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

Apparantly, you don't have to book the short boat journey from Italy to Sicily, so we can wing it, basically. I'm hoping we leave the place near Naples quite early in the day to travel to Sicily. The journey 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.

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. We should definitely try and visit the Greek Theatre (Via Teatro Greco) if we have time.

Accommodation booked
Map obtained
Example places to visit decided upon

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

Undecided. It might be nice to visit Monreale - a small village just a few miles away from Palermo.

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

Undecided. Visit the main vineyards probably. Could always visit the cous cous festival in San Vito lo Cago if we have time. 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.