Grand Tour of Sicily, from Palermo to Taormina

The beginning of your eight days wine tour in Sicily, will start at Palermo airport.
Transfer to the hotel.
Ready to discover Palermo with a guided tour of the city. Welcome dinner with presentation of the trip and introduction to Sicilian wines.

We will leave the hotel after breakfast to the Marsala region. The route between Trapani and Marsala is the famous salt rout, or via del sale, where the salt work of Phoenician times are found and from which salt is extracted by hand until today. There you can see several windmills that are used to draw water from the sea and produce salt and mountains or salt tumuli covered in terracotta tiles to prevent them from dissolving when it rains.
In our way to the first winery, we will stop in one of the most famous Salt Pans of Sicily. We will have a private guided tour of our salt pans of the nature reserve of Trapani and Paceco, which is much more than a common excursion… In these places you can taste history and contact with an incredible environment, where nature and man live in perfect symbiosis. The mills once used to raise the water through the use of the wind, together with the colourful salt pans, located in the south of the city of Trapani, represent a unique landscape throughout the Mediterranean basin. During the visit we will explain the history of our places. The structure of the traditional salt works, the phases of the production cycle and, during the extraction periods, the hand harvest of the precious whole sea salt will be illustrated. Specialised personnel, directly the operators of the salt pans, are here to answer all your questions and curiosities.
Finished our visit to the Salt Pans, we will make our move to the first winery of our seven days grand tour.
Marsala Wine Route, in the western part of the island, one of the most important wine area of Sicily, where the famous Marsala sweet wine is produced. In Marsala, we will visit two wineries, with a private tour of the cellars and with lunch in one of them.
The first winery is with more than a century in the wine business. The winery has many wines made with native varieties such as Inzolia, Catarratto, Zibbibo and Nero d’Avola and also international varieties. Here we will have a private tour of the winery and the whole wine making process will be
explained, taste different wines with a typical lunch.
Second winery, is the oldest winery in Marsala, in production since 1833. Warm weather, mineral soils and sea breezes have contributed to the production of Marsala for 200 years, having the opportunity to taste more of the unbelievable wines of Marsala area. Night in Marsala and dinner in our hotel wine resort.

After breakfast at the hotel our seven days grand tour, continues in the direction of Sambuca di Sicilia.
Sambuca di Sicilia is an Italian wine DOC on the island of Sicily, covering red, rose and white (rosso, rosato and bianco) wines from a small area 10 miles (16km) inland from Sciacca, on the south coast of the island. The DOC was introduced in September 1995 and is named after the commune of that name, not to be confused with the anise-flavored liqueur, almost equidistant from Palermo to the north and Agrigento town to the south-east, Sambuca di Sicilia lies in a shallow, roughly parabolic depression among the western hills of the Agrigento province. In this area we will visit a beautiful winery, founded in 1995 on the shores of Lake Arancio and surrounded by vineyards and olive trees.
This was the first family winery that now has several in Sicily. In our visit to the winery, the whole wine making process will be explained, tasting different wines with a light meal. Once we finish our lunch, we will continue to Agrigento, to visit the valley of the temples of Agrigento, where we will meet our local guide.
Agrigento is a city on the southern coast of Sicily. It is renowned as the site of the ancient Greek city of Akragas also known asAgrigentum, one of the leading cities of Magna Grecia during the golden age of Ancient Greece.
Now excavated and partially restored, they constitute some of the largest and best-preserved ancient Greek buildings outside of Greece itself. World Heritage because the Doric temples, among which stands out the tempo of the Concord with its facade of 6 columns and one of the best preserved of antiquity. Night in Agrigento and dinner in our 4/5 starts hotel.

Departure to the wine region of Cerasuolo di Vittoria, one of the new small regions of Sicily that is rapidly gaining international recognition for the quality of its wines. Cerasuolo di Vittoria is the only Italian DOCG wine from Sicily.
The DOCG rules govern a dry secco red wine, made from a blend of two Sicilian grape varieties, Nero d’Avola (locally known as Calabrese) and with Frappato as the remainder.
The rules also include regulation of cropping rates and a minimum alcohol level of 13%. Cerasuolo means “cherry red” and refers to the colour of the resulting blend of these grapes. Some makers of the wine, including one of the most prominent, mature the wine in terracotta amphorae rather than oak barrels in order to eliminate the influence of wood on the flavour of the wine. The wine combines the floral character of Frappato with the body and tannins from Nero d’Avola.
We will visit one the most interesting winery in Sicily, where biodynamics is used in the production of the wines, and they work with amphora and jars like the ancient Greeks.
The whole wine making process will be explained, taste different wines with a delicious lunch. After lunch, we will continue our tour to our 4/5 start hotel in Ragusa. After the check-in and a moment of relax, we will departure to Modica, where we will have tour and chocolate tasting at Antica Dolceria Bonajuto.
Antica Dolceria Bonajuto it has been producing and passing down sweets, nougats and traditional chocolate of Modica and Sicily – mostly of Arab or Spanish origin-for six generations and more than 150 years. In 2008, it was included in the list of the 100 Italian excellences by Eurispes. Departure to our hotel in Ragusa, where we will meet our local guide for a guided tour of Ragusa.
Dinner in a typical Trattoria Siciliana and back to the hotel.

After Breakfast, we will start to move direction to Siracusa. In our way to Siracusa, we will stop in a winery located on the wine region of Siracusa/Noto.
Siracusa is a DOC title used for various wine styles from vineyards around the ancient port city of Siracusa (Syracuse), in the south-eastern corner of Sicily.
The modern-day Siracusa wine portfolio comprises a straight red rosso and a white bianco, varietals made from Nero d’Avola and Syrah, and the of course the traditional Muscat-based Moscato wines, in both still and sparkling spumante forms. Syracuse has long been an important city in the Mediterranean.
Almost immediately after its founding by the Greeks more than 2500 years ago, it became a pivotal city due to its accessibility from Italy, Greece and northern Africa.
It is no surprise, then, that the area’s high quality Muscat soon became famous throughout the Mediterranean, from the Levant to southern Spain.
Once the winery visit is finish, we will be transfer to Noto, a great Sicilian Baroque city, where we will meet our local guide for a guided tour or the City.
Noto is a city southwest of the city of Syracuse at the foot of the Eilean Mountains. According to legend, Daedalus stayed in the city after his flight over the Ionian Sea, as did Hercules after his seventh task, from 1503 the city expanded, growing beyond its mediaeval limits, and new buildings, churches and convents were built.
These, however, were all totally destroyed by the 1693 Sicilian earthquake.
Many of the newer structures are built of a soft tufa stone, which assume a honey tonality under sunlight
Noto was freed from the fascist dictatorship of Benito Mussolini in July 1943.
The Notinesi people voted in favour of the monarchy in the referendum of 1946. In 2002 Noto and its church were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Lunch in a typical Trattoria Notense.
Transfer to Siracusa, where we will meet our local guide for a visit to the market and Ortigia, the oldest part of Syracuse with the cathedral where once stood the Temple of Minerva and the Giudecca, the Jewish quarter until 1492.
Syracuse is a city famous for its Greek history and for being where it was born Archimedes. The city of 2700 years old has been one of the most important and powerful of the Mediterranean.
As described by Cicero, the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful; now it is a World Heritage Site. The island of Ortigia is the historical part of the city, with its baroque palaces, narrow streets and many restaurants and trattorias. Finish the visit to Syracuse, we made our way to the Wine Resort Hotel in Etna.
Relax and dinner at the hotel.

Departure from our hotel with off-road vehicles (among others the popular Land Rover 110) and head in direction Mount Etna, the highest Volcano in Europe.
During our adventurous, partially off-road, drive up to the volcano, we will cross old lava fields as well as hundred-years old forests. We will make several stops to visit some of the most beautiful sites on Mount Etna by foot, accompanied by our English-speaking guide at all time.
Etna was founded National Park in 1987 and World UNESCO Heritage in 2013. Lunch in a typical trattoria near the valle of Etna. After lunch, we will make our way to the city of Catania, where the local guide will be waiting for us for a guided tour of the beautiful city of Catania.
Catania is the second largest city of Sicily after Palermo located on the east coast facing the Ionian Sea.
Catania was destroyed by catastrophic earthquakes in 1169 and 1693, and by several volcanic eruptions from the neighbouring Mount Etna, the most violent of which was in 1669.
It was founded in the 8th century BC by Chalcidians.
In 1434, the first university in Sicily was founded in the city. In the 14th century and into the Renaissance period, Catania was one of Italy’s most important cultural, artistic and political centres. Once the Tour will be finish, we will return to our hotel for a moment of relax.
Dinner at the hotel.

After breakfast, we will departure to the last two wineries of our seven days tour. The first winery is considered one of the pioneers in the production of quality wines in Sicily.
The vineyards grow on lava soil, 700 mts above sea level.
The vines and the volcano’s breath are intertwined and become expression of a unique and fascinating land. Visit to the vineyards where they produce Nerello Mascalese and Nerello Capuccio, engrafted vines from 20 to 100 years old.
In the vineyard nearly all operations are carried out by hand by a team of 25 women. Here we will have a private tour of the winery and the whole wine making process will be explained, taste different unbelievable wines with typical products. We continue our tour visiting the second winery of the Etna wine region, located in the northern area of Etna.
The winery sits at about a thousand meters of altitude above the small wine town of Passopisciaro in the district of Castiglione di Sicilia, on the northern slope of the volcano. Passopisciaro is focuses on the native grape Nerello Mascalese and its various expressions of terroir and altitudes through a series of crus, as well as the varieties Chardonnay, Petit Verdot, and Cesanese d’Affile. You will have a private tour of the cellars and you will receive a full explanation of the wines and the history, plus other specialities that are produced at the wine estate. Taste the best wines produce on the winery. Then we will make our way to Taormina, where we will meet our guide for a guided tour of Taormina and the archaeological site of Neopolis.
Taormina was inhabited even before the Greeks arrived at the Sicilian coast in 734 BC The present town of Taormina occupies the ancient site, on a hill. The site of the old town is about 250 metres (820 ft) above the sea Numerous fragments of ancient buildings are scattered over its whole surface, including extensive reservoirs of water, sepulchres, tessellated pavements, etc.
The Ancient theatre of Taormina is built for the most part of brick, and is therefore probably of Roman date, though the plan and arrangement are in accordance with those of Greek, rather than Roman, this theatre is the second largest of its kind in Sicily (after that of Syracuse).
Dinner at the typical Trattoria with the sea in front of you.
Back to the Hotel.

Transfer to the airport.