Wines of Sicily
Discover the wines of eastern Sicily
Day 1: Catania Your Italian driver and tour escort welcome you at your arrival. Check in and lunch at the hotel. In the afternoon you will visit this beautiful city with Porta Garibaldi, the Ursino castle, Porta Uzenda, the Arcivescovado and palazzo Biscari (archbishop's palace), the Municipio (town -hall), la Badia di S. Agata (abbey), S. Giuliano palace, the University palace, the Colleggiata (collegiate church), the "Via dei Crociferi". Welcome dinner with wine in a typical restaurant.
Day 2: Catania/Aci Castello/Aci Trezza/Acireale Breakfast at the hotel. Heading north from Catania through acres of orange groves, you will arrive first at the small town of Aci Castello, overlooked by a black volcanic rock crag at the top of which sits a towered castle. A couple of kilometers along the coast is Aci Trezza, looking out towards the splendid "Isole dei Ciclopi", the so-called "faraglioni" (jagged crags rising from the sea). Legend claims that the blinded Polyphemus hurles these rocks at Ulysses as he escaped in his ship. A little further on is Acireale, a charming little town built on a lava terrace. Check in at the hotel and dinner at a local restaurant.
Day 3: Acireale/Taormina Breakfast at the hotel. Departure north to Taormina, renowned international tourist resort, famous world-wide for its mild temperature and lush vegetation but above all, for the sheer beauty of its site, sitting on a terrace of Mount Tauro at about 200 m. above sea level with a wonderful view of Etna. Check in at the hotel. Afternoon dedicated to the visit of the ancient Greek Theatre at the foot of Mount Tauro. Dinner with wine at a typical restaurant.
Day 4: Taormina/Alcantara Gorges/Castiglione di Sicilia/Taormina Breakfast at the hotel. Entire day dedicated to the visit of a magnificent gorge carves out of the lava by the river, with wonderful vertical, fan-shaped and bizarrely-curved basalt prisms in the rock face and to the visit of a wine house in Castiglione di Sicilia where you can began to taste the famous wines of Sicily. Return in early afternoon. Dinner in a local restaurant in Giardini Naxos. Return at the hotel.
Day 5: Taormina/Catania Breakfast at the hotel. Departure south to Catania, you will enter into the Natural Park of Etna, the park stretches from the top of the volcano to the small villages which lie at the foot. From Linguaglossa with its magnificent pine forest, the road heads towards Milo and Santa Venerina where you will visit two wine houses and taste the famous Etna DOC wine. Arrival in Catania. Check in at the hotel. Farewell dinner with wine and music in a typical restaurant famous for fish food.
Day 6: Catania Breakfast at the hotel. Transfer to the airport.