Sicily Travel Guide - Best of Sicily Tours, Vacations, Holidays, Hotels, Dining, Tourism, Culture, Books. Tablet-friendly for iPad and other devices. (original) (raw)

Wel­come to the world's fa­vorite Si­cilian web­site, with over two mil­lion read­ers each year, around 200 at this very mo­ment. Each of the fol­low­ing topics is a gate­way to many (print­able) pages. Come vis­it our sun­ny is­land. We've been ex­pect­ing you for three thou­sand years!

Sights & Activities: Our ever-popu­lar list of things to see and where to see them, ev­ery­thing from an­cient Greek temples to Baroque palaces, great nat­ural sites and much more. Not a dry aca­dem­ic list of ar­cane sites, but in­ter­est­ing at­trac­tions open to the pub­lic. And things to do.

Localities: Cities and towns around Si­cily listed, along with a map (this site is full of maps). There are dozens of pages ded­icat­ed to spe­cif­ic places. This is the easi­est way to find a place if you al­ready know what you're look­ing for. If you don't, try search­ing by re­gion...

Scenic Regions: Rivers, moun­tains and the cas­tles nes­tled among them. Here you'll dis­cov­er Si­cily through its nat­ural beau­ty of coasts, hills, streams and Eu­rope's great­est vol­cano. And the hin­ter­land, the "secret" Si­cily and its very real peo­ple.

Food and Wine: Si­cily's de­li­cious cui­sine. Page after page ded­icat­ed to spe­cial­ties and cu­riosi­ties. The main wine page is a vir­tual one-stop guide to our is­land's wines and liqueurs. The last two decades have seen a Si­cilian wine re­nais­sance. Taste it!

History: Three thou­sand years of his­to­ry await you in Si­cily. In this pic is Archi­medes, one of many Si­cilians pro­filed on this site, be­cause be­hind the place is its peo­ple. The philoso­phers, sci­en­tists, artists, poets, kings and queens. The culture. And, of course, the or­di­nary folk.

For Students: Not sur­pris­ing­ly for a site that has be­come an in­ter­na­tion­al point of ref­er­ence for Si­cily and Si­cilians, we're con­sult­ed by stu­dents of all ages. In ad­di­tion to our pages for younger students, this site pre­sents much cur­rent in­forma­tion about Si­cily and Si­cilians. (Shown is the An­nuncia­tion by Antonel­lo da Mes­sina.)

Sicilian Identity: The world's most con­quered is­land boasts a magi­cal lega­cy. Frederick II (shown) was one of Eu­rope's great­est me­dieval mon­archs. Much of this site is dedi­cat­ed to what makes Si­ci­ly unique. Since it's per­son­al, there's a sec­tion on genealogy for fam­ily his­tory re­search­ers. Si­cily even has its own language.

Peoples of Sicily: Tours and lec­tures based on the most in­sight­ful book about Si­cil­ian his­to­ry and cul­ture writ­ten in the last ten years, by two lead­ing schol­ars who are re­writ­ing the his­to­ry of our is­land. Don't just visit Si­ci­ly. Meet the peo­ples! (Read more.)

» Why Si­cily? 12 cul­tures in 1.
» Top 12 destina­tions in Si­cily.
» Sights to see, things to do.
» Scenic Places & ge­og­ra­phy.
» Tours of Si­cily & more.
» Hotels and other lodg­ing.
» Cooking Classes at a winery.
» Cooking Classes with Vince Clemente.
» Restaurants reviewed.
» Travel Faqs with real in­fo.
» Sicily Air­ports - get­ting there.
» Airlines servicing Si­cily.
» Travel Ideas for your visit.
» Sicily Maps - roads & cities.
» Sicily Weather fore­casts, temps.
» Beaches in Sicily - a selection.
» Travel Services. Some­thing dif­ferent.
» Student Tours of Sicily - discovery.
» Palermo - guide to the city.
» Villas in Sicily & how to find one.
» Golf courses & resorts.
» Sightseeing and touring.
» Tour Guides listed by locality.
» Transportation - trains, buses...
» Sicily for Children. For families!
» Young Students. Study resources.
» Travel Guide Books reviewed.
» Sicilian Genealogy. Family history.
» Travel Agent Resources and ad­vice.
» Sicily Facts and figures.
» Sicilian Culture - all things Si­cilian.
» Sicilian Literature - then and now.
» Arts and Artists. Creativity.
» Sicilian Identity - ethnic legacy.
» Religions of Sicily. Faiths.
» Peoples of Sicily. Meet the peoples!
» Invisible Sicily - the unseen.
» Kingdom of Sicily - the book.
» Sicilian - language of a people.

Sicily Concierge: Per­son­al­ized trav­el, ex­cur­sions, tours of Si­cily, events, student tours in Sicily, con­fer­ences in Sicily, the popu­lar Peoples of Sicily tours and much more, from a trav­el agen­cy based in Si­ci­ly. Family history tours too. Real ser­vice from a real tour op­er­ator.

• Peoples of Sicily. A fa­vorite, with de­par­tures all year.
• Tours of Sicily with de­par­tures al­most ev­ery week of the year.
• Tours of Italy including Sicily - the penin­su­la plus Si­cily.
• Private Tours around Sicily - pre-planned pri­vate tours, from 4 to 11 days.
• Genealogical Research - Sicilian family history.
• Lectures - the history of Sicily by real historians.

• SICILY Search the entire island.
• Agrigento Ancient Greek temples.
• Catania Sicily's bustling second city.
• Cefalù Splendid Norman cathedral
• Marsala Sicily's wine country.
• Messina Underrated but interesting.
• Noto Baroque splendor in scenic hills.
• Palermo Medieval legacy.
• Ragusa Baroque and charming.
• Siracusa Ancient Greek capital.
• Taormina Delightful hilltop resort town.
• Trapani Near Erice and Segesta.

Kingdom of Sicily 1130-1266. At 900,000 words in 900 informative pages with 1300 endnotes, the defining general history of Sicily's multi­cultural golden age, writ­ten by two of its leading Anglo­phone historians. Available from vendors around the world and at Libreria del Corso near the Quattro Canti in central Palermo. Read more.

Market Cooking Classes in Palermo with Vincenzo Clemente. Master the prepara­tion of Sicilian specialties in the kitchen of a professional chef in one of Palermo's finest restaurants.

From our resi­dent his­to­ri­ans, a new wave of books about Si­ci­ly, each a first!
The Peoples of Si­cily: The first over­view of all the civ­iliza­tions that pop­ulat­ed our is­land.
Women of Sicily: The first book on the his­tor­ical women of Si­cily writ­ten in En­glish by a Si­cilian wom­an in Si­cily.
The King­dom of Sicily 1130-1266: A landmark work.
Sicilian Food & Wine: The first guide of its kind pub­lished in En­glish.
Sicilian Genealogy: The first guide to Si­cilian fam­ily his­tory re­search.
Margaret, Queen of Si­cily: The first biog­raphy of this me­dieval queen.
Sicilian Studies: The first En­glish guide to the study of Sicily's his­to­ry and cul­ture.
The Vine Whisperer: Mak­ing wine and doing busi­ness in Si­cily.

Limited Edi­tion Map of Si­cily. Print is­sued with the pub­lica­tion of Men­dola's King­dom of Si­cily. Signed, num­bered, paint­ed, mea­sur­ing 53x58 cm (21x23 in), bear­ing me­die­val her­al­dic mo­tifs. €180. Ex­clu­sive­ly from Libreria del Corso in central Palermo.

We are Si­cil­ians. But this site is not about its au­thors' egos, ce­leb­ri­ty or fame. It's about Si­cily and your dis­cov­ery of our is­land. This is an in­de­pen­dent pub­li­ca­tion with an of­fice housed in a his­toric palace in Pa­ler­mo's Kalsa dis­trict. On­line since 1999, Best of Si­cily pre­sents ac­cu­rate in­forma­tion about Si­cily. We pro­mote tours and trav­el in Si­cily, as well as books about our is­land's his­to­ry, peo­ple and cul­ture. We are not af­fil­iat­ed with any pub­lic agen­cy or trav­el bu­reau. Opin­ions ex­pres­sed on the site are not neces­sari­ly those of the edi­tors. The mate­rial on this web­site is orig­inal. While every at­tempt has been made to en­sure the ac­curacy of in­forma­tion pre­sented here, the pub­lish­ers are not liable for any errors.