubicles, tumbs dug for over 3000 years, and take a walk - and picnic maybe - in the little, fresh oasis that the Anapo river feeds at their base.

Day 10
DEPARTURE CATANIA AIRPORT
Time to leave Siracusa, and Sicily by now, and say goodbye. Drive to the Catania airport, to get our connecting flight to Rome or elsewhere.  Or....

Day 10-11
Extension, to Mt. Etna and Taormina

West of Catania, we take up the Etna slopes, past fields and vineyards on black lava sands, towns built with lava blocks, often cracked by the earthquakes, then chestnuts and mountain woods, and a lunar landscape of new lava flows, and ash fields, eventually, up in the cool 6,000 ft air.  Walking here, or looking at the periodic eruptions, hearing the Earth rumble, seeing at times red lava streaming in the woods, you might hear God Volcano working somewhere down below. The Etna reds, if you taste them, are different from those growing in full sun, maybe near the sea.  At 2,000 feet or so, a cooler climate, frequently clouded makes it more gentle and elegant, and even allows to produce nice spumanti, ideal to make perfect (!) Bellinis.
Taormina, where everybody must go, clings to an impossible cliff, safe defense from the enemies, tough most unpractical to reach. Yet, it’s a jewel of Sicily, praised since early German and British travellers “discovered” it, in the Grand Tour times. Visitors swarm to it, more for the classy shops, or for the thrill of being in tourist’s crowds, than maybe for the breathtaking view over the Ionian sea, and Naxos where the first Greeks made their home here, or for the picture perfect view of the Etna, smoking, framed like a picture, in the center of the Greek theatre stage. You can explore, little streets, take a “granita di caffé”, with a fresh gelato stuffed roll, sitting by the main street, walk along venerable palazzi, and take hours to shop for shoes, fashion, jewels, picture and craftworks of any kind.

Day 12. Departure
As on Day 10