Discover Italy – Food and Wine Grand Tour of Sicily 2022

September 4 – Sunday

Arrival at Palermo PMO Airport
Welcome to the warm, beautiful and pleasant island of Sicily! Upon arrival at Palermo Airport please proceed through Passport Control and collect your luggage inside the customs area.

Independent Transfer to the Hotel – Private Airport Transfer Available on Request.

Deluxe Hotel – Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa (4*)
Standard Room – Breakfast included

The 4 stars Grand Hotel Piazza Borsa, in the city center, is located in an ideal position to explore Palermo. Luxurious and spacious rooms, meeting rooms, original liberty design, a characteristic cloister, and a fumoir as in belle epoque.

In the heart of the historical center, easily reachable both the main monuments as well as the airport of Palermo. The perfect hotel for business travel, family vacations and romantic holidays. The ideal location for a holiday in Sicily.

Superior Hotel – Grand Hotel Garibaldi (4*)
Standard Room – Breakfast included

Hotel Garibaldi, a luxurious 4-star hotel, takes its name from Palermo’s well-known theatre, situated directly opposite.
Contemporary and chic, it is one of the only city’s hotels to offer free indoor parking. The Garibaldi’s interior has modern design. All the rooms are superbly decorated and have free internet access and satellite television. Junior Suites also boasts their own Jacuzzi bathtubs.
Hotel Garibaldi features a business centre, an internet point on site, conference rooms and a stylish American Bar.
The area outside Hotel Garibaldi is great too. You can step out of your hotel directly onto streets lined with boutiques and designer stores.
Central in Palermo, Hotel Garibaldi is close to all the city’s cultural sights. There is also a bus stop just outside the hotel. The city’s vivacious port area is 500m away.

September 5 – Monday

Street Food Tour in Palermo and Arab and Norman Architecture in Monreale

After breakfast meet your guide and transfer to Monreale to visit the Arab-Norman Cathedral.

After the visit we will drive back to Palermo to discover the coloured city center starting with one of the famous Food Market.

We will taste the specialties of local Street Food before continue visiting the outside of Cathedral, Piazza Pretoria and the 4 Corners.

September 6 – Tuesday

Full Day Tour to Erice and Marsala

Today is dedicated to visiting western Sicily visiting the Seasalt flat of Marsala, The historical Winery. After lunch in a local restaurant and visit the medieval village of Erice where we will taste the marzipan cookies,

September 7 – Wednesday

The Time Machine: a farm, a village, travel back to the past!

Today we will leave Palermo to get Agrigento. On the way we will experience the life of a small little village and its inhabitants. We will visit the Village, the Cheese maker, the rural area. We will eat with locals in a local farmhouse and enjoy the lifestyle that hasn’t changed in the last centuries.

Deluxe Hotel – Hotel Baglio della Luna (4*)

Foresteria Baglio della Luna in Agrigento is a boutique hotel with 23 rooms and suites that overlooks the Valley of the Temples. This 13th-century building, carefully restored to guarantee all the modern conveniences of today, is an oasis of absolute peace and silence in graceful Sicily and offers the unique experience of sleeping in a medieval watchtower. All its rooms and suites have a marvelous view of the Valley of the Temples or on the countryside. A comfortable and charming stay in the midst of nature.

The Foresteria Baglio della Luna provides an ideal setting for those who wish to spend their holiday relaxing in a tranquil corner of paradise like the Meditteranean garden with Jacuzzi and solarium and for those who love to be seduced by the finest Sicilian dishes, prepared by the hotel’s restaurant Accademia del Buon Gusto.

The hotel is located in the countryside but just a few minutes from the city centre, from the beach of Maddalusa and from the fantastic Scala dei Turchi, an ideal place where to start discovering the beauties of Western Sicily.

Superior Hotel – Colleverde Park Hotel

Colleverde Park Hotel is a place where one can contemplate a landscape that embraces nature, sea and culture. Immersed in a lush park overlooking the Valley of the Temples and the sea, the Colleverde Park Hotel is ready to welcome you into its calm and elegant atmosphere.

This historic dependence of the first Jolly Hotel of Agrigento was bought and renovated by the Sinatra family and over the years has become the Colleverde Park Hotel; a modern and comfortable four star hotel successfully combining the traditional tastes and the advantages of innovation. The elegant, spacious yet cozy lobby welcomes guests with a harmonious interplay of comfortable and bright spaces.

Fine ceramics, 19th Century Sicilian furniture and Persian carpets create a prestigious, welcoming and familiar atmosphere. Enjoy a drink, immerse yourself in reading, look at the surroundings or check your e-mail and navigate the internet. All areas of the lobby are equipped with free Wi-Fi for a high-speed wireless internet connection.

September 8 – Thursday

Agrigento/Temples Valley – Siracusa

After Breakfast departure to discover the Valley of the Temples (independent visit using audioguides), one of the finest of all ancient Greek sites—the whole Doric Temples, one of Sicily’s most famous historical attractions. This is one of the most outstanding examples of Greater Greece art and architecture, and is one of the main attractions of Sicily as well as a national monument of Italy. The area was included in the UNESCO Heritage Site list in 1997.

This splendid archaeological park consists of eight temples (and various other remains) built between about 510 BC and 430 BC:

the Temple of Hera
the Temple of Concordia the Temple of Heracles
the Temple of Olympian Zeus the Temple of Castor and Pollux the Temple of Hephaestos
the Temple of Demeter
the Temple of Asclepius (the God of Medicine).

Then we drive to a Winery where we stop for a visit, wine tasting and light lunch. Later drive to Siracusa.

Deluxe Hotel – Antico Hotel Roma (4*)

Antico Hotel Roma 1880 is in the heart of Ortigia Island, next to the Cathedral. It offers free lobby Wi-Fi and modern, air-conditioned rooms.

The Monzù Restaurant serves new and traditional Sicilian recipes. Drinks are served at the bar and can be enjoyed in Piazza Minerva square.

Superior Hotel – Grande Hotel Alfeo

The nucleus of the ancient Greek Corinthian city of Syracuse was located on the small island of Ortygia / Ortigia and this is only around 300 meters from the Grande Albergo Alfeo hotel which equates to around 4-5 minutes on foot. Located in the heart of syracuse both literally and figuratively, this location is steeped in history and culture spanning the three great empires of Greece, Rome and Byzantium.

September 9 – Friday

Walking Tour of Siracusa

Today we start the visit to Syracuse with a transfer by Taxi to the Archaeological Park, highlights of which are the Greek Theatre, the Roman Amphitheatre and the Paradise Quarry. The resulting park contains some of the most extraordinary monuments that classical antiquity has left us and, given their degree of interest and importance, has few equals elsewhere in Italy. Even a quick stay in Syracuse must include a visit to this archaeological site.

Then our Taxi drives us back for an amazing stroll through the streets of Ortygia Island, the heart of the city center, to visit the Dome. This delightful pedestrian square is home to the wonderful Cathedral built on the site of an ancient Temple of Athena as can clearly be seen from the original Doric columns that were incorporated into the building’s main structure.

Also on this square is the beautifully symmetrical Baroque Palazzo Beneventano and the church of Santa Lucia, the town’s patron saint. Later to the colourful daily Street Market, which sells a fantastic array of fruit, vegetables, fish and meat.

September 10 – Saturday

Today is at leisure in the city of Siracusa.

You can choose among 3 optional tours (not included in the price):

• Truffle Hunting & Time Machine
• Cheese, Wine & Tuna Fishing Village
• Yacht Tour Siracusa – Ortigia Island and Plemmirio

Option 1 – Truffle hunting and cooking show with cheese making

Today departure to enjoy the experience of walking in the forest with a local experienced truffle hunter and his trained dog. Follow the dog hurriedly through the forest as he sniffs about and experience the surge of excitement as he starts digging for these edible treasures. While hunting, you can enjoy the charming Sicilian countryside breathing pure air in gorgeous wood. The walk is very easy and requires no particular effort.

Later a sightseeing drive will lead us along the countryside, the hills and the vineyards, toward Buscemi, named the “museum town”, for a travel back in time to learn how people used to live in Sicily about a century ago. We will visit the ethno-anthropological itinerary “the farmer workplaces”, which includes a visit to the museum dedicated to the artisanal works, and a tour of the places of the past: the farmer home, the millstone, the blacksmith shop, the carpenter shop, the shoemaker shop and other typical works of the time.

Then, we drive to a wonderful location, an ancient watermill, surrounded by streams, waterfalls and small lakes with breathtaking colors, where an experienced chef will welcome us in the kitchen and teach us how to clean and use the truffle: a natural wonder, perfect for enriching many dishes and transforming taste into an experience. Following, a truffle- based menu will be prepared for us, paired with local delicacies and excellent Sicilian wines.

During the class Sebastiano, a local farmer, will offer you a real demonstration of how to work diligently with milk to create the delicious Ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella and other typical Sicilian cheeses, into the rustic patio of the watermill. You will definitely enjoy the best cheese-making demonstrations in Sicily. From the first drop of milk to the delicious final products.

Later we drive back to Siracusa.

Option 2 – Cheese and Wine and Fisherman Village

A full-day experience by a comfortable minivan that starts with the visit to an authentic Sicilian farm, cheese tasting, traditional food tasting – oil, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes – and typical Sicilian lunch, followed by the visit to a local winery and wine tasting, ended by a sunset walk in an amazing fishermen village.

This private day trip with a local tour guide will give our guests the opportunity to live for one day with the farmers and the winemakers, discovering some of the most genuine food gems of our land and enjoying an authentic experience in the beautiful countryside of our east coast.

Starting from Siracusa, a sightseeing drive will lead you along the ocean side, the hills and the vineyards on our comfortable minivan, towards the Noto valley, for approximately one hour. Then, you’ll be welcomed by Concetto and his family on their ancient Sicilian farm, with the first tasting of some of their delicious products in a very relaxing and friendly atmosphere.

A walk around the farm, surrounded by the scent of almond and lemon trees, will give you the opportunity to see the flock of sheep, where Concetto every day gets the milk, and to admire the elegance of the almond trees, where the authentic and prizes winner Mandorla di Noto comes from. During the walk, you will also learn how to work the almonds to create the famous Sicilian almond milk.

After the walk, Concetto and his wife Sonia will offer you a real demonstration of how to work diligently with sheep’s milk to create the delicious Ricotta cheese, fresh mozzarella and other typical Sicilian cheeses, with the warm breeze rolling in from the Mediterranean Sea into their rustic kitchen. You will definitely enjoy the best cheese-making demonstrations in Sicily. From the first drop of milk to the delicious final products.

All these products will be the base for the typical Sicilian lunch, where the friendly feeling of a small and intimate group of food lovers will make the experience unique.

After lunch, approximately at 3 pm, our English-speaking driver will take you through the breathtaking countryside, to discover this wonderful area of Sicily, where you can find a landscape typical of Tuscany, with hills, olive groves and the Nero d’Avola vineyards, mixed together with the Californian canyons and seaside views, a unique experience to enjoy driving along the scenic and silent country roads for approximately 45 minutes, and have fantastic photo opportunities.

The excursion continues with a two hours visit to one vineyard and their cellars and the wine tasting, followed by traditional food tasting – oil, cheese, sun-dried tomatoes – where you will learn the different characteristics of our local wines, discover the history and the taste of some Sicilian wines that are beginning to be sought after all over the world. You will also learn how to match wine perfectly with our impressive Sicilian cuisine.

Right before the sunset, around 6 pm, our comfortable minivan will lead you to the amazing Marzamemi, a fisherman’s village that has recently become an incredible spot for people who wants to enjoy a nice walk in the old town, surrounded by the ocean and the breeze and with many options to taste refreshing drinks and music in one of the local bars with outside seating.

Around 8 pm the minivan will be ready to drive you back to your hotels, where you will arrive in approximately one and a half hours.

Option 3 – Yacht Tour Siracusa – Ortigia Island and Plemmirio

Join this half-day yacht tour from Siracusa and you’ll sail along the island of Ortigia admiring the Spanish fortification walls which enclose all the area of Castel Maniace. You’ll notice some high papyrus plants surroundings fountain of

Arethusa, is a legendary heritage of the connections between Sicily and the Greek motherland. Then, you’ll move southwards coasting the Peninsula Maddalena to reach the area of Plemmirio Marine Protected Park. The coastline is a mix of rocks and caves that suddenly turns into sandy scenery, where the water is quite transparent, and you will absolutely appreciate a snorkel around.

The boat price includes Skipper and hostess, fuel, beverages, fresh fruits and Sicilian biscuits, beach towels, and tuba masks.

Extra lunch in full day: Light lunch with Sicilian typical products available on request.

September 11 – Sunday

Full Day Tour – The Barocco Valley

Today’s departure for Ragusa. The city is situated in the Iblean mountains and, along with Ragusa, it is part of the UNESCO Heritage Sites in Sicily. The main economy of the area revolves around dairy cheese & agricultural products like olives, carobs, legumes, and grains. Upon arrival we walk through the historical town of Ragusa Ibla highlights the wide array of Baroque architecture in Sicily, including several stunning palaces and churches.

Light lunch in a local trattoria.

In the afternoon a short drive takes us to Modica a small village famous for chocolate. Modica’s chocolate is one of the most famous products in the Ragusa area. It is still made the same way the ancient Aztecs made chocolate in Mexico and its tradition dates back to the 16th century. The technique was brought over by the Spaniards who in turn learned about it in what is now Mexico.

Later we continue towards Taormina.

Deluxe Hotel – NH Collection Hotel in Taormina (5*)

The 5-star hotel NH Collection Taormina is in the heart of beautiful Taormina, the famed city on Sicily’s eastern coastline. The hotel building combines early 20th-century features with modern touches to create a truly outstanding look. Just a few steps away is the city’s most popular shopping street, Corso Umberto I, right in the historic center, near shops, cafés and bars. The hotel’s 63 rooms are modern and sophisticated, using warm, earthy tones to create a cozy feel. Most come with a balcony or terrace, a wonderful spot to look over Taormina and the sea beyond. Book the Presidential Suite for a private hot tub, separate living room and extra-large bathroom. Other hotel features include large and luxurious Suites, excellent city and sea views, connecting rooms available, a luxurious spa and outdoor pool with panoramic view, fully equipped fitness room.

Authentic Mediterranean meal with Sicilian flavors are available at the hotel’s Zefiro restaurant, where Chef Natale Giunta gives a modern take on traditional flavors. During the day, unwind by the pool while sipping on a classic cocktail or by having a quick snack at Lu Souli Bar and Restaurant. The concierge team is also on hand to make reservations and to show you the city’s hidden gems.

Superior Hotel – Hotel Villa Diodoro (4*)

With its one century-old history, is the “home” for people who enjoy the pleasures of life.

Here you can relax in secluded corners of the luxuriant garden or in cozy lounges where simple pleasures become unforgettable. Here you can enjoy the true Sicilian art of hospitality that two centuries ago induced a European aristocratic traveller to utter “it is impossible to do things with greater grandeur, better taste and, we even dare to say, with voluptuous refinement”.

September 12 – Monday

Etna Jeep Ride with lunch in local winery

After breakfast depart by 4×4 to discover the North Side of Mount Etna. We will have the opportunity to learn about the geology, the activity of the Volcano.

Have short hiking followed by a lunch in a local Winery to discover the Wines from the volcanic area.

September 13 – Tuesday

Independent transfer to Catania Airport. Private Airport Transfers are available upon request.