Tastes of Sicily
Palermo 8 days/ 7 nights
1st day
Arrival in Palermo. Accommodation to the hotel.
After dinner, you’ll taste the traditional ice-cream in a renowned cake shop.
Overnight stay.
2nd day
Breakfast at the hotel.
Visit of Monreale with its enchanting Cathedral and the Benedictine Cloister. Proceed to Palermo, visiting the cathedral and the church of the Martorana.
Lunch at the renowned “focacceria San Francesco”, where you’ll have authentic Sicilian dishes, and transfer to Piana degli Albanesi, an opportunity to taste the traditional “cannoli”. Strolling through the streets of Piana, you’ll admire the perfect fusion between two cultures and styles, the Byzantine style and the Italian Baroque architecture. Return to the hotel. Overnight stay.
3rd day
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure to Erice, a medieval hilltop town, where you’ll taste the traditional “genovese”, a local sweet pastry. Transfer to Marsala and visit to Florio Winery, which merged with Duca di Salaparuta and Corvo wineries. The winery houses the weapons that Garibaldi put in Florio’s keeping, when he arrived in Marsala.
You’ll taste the Donna Franca Marsala superior, that was awarded in 2010 by the Italian Sommelier Association; this elegant dessert wine has brilliant topaz colour with intense amber flashes. Full, warm, soft velvety flavour with an elegant vanilla base with a caramel finish and bitter almonds. Lunch in a restaurant.
Transfer to Agrigento, where you’ll admire the floodlit “Valley of Temples”. The archeological site was included in UNESCO’s World Heritage List in 1998. Accommodation, dinner and overnight.
4th day
Breakfast at the hotel.
Guided tour of the Valley of Temples. Proceed to Vittoria and visit to the Cos Winery, where you’ll enjoy a specially prepared traditional menu paired with excellent local wines, such as the DOCG Cerasuolo . In the late afternoon transfer to the hotel in Ragusa or Modica. Dinner and overnight stay.
5th day
Breakfast at the hotel.
Visit of Modica, famous for both its stunning baroque architecture and its chocolate production. Here you’ll have a delicious chocolate tasting. It is prepared according to a traditional recipe dating back to the Aztec ancient civilization and handed down to us by the Spaniards. Upon entering a traditional “dolceria modicana”, you’ll smell delicious flavours coming from the genuine ingredients used in the chocolate-making, such as bitter cocoa paste, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and cocoa butter.
Lunch in a restaurant. In the afternoon, we travel toward Pachino, famous for the tomato called “Ciliegino” , and Marzamemi, where you’ll find typical tuna products, such as the Bottarga (tuna eggs).
Dinner at the hotel and overnight stay.
6th day
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure to the volcano Etna and visit to the most famous inactive craters, called Silvester from the name of professor Orazio Silvestri. Lunch in a restaurant set in a old station, where you’ll taste dishes prepared with typical products, such as the pistachio of Bronte. In the afternoon, visit of the charming medieval town of Taormina.
Dinner at the hotel and overnight stay.
7th day
Breakfast at the hotel.
Departure to Messina and tasting of the “granita” a semi-frozen dessert made from sugar, water and various flavourings (lemon juice, mandarin oranges, jasmine, coffee, almonds, mint) often served with brioche. At 12 o’clock we reach the tower bell of the cathedral to admire a performance of the animated statues representing facts of the civil and religious history of Messina, with the music of the Shubert’s Holy Mary. The performance ends with the roar of the lion, symbol of the town. Lunch in a restaurant. Travel towards Castelbuono, a charming town on the slopes of mount Milocca, surrounded by ash trees producing the Manna. It is obtained by making incisions with a knife in the trunks of some varieties of ash (Fraxinus ornus and F. angustifolia), from which the descending elaborated sap flows.
We’ll visit the Fiasconaro company, the ambassador of Sicilian sweets in the world.
Transfer to the hotel in Palermo. Dinner and overnight stay.
8th day
Breakfast at the hotel.
End of our services.
THE PRICE INCLUDES
– Bus GT, including transfers and parking fees during visits (Taormina, Monreale, APT Palermo)
– Accommodation in hotel 3/4* in double room with private facilities
– Full Board basis (from dinner on first day till breakfast on last day).
– Local guides for half-day visits of Palermo and Agrigento.
– Our English speaking tour escort for the whole trip
– Our assistance; IVA and taxes
THE PRICE DOESN’T INCLUDE
– Entrance fees at Churches, monuments and archaeological sites
– Extras
– Extra Local guides
– everything not mentioned under ‘the price includes’