Sicily

Regione Sicilia

Capital	Palermo
President	Salvatore Cuffaro (House of Freedoms)
Provinces	Agrigento Caltanissetta Catania Enna Messina Palermo Ragusa Syracuse Trapani
Municipalities	390
Area	25,703 km²
- Ranked	1st (8.5 %)
Population (2001)  - Total  - Ranked  - Density	4,968,991 4th (8.7 %) 193/km²
Map highlighting the location of Sicilia in Italy

Full size

The red line marks the route that will be taken through Sicily. It starts at the top-right, by Messina. Each number on the map corresponds to the night that will be spent there (1 is Friday 23rd, 4 is Monday 26th).

Travelling to Sicily

Yu don't have to book the short boat journey from Italy to Sicily, so we can wing it, basically. Trips to Messina depart from Villa San Giovanni every 20 minutes and it takes 40 minutes to get there. I'm hoping we leave the place near Naples quite early in the day to travel to Sicily. The journey on land will take quite a long time from there to Taormina.

Taormina

Background

Taormina is a town on the island of Sicily in Italy, and in ancient times was a Greek colony (Tauromenium), dating from about 400 BC, which submitted to Roman authority in 212 BC during the Second Punic War.

Taormina is in the Province of Messina, together with the beautiful Aeolian Islands and the ancient city of Milazzo. It can be reached via highways [autostradas] from Messina to the North and Catania to the South. Taormina has been a very popular destination with tourists since the 19th century. It has beautiful beaches (accessible via a Funicular) by the Ionian sea, which is remarkably warm and has a high salt content. Isola Bella is a stunning natural reserve that is just south of Taormina. Tours of the Capo Sant' Andrea grottos are also available. Taormina is built on an extremely hilly coast, and is approximately a forty-five minute drive away from Europe's largest active volcano, Mount Etna.

See this Wikipedia article for information on Taormina with a very well written site at that Taormina Friends Club. There is a simple map here with the map from that site below:

1 Messina Gate 2 Corvaja Palace 3 Palazzo dei Congressi - Center of Congress 4 Teatro Greco street 5 ??? 6 Ancient Theater 7 Odeon 8 Umberto promenade 9 Naumachies 10 Town library 11 Tower Clock

12 Ancient Abbey 13 Ciampoli Palace 14 Cathedral 15 Fountain 16 Catania Gate 17 Duke of St. Stephen's Palace 18 St. Domenico square 19 San Domenico Palace Hotel 20 Town garden 21 Madonna della Rocca 22 Castle

Stuff we'll do

Taormina does seem like a very nice place to visit (5 out of 5 on the cultural interest- and specialist shopping-ometers!) However, it's likely that our time there will be limited because we'll probably get there quite late and have to leave fairly early to get up to Etna.

Taormina is a steep 30 minute walk away from the station (follow the 'Centro' sign). The Greek Theatre (Via Teatro Greco, 6 on the map) is where we should visit as a top priority. It's open from 9am to 7pm and costs E4.50. If there's time, we should also visit the Odeon (7 on the map), originally used for music recitations. However, what people seem to recommend is simply to stroll down the "flower-decked streets and allys and [go] window shopping in the converted ground floors of the mansions along the Corso." Secondary attractions include hiking up to the Castello and visiting the beach at Mazzaro. There is a cable car service to the beach (E2.70 return) that runs every fifteen minutes from Via Pirandello.

Accommodation

As copied from Tom's book:

Finding a bed in summer is a time-consuming business; only a handful will be both available and affordable, so start looking early. The best prices are for rented rooms, for example close to the public gardens at the Leone, Via Bagnoli Croce 126 (Tel/Fax 0942.23.878; no credit cards; 2); or nearer the Greek theatre, at Via Iallia Bassa 20, Pensione Grazia (Tel/Fax 0942.24.776; no credit cards; 2), with incredible roof-terrace views; or else the tiny but cheap and central Diana at Via di Giovanni 6 (Tel 0942.23.790, [1]; 4), just up from the bus terminal and enjoying excellent views from its spacious rooms. A family-run place, the Pensione Villa Greta (Tel 0942.28.286; 3) is warmly recommended: fifteen minutes' walk out of town on the road up to Castelmola, it has superb balcony views, as well as a dining room with good home cooking. There's a small youth hostel, Ulisse (Tel 0942.23.193; E14.50), at Vico San Francesco di Paola, 200m west of the cathedral; book well ahead to secure a bed.

Map obtained
Example places to visit decided upon
Accommodation booked

Etna

Background

Mount Etna (or Aetna, also known locally as Mongibello) is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily (Italian Sicilia), close to Messina and Catania. It is the largest volcano in Europe, standing about 3,320 m (10,900 ft) high with a basal circumference of 140 km, making it the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 460 square miles (1190 km²). It is by far the largest of the four active volcanos in Italy, being nearly three times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. It is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of eruption. Although it can occasionally be very destructive, it is not generally regarded as being particularly dangerous.

See this Wikipedia article for information on Mount Etna.

Stuff we'll do

Er, go up Etna. We should get up early on Saturday and visit Taormina for a couple of hours, and then go up Etna for the majority of the day. If it's possible, we'll aim to travel down to Catania sometime late afternoon and catch a bus or train to Palermo to arrive there late evening.

Route up and down Etna decided

Palermo (1)

Background

Palermo (Palermo in Italian) (Palermu or Palemmu in Sicilian) (population 680,000) is the principal city and administrative seat of the autonomous region of Sicily, Italy as well as the capital of the Province of Palermo. It is a lively, vibrant city, encompassing some of Sicily's most beautiful and interesting historical monuments.

See this Wikipedia article for information on Palermo. There are a couple of Palermo maps here and here. Tom's Rough Guide to Italy has a map that we can use.

Stuff we'll do

We'll probably get to Palermo quite late, so probably won't do that much in the evening other than visiting a wine bar or two! The next day might, it might be good to visit the hillside village of Monreale, just a few kilometres west. Apparantly, there are extraordinary medieval mosaics in the cathedral (Duomo, 8am-6pm daily) and unsurpassed views down the Conca d'Oro Valley. Busses #309 and #389 run frequently from Piazza dell'Indipendenza and the journey up the valley takes 20 minutes. We should ask at the desk of the Duomo to climb the tower (9.30am-3pm daily, E1.50) in the southwest corner of the cathedral. For lunch, we could visit the Dietro L'Angolo at Via Piave 5 because it has spectacular views of the valley from its terrace and spaghetti dishes at around E7.

We could start our journey to Marsala quite early and save most of our exploring of Palermo for the last day of the holiday.

Accommodation

As copied from Tom's book:

Most of palrmo's bugdet hotel accommodation choices lie on and around the southern ends of Via Maqueda and Via Roma, roughly in the area between Stazione Cenrale and Corso Vittorio Emanuele. The drawback of the youth hostel Baia del Corallo on Via Plauto (Tel 091.336.595; E16) is that it's 12km northwest of the city; it's reachable by taking the metro to the Tommaso Natale stop and then bus #628 to the terminus. Alternatively, there's a university hostel, the Casa Marconi, much nearer the centre of town at Via Monfenera 140 (Tel 091.657.0611, [2]), which is cleaner and has private rooms (2); to get there, take bus #246 from the station to the end of the line at the hospital, cross on to Via G. Basile and turn left into Via Monfenera. If you're camping, take bus #616 from Piazza Vittorio Veneto (itself reached by #101 or #106 along Viale della Liberta from Piazza Castelnuovo) out to Sferracavallo, 13km northwest, where there are two year-round sites: The Prinacria on the seafront on Via Barcarello (Tel 091.530.590) and the cheaper Ulivi on Via Pegaso (Tel 091.533.021).

Alessandra, Via Divisi 99, Tel 091.617.3959. Small, modern, air con, corner of Via Maqueda

Elite, Via M. Sabile 146, Tel 091.329.318/091.588.614, [email protected]. Very central, clean, quiet.

Grand Hotel Villa Igiea, Via Belmonte 43, Tel 091.543.744, [3]. 3km north of the city, Art Nouveau, often full.

Letizia, Via dei Bottai 30, Tel 091.589.110, [4]. Each room has own colour scheme and furnishing.

Paradiso, Via Schiavuzzo 65, Tel 091.617.2825. Good, central, one of the cheapest in town. No credit cards.

Posta, Via Gagini 77, Tel 091.587.338. Central, quiet, stylish.

Sausele, Via V. Errante 12, Tel 091.616.1308, [5]. Well kept, secure, good value though can be noisy at night. Take the first right off Via Oreto, behind the station.

Sicilia, Via Divisi 99, Tel 091.616.8460, [6]. Good-value rooms with air-con. Rooms around the small downstairs courtyard are quieter.

Tonic, Via Mariano Stabile, Tel 091.581.754, [7]. Smart, spacious. Caters mainly for the business fraternity.

Vecchio Borgo, Via Quintino Sella 1-7, Tel 091.611.1446, [8]. Well run, four-start, quiet street, luxurious, excellent breakfast buffet.

Map obtained
Accommodation booked
Example places to visit decided upon

Marsala

Background

Marsala is a seaport city located in the province of Trapani on the island of Sicily in Italy, of 77,784 inhabitants (2001). The low coast on which it is situated is the westernmost point of the island. It is best known as the source of Marsala wine.

Little remains of the ancient Lilybaeum (fragments of the city walls, of squared stones, and some foundations of buildings between the walls and the sea) are visible; and the so-called grotto and spring of the Sibyl may be mentioned. To the east of the town is a great fosse which defended it on the land side, and beyond this again are quarries like those of Syracuse on a small scale. The modern town takes the shape of the Roman camp within the earlier city, one of the gates of which still existed in 1887. The main street (the Cassaro) perpetuates the name castrum.

See this Wikipedia article for information on Marsala.

Stuff we'll do

The town itself is extremely attractive, a clean sixteenth-century layout that's free of traffic and littered with high, ageing buildings and arcaded courtyards. Tom's book recommends to visit two "excellent" museums. The first museum is the Museo Marsala (Mon, Tues, Thurs, 9am-1.40pm, Wed,Fri,Say,Sun, 4pm-7pm, E2). It's an archeological museum of quality and its major exhibit is a reconstructed Punic warship sunk during the First Punic War. The second museum, and the most central, behind the cathedral at Via Garraffa 57, is the Museo degli Arazzi (Tues-Sun 9am-1pm and 4pm-6pm, E1.50), whose sole display is a series of eight enormous hand-stitched wool and silk tapestries... actually, that sounds quite dull - I think we'll be museumed out by this time. I'll find out where the vineyards are shortly :-)

Our journey back to Palermo could include a couple of stops off at some interesting villages and towns on the way, including:

Erice, a mountain town with creeping hillside alleys, stone buildings, silent charm and powerful associations.

Segesta, whose temple is a Greek construction of 424 BC. It's one of the most inspiring of Doric temples anywhere.

San Vito lo Cago. Could visit the cous cous festival if we have time, but this is quite a bit north.

We're not booking accommodation for Marsala in advance (probably).

Look into accommodation availability
Map obtained
Example places to visit decided upon

Palermo (2)

Stuff we'll do

This is the last night before flying home. We're going to leave Sicily in style by larging it up in Palermo's great nightlife.

Look into accommodation availability
Example places to visit decided upon

Flying home

Palermo International Airport is located 32 km (19 miles) west of Palermo. Buses departs roughly every 30 minutes from the central railway station (via Piazza Ruggero Settimo) to the airport, and can sometimes during rush hour take more than an hour. Our flight is at 21:10 so should think about leaving around 6pm-7pm.