General Information

Duration:

7 Days

Location Start:

Catania

Location Finish:

Catania

Phone:

1-800-557-0370 PST

Payment Types:

• Cash
• Credit Card
• Cheque
• Travellers cheque
• Paypal
• Wire Transfer

We Speak:

English, Italian

Last updated: 03/26/2009

Itinerary

Day 1

Arrive in Catania airport, transfer via private minivan to your B & B at a 150 year old manor house on a magnificent winery estate in Mount Etna's foot hills near Linguaglossa. The fourth generation of a local family makes excellent wines and will give you a warm Sicilian welcome as they show you around the estate and taste their wines with you.

Over lively conversation in your welcome dinner on the estate or in a typical restaurant, get to know your group.

Day 2

Optional walk in the exotic foothills of Mount Etna following black volcanic sand paths and craters punctuated with green and gold trees overlooking the blue sea.

At a winery in the hills, savor lunch of cheeses, olives, salamis and antipasti while you taste their Etna wines on their deck with views over vineyards and hills. Drive to Lingualossa to walk in this small Sicilian town and meet a local resident who shares her experiences living there during Mount Etna’s 2002 volcanic eruption.

In the late afternoon start your cooking lesson on seafood in a hill side restaurant with the effervescent owner and his friendly, knowledgeable chef son. Make authentic local dishes llike sardines with stuffed with bread, raisins and pine nuts, swordfish rolls, and semifreddo with local pistachio nuts. Drink some prosecco wine and congratulate yourselves in a group cheer. Later, dig into your creations with some good Etna wines.

Day 3

In the morning explore Taormina with a friendly local guide and wonderful storyteller with a vast knowledge of history and local lore.


Discover fascinating layers of history at the amazing Greek theatre, build in the 3rd century B.C. with spectacular views of Mount Etna and the sea. Admire well-preserved 14th century palazzos on narrow, winding streets and pop into alluring bakeries full of Sicilian treats like almond, orange or pistachio cookies, cannoli and marzipan.


Lunch is on your own – perhaps at a relaxed local wine bar near your hotel where you can taste local specialties and learn more about the regional wines.

Drive back up the hills to a home in Linguaglossa for an authentic Sicilian experience with the charming, hospitable family. They grow vegetables, olives, hazelnuts and have vineyards and sheep. The mother makes cheeses, salami, bread, and preserves like dried tomatoes.

Have fun making the local maccheroni, tomato sugo and other genuine local dishes with the mother in her kitchen. Around their dining table, eat all your creations together with their wine and chat about their every day life and yours.

Day 4

Leave your B & B at dawn, catch the 8:30 a.m. boat in Milazzo to arrive for lunch at the island of Stromboli , the last island in the Aeolian archipelago.

In Stromboli, stop for your second and typical Sicilian breakfast. Walk along the sea and check into a pretty three star hotel on the beach, surrounded by gardens and with amazing views of the black sand and blue sea beyond.

Free time to explore the town with its white buildings and lush gardens along quaint streets too narrow for cars, or laze on the black sand beach, taking dips in the clear blue sea. Lunch is on your own.

In the late afternoon, take your demonstration cooking class in a restaurant with a great local chef, who teaches you several simple typical island dishes in his unique fusion style.

Enjoy your chef's creations and good wines, including the local dessert wine Malvasia, around a table on the restaurant's patio as the gentle Sicilian evening breeze wafts through your hair.

Day 5

Free morning to laze at the beach, wander the picturesque streets, browse in shops or relax in the piazza high up in the town with views of the port and neighborhoods. Enjoy lunch on your own.

In the afternoon take an optional, fascinating two-hour boat trip around Stromboli. Stop to walk in Ginostra, home to a mere 27 residents who got electricity only three years ago. Board the boat again to view the steep, black hillside of Sciara del Fuoco, where volcanic fire and rocks run down from the crater to the sea.

In the late afternoon, hike up Stromboli. Start climbing in the light and as darkness falls, gaze in awe at the light show as the volcano spouts spirals of fire into the night sky.



Choose from three different level of hikes, or go up later to the restaurant in a taxi.

Choice One: Challenging hike for about five hours up and down a 45-degree hill to the craters at the top at 900 metres, which afford spectacular views. Descend in the dark with your lights in loose volcanic sand and rock. Dine and celebrate in the piazza on your return.


Choice Two: Much easier two to three hour hike along the mountainside in daylight with steps up and down about half the time and magnificent views.

End your hike at a restaurant on the mountainside to dine outside on the patio with a direct view up to the volcano and over the sea, and marvel at the volcano shooting its fire into the night sky.

Choice Three: Walk leisurely or take a taxi up a stone road in daylight for about an hour to the restaurant for a hearty dinner. Walk back to town or take a taxi along the same road with flashlights to illuminate your way.

Day 6

Leave Stromboli on the boat for Sicily's mainland. Private minivan to your lovely three star villa hotel, Villa Schuler, steps from the main street in Taormina and set high above the sea with incredible panoramas of the coast and Mount Etna. Lunch on your own.


Enjoy a farewell dinner at a great restaurant in Taormina. Banter and laugh with the friends you’ve made for a lively final evening in Sicily as you savor more delectable seafood and fine Sicilian wines!

Day 7

After breakfast, depart for Catania airport. You’ll forever recall fondly the Sicilians you’ve talked and laughed with, their recipes and the incredible natural landscapes.

Extra Information

Inclusions -

6 nights hotel accommodation with breakfast

Exclusions -

pastry tasting

Extras -

This is a Sicilian cultural immersion adventure with a food focus! You'll meet so many warm, fun local people and laugh and laugh!

2009 Dates May 23-29 Oct 3-9 (special fall food & local arts festival in Mount Etna town of Zafferana)

Or by request for 4 people or more--If these dates don't suit you, please ask us for dates you like. Subject to hotel rooms being available.