itinerary   

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day 1 arrival 

Arrive on your own schedule to Palazzo Planeta in the center of Palermo. First group meeting in the late afternoon at Palazzo Planeta for an orientation cocktail. Walk to group welcome supper at our favorite fish restaurant.  

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day 2 Palermo

Walking tour of Palermo with a palermitana for historical background of the ancient Phoenician center with a pit stop at the Arab-Norman church called la Martorana, with the earliest and most spectacular of the byzantine mosaics on the island, and lunch in the Ballarò market. For the afternoon choose from optional guided visits, go out exploring on your own or rest up for the week ahead. Evening free in Palermo.

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day 3  Segesta, wine, olive oil 

Explore Segesta, an ancient Elimian settlement on the Greek/Carthaginian border with a spectacular temple and theater with sea view. In the Alcamo production zone visit with a natural wine maker with a wine tasting pic-nic in his vineyards, a stunning spot on Monte Bonifacio looking out on the Mediterranean. Meet and taste with an olive oil producer in ancient groves on the west coast. Take the afternoon and evening to explore the charming, breezy seaside town Trapani filled with shops, wine bars, restaurants and what may be the best cannoli and granita on the whole island. On your own for supper in Trapani.

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day 4  Selinunte, cooking experience

Down to the south coast for a cooking class with lunch, learn to make Sicilian classics like caponata, timballo and cannoli. Afternoon visit to the evocative archaeological site of ancient Selinus: bastion on the western edge of Greek ruled Sicily with the remains of temples and civic areas on a bluff above the Mediterranean Sea. Evening free in Palermo.​

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day 5  to Modica via Aidone

Transfer to Modica with a stop in central Sicily for a visit with an archaeologist who is an expert on the area’s ancient roots: visit the extensive remains of the ancient city of Morgantina and see the artifacts recovered from the city which are now housed at the museum at Aidone. The museum has become known as the the museum of legality as it displays stolen antiquities that have been recovered from museums worldwide thanks to decades long diplomatic efforts and legal battles against the archeomafia. Check-in at our lovely hotel in Modica, an ancient rupestrian settlement that is now a lively cultural center in the Iblean mountains, and supper on your own.

                        

day 6  Modica, sesame seeds, Noto

Visit Modica where structures of the original city were built onto caves on the steep sides of a gulley (seen clearly in our hotel), much of the historical center was rebuilt in the exuberant Sicilian baroque after a massive earthquake in 1693 and the city preserves vestiges from its stint as county seat during centuries of Spanish dominion. See medieval frescoes in a rupestrian church, learn about and taste Aztec chocolate and traditional pastries and enjoy some time to explore on your own. Pastry lab and lunch with a young pastry chef and his mamma who have spearheaded the movement to save the near extinct local sesamo d'Ispica. Afternoon in Noto with ever more baroque architecture, traditional pastries, shops and cafès. Supper on your own in Modica. 

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day 7  Palazzolo Acreide & Siracusa 

Day trip high up on the Iblean plateau to a family farm that produces cheese in their dairy and continues the sausage tradition of Palazzolo Acreide: have a taste of zabbina / ricotta straight from the cauldron, learn to make scacce and ravioli that are served as part of a decadent lunch. Afternoon on Ortigia, the charming peninsula where the ancient Greek's founded the mighty city of Siracusa with archaeological sites, the spectacular basilica of Santa Lucia, cafès, shops and enoteche for a seaside aperitivo. Supper on your own in Modica. 

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day 8  Mt. Etna

Transfers to Linguaglossa on the northern flank of Mt. Etna. Take jeeps high up onto the slopes with a vulcanologist for an introduction to the volcano. Traversing lava flows from different epochs are testimony to the stages of the earth’s regeneration and each sciara / lava flow gives varied nuances to the foods cultivated in the volcanic soils. Meet and taste with a winemaker who grows traditional Etnean grapes on a prehistoric sciara that's been passed down the female line of her family for generations. Check into our boutique hotel in Linguaglossa and evening on your own.

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day 9 Messina & Reggio​ Calabria 

Travel up the coast to see Caravaggio in Messina and take the ferry across the Fretum Siculum / Strait of Messina for a casual seaside lunch in Scilla (mythical counterpart to Charybdis): fresh fish and gorgeous views (kind of like the Amalfi Coast but without all the people) . Just down the coast at Reggio Calabria see the spectacular Riace Bronzes: two greater than life size Greek bronzes that were prized in antiquity, lost in an ancient shipwreck and found 1,500 years later on the floor of the Ionian sea just off the coast of Calabria. Evening on your own in Linguaglossa.

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day 10  pistachios, wine, Randazzo

On the northern flank of the volcano meet a pistachio farmer and walk through (that would be up) the plantations founded by his grandfather. Carefully-tended trees produce exceptional fruit by weaving their roots through hostile volcanic stone. His wife makes super traditional wines from grapes that she grows in small, romantic mountain vineyards. Meet the producers, taste in the fields, visit the cellar and have a lunch at their home. Have a granita in Randazzo with some time to explore on your own. Final group supper in Linguaglossa.  

  

day 11 departure

Transfers to Catania Fontanarossa CTA airport. 

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Please note that this is an initial itinerary to provide a template of what to expect.

The people and places that we will be visiting are not typical tourist destinations

so plans may be modified at the last minute. We will craft the final itinerary

to provide the experience as described above.

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details

Planned in collaboration with Celia Cerasoli, this is an exclusive Sicily visit for  just 10-12  travelers.

All accommodations are in historic buildings: in Palermo we’ll stay a private palazzo with self-catering apartments; in Modica we're staying at a carefully restored design hotel where all rooms open onto a lush Mediterranean garden overlooking the city (lots of steps, no elevator). In Linguaglossa we stay in a chic, boutique hotel in the center of the village with in-house spa and Michelin starred restaurant (3 floors, no elevator).

We will have private vans and drivers for all ground transportation.

Your activity level should allow you to walk for 3 - 5 miles per day including up and down steps often without handrails, on uneven cobblestone streets and on terrain with loose stones and incline in locations such as archaeological sites, volcanoes, vineyards and olive groves planted on hills and terraces. 

Request the guest registration document for all information including cost, payment terms, cancellation policy, etc.