Sicily Travel

 We woke early to catch a flight from Catania to Istanbul, and then on to Washington Dulles. To get to the airport, we ended up driving through parts of Catania, which seemed like a nice town, at least at 6am!   The airport near Catania is pretty easy to find, and we returned our rental car (not quite so easy) and prepared to fly home. The only reason for this post is to share a few photos I took of Catania and Etna as we were waiting to depart, and one from the air as we took off.  I hope you've enjoyed my write up as much as we enjoyed our trip! Catania and Etna from the airport Catania and surrounding area from the sky

We got up early and had breakfast on our last full day in Sicily, ready for what was going to be an interesting adventure - hiking and touring on Etna.  Due to strong winds and the possibility of snow, we did not have the chance to ride the lift to higher elevations on Etna, but we did go up on a tour to Rifugio Sapienza with a guide from Etna Experience .  Our guide, Giovanni, did a great job describing the terrain we drove through, the lava fields, and once we were on Etna, some of the science behind the volcano and the many craters we saw. Etna We drove up from the Nicolosi side of Etna, where Etna Experience has a "base camp".  I decided to use their hiking boots and a heavy jacket that they provided, even though it was reasonably warm and sunny at 700 meters.  When we got to Rifugio Sapienza, closer to 2000 meters of elevation, I was glad I had both. Giovanni led us up the volcano to a series of craters and described the development of the volcano, some of the h...

 We arrived at our hotel - the Primavera dell'Etna - the evening before.  We chose this hotel because it was on the road to Rifugio Sapienza (top of Etna) and close to downtown Zafferana.  It is a large hotel, well positioned and with incredible views out over the coastline.  A bit more of a traditional tourist hotel, large enough to accommodate large groups but fortunately we were one of the few rooms occupied. Milo From Zafferana we drove to Milo, another small town just up the mountain from Zafferana with a nice view of Etna.  We walked through Milo and found that, like a number of other small mountain towns we'd eventually explore, we wished we had more time to spend there. Vineyards in Milo Etna View from Milo Winery From Milo we drove to a planned winery tour at a winery called Barone Beneventano .  This is an old vineyard, easily over two hundred years old, recently acquired by PierLuca Beneventano.  He offered to host our tour. Barone Benevent...

We left San Leone and drove northeast through some very pretty country, mostly agricultural, until we reached an old Roman villa that is famous for its mosaics.  Just outside of Piazza Amerina is a massive complex, originally the home of a wealthy Roman from approximately 300 ACE, probably positioned as a mid-point on trading routes from western Sicily to eastern Sicily and likely part of a trade route of wild animals from Africa to Rome.  We visited Villa Romana del Casale for several hours and while it's a bit out of the way, it's definitely worth the trip. Villa Romana Del Casale This house and its compound are tucked away in a small river valley just outside the more modern town of Piazza Amerina, far from the coast, basically in the middle of Sicily.  It seems an unlikely location for such an amazing place. The ruins themselves aren't as complex or as complete as what we saw in Agrigento, as an example, but the artwork and floor mosaics are quite extraordinary....

 From Ragusa we traveled to Agrigento, which is the city near the famous Valley of the Temples. We followed the Google maps through some very beautiful and rural areas of Sicily, and arrived near Agrigento around noon.  The route we took led us next to the temple valley, and even from a distance they were a sight to behold. Agrigento Agrigento is a very old city, originally set up by Greek refugees in the 6th century BCE.  Like a lot of Sicilian cities, it occupies a steep hill overlooking a valley which flows down to the Mediterranean.   The valley of the temples is about a mile across, and features some of the most exquisite and intact (if somewhat reconstructed) temples from the Greek era of Sicily, mostly from approximately 6th century to 4th century BCE.  The temples are visible from many different locations in and around Agrigento and were likely large enough and prominent enough to be visible from the sea. Our first day Since we arrived at mid-day, o...

We left Syracuse Sunday morning in route to Ragusa.  Along the way, we planned to stop and see Noto as well. The Montalbano novels by Andrea Camilleri and the subsequent TV programs are what led us to Sicily initially.  The books provide a vivid sense of the southern portion of Sicily, and the TV programs were filmed in several cities, Ragusa being one of them.  The drive The drive from Syracuse to Ragusa through Noto begins on the E45, a decent two lane highway.  As noted previously, driving in Sicily is a bit adventurous.  As an example, in one two mile stretch of highway, the speed limit changed six times, from 110 KPH to 30 KPH to 60 KPH.  Theoretically, all of the highway is monitored for speed violations.  While I tried to obey the speed limits, the locals sped by at high speeds in the left lane.  And the Sicilian drivers are somewhat, um, impatient, if you are in a lane and going more slowly than they want to go.  First, they blink t...

 This blog represents a recap of our recent trip (Feb 2026) to Sicily.  While I had travelled in Italy previously, we had spent most of our time in the traditional places - Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples.  For this trip, we chose to visit Sicily, primarily because of the Montalbano books and TV series.  We found the island, the people, the food and the experiences fantastic. On our first day we flew into Catania from Istanbul.  Seems an unlikely routing, but Turkish Air had some really good flights from the US to Sicily, and with their stopover program we had the advantage of a free hotel in Istanbul for one night.  I'd recommend anyone thinking of connecting through Istanbul to look into the Turkish Air stopover program. Catania is one of the larger cities in Istanbul and has a nice airport.  What I did not expect was the view.  Etna rises behind Catania and towers over the city.  It is an extremely beautiful and somewhat menacing experien...