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 Explore Sicily:

Layers of Art Food & Culture

22 April  - 2 May 2025
 

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Experience the culture through art and food from bases in Palermo, Modica and Linguaglossa on Mt. Etna. We’ll visit food producers, major monuments and out of the way ancient sites. We’ll relax over amazing meals while getting a feel for the varied culture of one of the richest regions of Italy.

In the capital city of Palermo layers of time are palpable: shop in the riotous food markets choosing ingredients for cooking classes, see Byzantine mosaics, Renaissance paintings and ancient sculpture. Enjoy the heartwrenchingly beautiful landscapes and seascapes of western Sicily while out exploring evocative ancient Greek ruins.

From Modica visit the Baroque villages of the Southeast, spend an afternoon in Siracusa, learn why Aztec style chocolate is made in Modica, taste through the range of ancestral sesame sweets, visit a cheesemaker and learn about the traditional Sicilian lifestyle. 

From a base on  Mt. Etna make visits to sparkly Taormina, Messina and cross the Fretum Siculum / Strait of Messina over to Reggio di Calabria (just to see the Riace Bronzes!). Explore the topography and cultivations of Mt. Etna, a very active volcano where, according to the ancient Greeks, a tear shed by Dionysius nourished the first ever grape vine.

Expect exclusive visits and guided tastings, a wide variety of foods and free time to explore.   

 

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 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 4 olive oil, wine, Segesta

Olive oil lesson and lunch in the agro di Poggioreale, learn how high quality olive oil is made, how to recognize it and how to use it in the kitchen. In the Alcamo production zone visit with a natural wine maker with a wine tasting in his vineyards, a stunning spot on Monte Bonifacio looking out on the Mediterranean. Explore Segesta, an ancient Elimian settlement on the Greek/Carthaginian border with a spectacular temple and theater with sea view. Cocktails on the coast and evening free in Palermo.

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day 5 to Modica via Piazza Armerina

Transfer to Modica with a stop in central Sicily for a visit with an archaeologist who is an expert on the area’s ancient remains: the most magnificent and extensive ancient Roman mosaic cycle ever discovered at the Villa Romana at Casale and the artifacts now housed at the museum at Aidone including spectacular objects recently recovered from US museums. 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

Guided tour of Modica with a modicano, 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 plus a stop to see Caravaggio's Burial of St. Lucy. Supper on your own in Modica. 

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day 8 Taormina & Bronte on Mt. Etna

Transfers to Linguaglossa on Mt. Etna via Taormina. Free time in sparkly Taormina: enjoy the glitz, the shopping and the spectacular view from the Greek theater. Onto the northern flank of Mt. Etna for an introduction to two of the more important and historical of the volcano's cultivations: from the seemingly hostile soils at Bronte farmers grow peppery pistachios and grapes that create ethereal, elegant wines. 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 lunch on typical tavola calda / Sicily's typical savory snacks and Messina’s justly famous granita / slush. Take the ferry across the Fretum Siculum / Strait of Messina and head down to Reggio Calabria to see the spectacular Bronzes of Riace: 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 Mt. Etna

Mountain guides in jeeps take us up into the high altitudes to explore the landscape of Mt. Etna, Europe’s tallest active volcano. Traversing lava flows from different epochs are testimony to different stages of the earth’s regeneration and each sciara / lava flow gives varied nuances to the wines. Winemaker visit with tasting lunch in the vineyards. Late afternoon 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.

In Palermo we’ll stay at a private palazzo with self-catering apartments, you will find breakfast supplies in your apartment, there are coffee bars on our block as well as one of the best pastry shops in the city just a few minutes walk from the palazzo. In Modica we're staying at a carefully restored design hotel where all rooms open onto a lush Mediterranean garden overlooking the city. In Linguaglossa we have chosen a chic, boutique hotel in the center of the village with in-house spa and Michelin starred restaurant.

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

Your activity level should allow you to walk for 2 - 4 miles per day including up and down steps, 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 details like cost, cancellation policy, etc. 

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