Secret Sicily

Fly from London to Catania and transfer from the airport to the 4-star Hotel Principe for an overnight stay (*For 10 September 2024, the walking tour of Catania will take place on arrival before heading to Castelmola for your overnight stay at the Villa Sonia). The hotel is centrally positioned, with a good selection of restaurants nearby. An afternoon walking tour in the city takes in the Baroque façades of the Via Crociferi, and iconic monuments including the Elephant, Amphitheatre, and majestic Cathedral of St. Agatha.

Travel north to Milazzo and sail to the Aeolian Islands, disembarking at Vulcano island to check-in at your hotel, then taking an afternoon ferry to Lipari, the largest town in the archipelago, to visit the clifftop Citadel and enjoy time at leisure in the picturesque town and its harbourside cafés. Return by ferry to Vulcano for two nights at the 4-star Hotel Les Sables Noir (8 Oct 2024 - Hotel Therasia Resort) with superb views of the sea and volcanic archipelago.
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A free day to relax at the hotel, enjoy the island, or join an optional cruise (weather permitting), sailing late morning to visit Panarea, dropping anchor enroute for a swim in an island bay, and passing tiny Ginostra Island as you sail to Stromboli. Free time here to enjoy the town until your sunset sail, with views of the island’s active volcano and the lava-flow reef of Strombolicchio, returning late evening to Vulcano (pre-bookable).
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In the morning we will take the ferry to Milazzo. From here we will continue in direction Messina. Our first stop will be in Savoca, a little town in the province of Messina. This town was the set of the famous Francis Ford Coppola film: The Godfather. Here you can visit the ‘Café Vitelli’, where Michael Corleone met his beloved Apollonia for the first time. Continue to Acireale for a visit at Palazzo Fiorini. After we will reach to Ragusa area for dinner and two nights at the 4-star Hotel Mediterraneo Palace located in the historic centre of Ragusa.
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After breakfast a private tour of Ragusa Ibla includes the gardens of Palazzo Arezzo Bertini, the imposing San Giorgio Cathedral (one of the famous cathedrals of the baroque architect Rosario Gagliardi) and the Circolo di Conversazione meeting place for Ibla’s aristocrats. After free time for lunch in the old town (perhaps finding Trattoria La Rusticana, the real name of Montalbano’s lunch spot, ‘Trattoria San Calogero’), we visit Donnafugata Castle, which translates to 'the fugitive woman' or 'the woman who fled', a place of many legends and the fictional, film-set home of Montalbano’s nemesis mafia boss Balduccio Sinagra. Enjoy free time for dinner in Ragusa before returning to the hotel.
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Today you will visit the homeland of Inspector Montalbano. The setting of Montalbano are those of southern Sicily with its white villages, the Arab neighbourhoods, baroque churches, historic buildings and beautiful villas. And the Sicily of open spaces, the wildlife, the wind and the long sandy beaches. Our day with Montalbano starts in Ispica with a visit of the city and the necropolis on the Ispica Caves. Afterwards we reach Scicli, a baroque town in the hills where we find the police headquarters of Montelusa. Visit of the Municipio in Scicli. In the afternoon, we reach the home of Montalbano at Marinella, on the beach of Punta Secca, a village of Santa Croce Camerina. Continue to Noto area for dinner and a two-night stay at the charming 18^th century country house, Villa Favorita.
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Today our journey takes us to the Roman period visiting the Villa Romana del Tellaro, where fabulous Roman floor mosaics, of Homeric and hunting scenes, were found beneath a 17th-century farmhouse. After a light lunch with wine in nearby Villa Giulia, return to UNESCO-listed Noto, its exuberantly ornate churches and palaces earning it the epithet “the stone garden”. A walking tour takes us through the Corso Vittorio Emanuele to the cathedral and includes a visit to the Baroque Palazzo Nicolaci. Free time for dinner in town.
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Travel to Catania airport for your return flight to London.
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