Sicily Sojourn

A salad laced with orange slices so sweet you can eat the peel; hilltop towns built from a honey-colored stone that turns incandescent during sunset; Christian churches built atop Phoenician walls, adorned with Arab flourishes and covered in Byzantine mosaics; beaches running from grey pebbles to licorice-black sand; and always the vast prairie of the sea, stretching to the horizon in shimmering blues and greens.

In Palermo e una Cipolla, Roberto Alajmo argues that the Sicilian city is like an onion whose layers are peeled to reveal yet more layers. The same could be said of Sicily as a whole. Nearly the size of Massachusetts (it's the Mediterranean’s largest island), Sicily offers a seemingly overwhelming range of textures, tastes and experiences, from antiquities to glorious seaside. I spent two weeks traveling in Sicily and the Aeolian Islands, and even though I saw a lot, from the Greek Theatre of Syracuse and the Baroque charm of the Val di Noto to energetic Palermo and the lunar-like landscapes of Etna, I left with a long list for a return trip. The island is undeniably Italian (incredible food, people, culture) but also proudly and stubbornly apart from the mainland, which many locals refer to as il continente.

Read Sicily: Six to Know about the main things to consider when planning a trip to this fascinating destination. Contact our Bookings Team for help crafting an itinerary.

Read Indagare’s Destination Report on Sicily.