Grand Tour of Sicily - The 5 Senses 2026-27

Day-by-day itinerary

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1. 1Day 1Rome > Catania – the Riviera dei Ciclopi – Acireale (30 km)

   Departure for Catania on scheduled ITA Airways flights – lunch at leisure – in the afternoon, a guided visit of the Riviera dei Ciclopi, rich in mythological associations and literary landmarks such as the House of the Malavoglia, the family at the heart of Verga’s famous novel, together with the characterful village of Aci Castello – transfer by coach to Catania – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

2. 2Day 2Etna, “the volcano”, and Viagrande, “cookery class and wine tasting” (70 km)

   Breakfast at the hotel – transfer to the area of Viagrande, a traditional village on the slopes of Mount Etna, for an absorbing experience of land, food and wine at its very best at the renowned Benanti winery – guided tour of the Monte Serra estate: the ancient pre-phylloxera vineyard of Nerello Mascalese, a native grape variety, the old palmento and the picture collection – traditional cookery class: preparing a full menu of antipasto, first course, main course and side dish, drawn from the produce and traditions of Catania and the Etna slopes, according to the season – lunch at the winery with an antipasto of cured meats, cheeses and local specialities, the dishes prepared during the class, and traditional desserts – wine tasting with a selection of the estate’s wines – in the afternoon, a guided excursion on Mount Etna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site – we climb to 1,900 metres to discover the wonders and lunar landscapes of Europe’s highest volcano, walking among the Silvestri Craters, now small and extinct – free time – please note: guests who would rather not go up Mount Etna for health reasons may wait in Viagrande – return to the hotel in the evening – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

3. 3Day 3Taormina, “a town like no other”, and Savoca, “hidden paths” (120 km)

   Breakfast at the hotel – in the morning, a guided visit of Savoca, a captivating village which, besides its beautiful panoramic setting and its many churches, old houses and patrician palaces, has become famous for the wedding scene of Don Corleone’s son, filmed in the Church of Santa Lucia, and for Bar Vitelli, opened in the 1960s and renowned for its excellent lemon granita with passito wine and for the scenes from The Godfather shot here in 1971 by Francis Ford Coppola – onward to Taormina and a guided tour of the pearl of Sicily (the Greek Theatre, the old cathedral, the public gardens, the historic centre, Palazzo Corvaja, Corso Umberto with its craft shops and characterful cafés displaying baskets of frutta martorana, the celebrated marzipan fruits, and Piazza IX Aprile, with its breathtaking view) – free time for shopping – lunch in a traditional restaurant – further free time for shopping – return to the hotel in the evening – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

4. 4Day 4Catania – Caltanissetta, “the Castle of the Ladies” – Cefalù, “a UNESCO…

   World Heritage Site” – Palermo, 300 km. Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Caltanissetta – guided visit of this very ancient town at the centre of Sicily (a walk through part of the old quarters of the historic centre to admire its principal monuments within an urban fabric that grew out of the ancient Arab quarter – through the sumptuous patrician palaces that grace the town centre we discover the stories and legends of its inhabitants, the Moncada di Paternò family first among them; we speak of important figures of recent history, including the celebrated sculptor Michele Tripisciano, Leonardo Sciascia, who lived and taught in Caltanissetta, and the noble writer Pier Maria Rosso di San Secondo – Caltanissetta’s past is also bound up with the sulphur mines that made it prosper as Sicily’s mining capital until the early decades of the last century, before a decline that became unstoppable after the war and led to the final closure of the mines in the 1970s – a visit to the Mineralogical Museum and the sulphur mines) – lunch in a traditional restaurant – in the afternoon, a guided visit of Cefalù (a picturesque town on the Tyrrhenian coast, set amid lush greenery and watched over by a great rock, above which rises the beautiful twelfth-century Norman cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site – interior included – a splendid example of a highly distinctive architecture, with its towers, windows, arches and precious portal; and a historic centre with the remains of the thirteenth-century Osterio Magno and the medieval washhouse) – transfer to the hotel in or around Palermo – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

5. 5Day 5Palermo and Monreale (20 km)

   Breakfast at the hotel – a full day given over to a guided visit of the city – visits to its UNESCO World Heritage Sites: the Norman Palace with the Palatine Chapel – interior included – San Giovanni degli Eremiti – interior included – and the cathedral – interior included – followed by a panoramic tour with exterior visits of the Teatro Massimo, Piazza Pretoria and the Church of Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio, known as La Martorana – then the cathedral and cloister of Monreale – interior included – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – lunch in a trattoria with a traditional Sicilian menu – dinner at the hotel – after dinner, Palermo by night: a panoramic tour by private coach and a walking tour with the tour leader – overnight stay.

6. 6Day 6Palermo – Nubia, “the salt pans” – wine tasting – Marsala – Mazara del Vallo (150 km).

   Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Nubia, where salt pans and windmills compose a striking landscape in which the light plays with the reflections and colours produced by the strength of the sun and by the different stages of evaporation in the basins. Inside the distinctive Dutch-style windmill, home to the Salt Museum, the old tools of salt production are preserved – a visit to the prestigious Florio cellars and a tasting of the famous wine that takes its name from the town – a short visit of Marsala with a walk through the historic centre – tasting lunch accompanied by excellent local wine, featuring raw seafood with the celebrated Mazara red prawn and traditional Trapanese fish couscous, at CTA Pesca Marea Viva, one of the 50 finest places in the world to taste fresh shellfish and crustaceans – in the afternoon, a guided visit of Mazara del Vallo, a delightful and ancient town of western Sicily (its characterful canal harbour, home to Italy’s largest fishing fleet, and a historic centre where fascinating Arab-Norman buildings stand alongside a great many Renaissance and Baroque churches – the original plan of the old town is the Kasbah, its narrow winding lanes opening onto courtyards full of character – and in the Church of Sant’Egidio, the Museum of the Satyr, where the bronze Dancing Satyr, now famous the world over, can be admired) – accommodation at the hotel – free time – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

7. 7Day 7Mazara del Vallo – Selinunte – Santa Margherita di Belìce – Scala dei Turchi – Agrigento (150 km).

   Breakfast at the hotel – in the morning, a guided visit of Selinunte (the archaeological area) – traditional lunch at a farmhouse – transfer to Santa Margherita di Belìce to visit the Palazzo Filangeri di Cutò, the residence where Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa spent the happy summers of his youth and which later inspired several scenes in Il Gattopardo – departure for Agrigento – a stop along the way to photograph the Scala dei Turchi – in Agrigento, a guided visit of the Valley of the Temples, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the largest archaeological area in Italy (the Temple of Concordia, the Temple of Juno, the Temple of Jupiter, the Temple of Castor and Pollux, the Temple of Hercules) – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

8. 8Day 8Agrigento – Piazza Armerina – Caltagirone – Modica (200 km)

   Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Piazza Armerina – guided visit of the splendid Villa Romana del Casale, a UNESCO World Heritage Site – traditional lunch at a farmhouse – in the afternoon, a guided visit of Caltagirone, a town famous the world over for its ceramics – free time for shopping – arrival in Modica or Ragusa in the evening – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

9. 9Day 9Ragusa Ibla, “the other Sicily” – Modica, “a land without equal” Scicli (50 km).

   Breakfast at the hotel – in the morning, a guided visit of Ragusa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (the old historic centre, which keeps the urban plan of the late nineteenth century, the Basilica of San Giorgio, Piazza Pola, the public gardens, the Cathedral of San Giovanni, Palazzo Cosentini, Palazzo Bertini, the Ponte Vecchio) – traditional lunch in a restaurant – in the afternoon, a guided visit of Modica, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, birthplace of the poet Salvatore Quasimodo and famous for its chocolate (refined Baroque buildings, and the Church of San Giorgio with its bold tower façade) – return to the hotel in the evening – dinner at the celebrated restaurant I Banchi di Ciccio Sultano – after dinner, Scicli by night: a walking tour with the tour leader through this Baroque town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with the splendid Via Mormino Penna and the visionary Palazzo Beneventano – overnight stay.

10. 10Day 10Noto, “where the Baroque takes centre stage” – Marzamemi – Capo Passero (150 km)

    Breakfast at the hotel – full-day guided excursion – in the morning, a visit of the splendid Baroque town of Noto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the capital of European Baroque, with its magnificent cathedral, churches, monasteries and patrician palaces, the Porta Nazionale, the Town Hall and Palazzo Villadorata – traditional lunch in a restaurant – in the afternoon, a visit of the characterful seaside village of Marzamemi, an enchanting fishing hamlet of Arab origin – a visit of the tonnara, historically the most important tuna fishery in eastern Sicily (its core is formed by Piazza Regina Margherita and the owner’s house; on the square too stands the old church of the tonnara, built in sandstone, while the Arab courtyard and the fishermen’s cottages are still to be seen) – a visit to an artisan workshop where tuna bottarga, tuna in olive oil and salted anchovies are still made today by traditional methods – departure for Capo Passero, where the Mediterranean and the Ionian meet in a delightful and deeply evocative corner of Sicily – return to the hotel in the evening – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

11. 11Day 11Modica – Syracuse, “the Greek city” – Catania (140 km)

    Breakfast at the hotel – departure for Syracuse – in the morning, a guided visit of Syracuse, a UNESCO World Heritage Site (the archaeological area with the Greek Theatre, the Roman Amphitheatre and the Ear of Dionysius, and the cathedral) – traditional lunch in a restaurant – in the afternoon, a motorboat excursion around the island of Ortigia – tasting of a traditional dessert – arrival in Catania in the evening – dinner at the hotel – evening at leisure – the tour leader is at guests’ disposal – overnight stay.

12. 12Day 12Catania, “the learned city” > Rome (30 km)

    Breakfast at the hotel – in the morning, a guided visit of Catania (a splendid city of black-and-white Baroque architecture, with the cathedral, Piazza Duomo and its Elephant Fountain, Via dei Crociferi and Via Etnea, the long street that cuts through the city and, in principle, links Piazza Duomo with Mount Etna) – street-food lunch at leisure – free time for shopping – transfer to the airport – departure on scheduled ITA Airways flights to Rome. Please note: the planned visits may be rearranged between days according to museum opening times or operational requirements, but the itinerary remains unchanged.