Tour Overview
| Duration | 8 Days / 7 Nights |
|---|---|
| Destination | Sicily — Catania, Etna, Noto, Syracuse, Palermo |
| Price From | $2,995 per person (twin share) |
| Group Size | Max 8 guests — food & wine focus |
| Best Season | March — November |
| Data Source | TourRadar / Charming Sicily Food & Wine 2026 pricing |
Itinerary Highlights
Day 1: Arrive Catania — First Taste of Sicily
Airport pickup and transfer to your boutique hotel in Catania. Evening orientation walk through the fish market (La Pescheria) — even after closing, its echoes linger in nearby trattorias. Welcome aperitivo with Etna DOC white wine and local antipasti at a historic bar on Piazza del Duomo. Overnight in Catania.
Day 2: Catania Markets & Cooking Class
Morning: guided tour of the Catania fish market — one of Italy’s most vibrant food markets, with swordfish heads as big as tables, ricotta sold fresh in wicker baskets, and vendors singing in Sicilian dialect. Your chef guides you through selecting ingredients for your afternoon cooking class. Learn to prepare: pasta alla Norma, involtini di pesce spada (swordfish rolls), and granita al limone (the original Sicilian “ice cream” — coarser than gelato, dating to Arab times). Enjoy your creations for lunch with Etna wines. Afternoon: visit a historic pasticceria for cannoli-making demonstration — the crisp fried shell filled with sweetened sheep’s milk ricotta on the spot. Overnight in Catania.
Day 3: Etna Winery Trail
Full day exploring Etna’s unique wine terroir — vineyards planted at 700-1,100m on the volcano’s slopes. Visit three boutique wineries: first, a pioneer organic producer making natural wines from pre-phylloxera Nerello Mascalese vines (some over 100 years old); second, a modern architect-designed cantina with panoramic terrace overlooking the smoking crater; third, a family-run estate where the elderly owner still hand-harvests. Taste 12+ wines across the day, paired with local cheeses, salumi, and olive oils pressed from Etna’s slopes. The volcanic soil’s minerality, the altitude’s cool nights, and the age of the vines create complex, Burgundy-like reds and intensely aromatic whites. Overnight in Catania/Taormina area.
Day 4: Taormina & Sicilian Pastry
Morning: Taormina’s Teatro Greco and a walk through the medieval town. Afternoon cooking: pastry masterclass at a family-run pasticceria. Learn the secrets of cassata siciliana (ricotta-filled sponge cake with marzipan and candied fruit — a legacy of Arab sugar-trading), frutta martorana (marzipan shaped and painted to look like real fruit, created by nuns at the Martorana convent), and pistachio gelato using Bronte pistachios (the green gold of Sicily, harvested from trees on Etna’s western slopes). Dinner: reservation at a Michelin-recommended slow-food trattoria. Overnight in Taormina area.
Day 5: Syracuse & Ortigia — Ancient Flavors
Drive south to Syracuse. Morning: explore the Neapolis Archaeological Park. Afternoon: Ortigia market tour — the daily market spills from the ancient Temple of Apollo ruins through narrow lanes, with vendors selling Pachino cherry tomatoes (so sweet they’re called “Sicilian sugar”), wild fennel, Modica chocolate (made with an Aztec cold-processing technique brought by the Spanish), and fresh-caught seafood. Lunch at a market osteria. Afternoon tasting: sample Nero d’Avola wines at an enoteca in Ortigia’s medieval Jewish quarter. Dinner: seafood degustation at a Michelin-starred restaurant overlooking the Grand Harbor. Overnight in Syracuse.
Day 6: Noto & Modica Chocolate
Morning: Noto’s baroque splendor. Visit Caffe Sicilia — the artisanal pastry shop featured on Netflix’s “Chef’s Table” — for their legendary granita with brioche (the Sicilian summer breakfast). Drive to Modica, famous for its unique chocolate-making tradition: the Aztec method of cold-grinding cocoa beans (without conching) was brought here by the Spanish in the 16th century, creating a gritty, intensely flavored chocolate unlike any other. Visit Antica Dolceria Bonajuto (established 1880) for a tasting and production tour. Dinner at a Modican slow-food restaurant. Overnight near Ragusa.
Day 7: Palermo Street Food & Markets
Morning: drive to Palermo. The street food capital of Italy awaits. Guided street food tour through Vucciria, Ballarò, and Capo markets: pani ca meusa (spleen sandwich — the ultimate Palermo street food, from Arab-Jewish origins), panelle e crocchè (chickpea fritters and potato croquettes on soft bread), stigghiola (grilled lamb intestines on skewers), and arancine al burro (rice ball with butter and mozzarella, Palermo-style, round like an orange). Afternoon: wine tasting at a Palermo enoteca featuring Marsala fortified wines and sweet Pantelleria passito. Farewell dinner at a rooftop restaurant overlooking Palermo’s illuminated cathedral. Overnight in Palermo.
Day 8: Departure
Morning visit to Antico Caffe Spinnato for one last cornetto con granita. Transfer to Palermo Airport for departure.
Included
- 7 nights handpicked accommodation
- Daily breakfast & 5 meals (cooking class lunches + 2 dinners)
- 3 cooking classes (Sicilian home cooking, pastry, street food tour)
- 3 winery visits with 12+ tastings
- Modica chocolate factory visit
- English-speaking food specialist guide
- All ground transportation
- Airport transfers
