Sicily Travel

Sicily is blessed with a sunny climate, with coastal temperatures rarely dipping below 15°C. Beaches and nearby islands warm up relatively early, usually around mid-April, and stay hot well into October.Inland, in the mountains, temperatures can fall to freezing in winter, but the weather remains gorgeously fresh during the summer months of July and August when coastal temperatures exceed a stifling 30°C. The ideal time for walking in the Madonie and Nebrodi mountains is between April and June, when an explosion of spring flowers covers the mountainsides.The best times to visit Sicily are between April and June, or September and October, when the weather is usually good, prices are lower and there are fewer tourists. Late July and August are the peak of the high season: the sun broils, prices are inflated and the island's top attractions are awash with a tide of holiday-makers. Most of Italy goes on holiday in this period (known as Ferragosto, literally 'the August holiday'), and a significant chunk of the population chooses Sicily as its preferred destination.You may prefer to organise your trip to coincide with one of the many festivals that fill the Sicilian calendar - Easter is a particular highlight.

Sicily isn't as cheap as many travellers assume, but it is one of the few destinations in Italy where the budget-minded can have a comfortable time. A keyfactor to consider is the huge difference in costs between the high season -usually Easter and from July to September, with the highest prices inAugust - and the rest of the year. Even the most popular tourist spots, suchas Cefalù, the Aeolian Islands and Taormina drop their prices dramaticallyduring the low season. The less visited areas of the island - the west andparts of the interior - generally offer cheaper accommodation and eatingoptions throughout the year.Admission fees to all the major archaeological sites and museums run bythe Regione Siciliana (the Sicilian regional government) are set at the sameprice, which at the time of research was %u20AC6. Most places offer a discountto EU students (%u20AC3), while seniors and children go free. You may have toproduce some ID (passport or driving licence with a photo) at the morepopular sites like the Cappella Palatina in Palermo.At the bottom end of the price bracket you will pay%u20AC15to%u20AC20 per night in youth hostels.The cheapest pensione (smallhotel)is unlikely to cost much less than %u20AC25/50for a basic single/double. However, you will be able to find comfortable rooms with en suite showers starting from around %u20AC55/70 for singles/doubles. Midrange hotels in cities such as Palermo, Syracuse, Agrigento and Taormina can easily cost from %u20AC60/80 to%u20AC130/180 for singles/doubles.Eating out is just as variable, depending on the location. In Taormina, Palermo and on the Aeolian Islands you will find the most expensive res-taurants; elsewhere food is generally cheaper. You can pay from as little as %u20AC20 for a meal of primo (first course), secondo (second course) and dessert in a little trattoria tomore than %u20AC40 for the equivalent in an upmarket restaurant, plus wine. Set tourist menus start at around %u20AC10, but the food quality on these menus can vary.A very prudent backpacker might scrape by on %u20AC60 per day but only by staying in youth hostels, eatingout for only one simple meal per day, keeping transport costs down and minimising visits to museums. Realistically, a traveller wanting to stay in comfortable midrange hotels, eat out for two square meals per day, and not feel restricted to one museum per day should reckon on a minimum daily average of %u20AC100 to %u20AC120 per person based on two people sharing a room at %u20AC80, plus car hire.Public transport is very reasonably priced, but carhire is expensive (as is petrol) and is probably worth organising before you leave home . On trains it is cheaper to travel on the regionale (slow local train) and diretto (slow direct train) rather than the faster Intercity (IC).

The first evidence of an organised settlement on Sicily belongs to the Stentillenians, who came from the Middle East and settled on the island's eastern shores sometime between 4000 and 3000 BC.But it was the settlers from the middle of the second millennium BC who radically defined the island's character and whose early presence helps us understand Sicily's complexities. Thucydides (c 460-404 BC) records three major tribes: the Sicanians, who originated either in Spain or North Africa and settled in the north and west (giving these areas their Eastern flavour); the Elymians from Greece, who settled in the south; and the Siculians (or Sikels), who came from the Calabrian peninsula and spread out along the Ionian Coast. Thus cultural divide was created from the start, a divide that was further deepened with the subsequent colonisation of the west of the island by Carthaginians from North Africa (c 850 BC) and the Greeks, who came to Sicily later, in the 8th to 6th centuries BC.

As Holy Roman Emperor, Henry paid scant attention to his Sicilian kingdom, and he diedprematurely of malaria in 1197. He was succeeded by his young heir Frederick (1194-1250), known as both Frederick I of Sicily and Frederick II of Hohenstaufen. Frederick was a keen intellectual with a penchant for political manoeu-vring, but he was also a totalitarian despot who fortified the eastern seaboard from Messina to Syracuse and sacked rebellious Catania in 1232. He had issued the antifeudal Constitution of Melfi a year earlier, stripping the feudal barons of much of their power in favour of a more centralised authority - his own. He drew up the Liber Augustales, which created a unified legal system based on the legal code promulgated by the Roman emperor Augustus 1200 years earlier. This guaranteed certain rights to the citizenry while reinforcing the unquestionable authority of the monarch. He became an avid patron of the arts and the first official champion of vernacular Italian. In the latter years of his reign Frederick became known as Stupor Mundi, 'Wonder of the World', a none-too-humble recognition of his successful rule. Sicily was now a centralised state and played a key commercial and cultural role in European affairs, and throughout the 13th century Palermo was considered the continent's most important city.Yet Frederick's rule left substantial scars on the island, most notably in the restriction of free trade, the reappearance of massive landed estates, and a heavy tax burden brought on by the pressures of maintaining the empire. Frederick's death in 1250 left the disaffected barons and their foreign al-lies, most notably the Pope, in open rebellion against the Hohenstaufens. Frederick's son Manfred (1231-66) tried desperately to hold on to power, but his rule was seriously challengedwhen in 1255 the pope surreptitiously offered the throne to Prince Edmund of Lancaster.

The local stereotype is that Palermo and Catania stand at opposite ends of the island's character. 'In Palermo, we're more traditional, more con-servative', says Massimo, a Palermo shopkeeper. 'The Catanians are more outward looking, and better at commerce.' Some ascribe the Palermitans' conservative character to their Arab predecessors, while the Greeks get all the credit for the Catanians' democratic outlook, their sense of commerce and their alleged cunning. Beyond this divide, Sicilians are thought of as conservative and suspicious (usually by mainland Italians), stoical and spiritual, confident, gregarious and sensitive, and as the possessors of a rich and dark sense ofhumour.Colonised for centuries, Sicilians have absorbed myriad traits - so much so,indeed, that writer Gesualdo Bufalino believed Sicilians suffered from an 'excess of identity', at the core of which was the islanders' conviction that Sicilian culture stands at the centre of the world. This can feel terribly exclu-sive to the visitor, and there is still an awful lot of Sicily that is beyond the prying eyes of the tourist. If you're interested in peeking behind the curtains of Sicily's private life, it's best to have some local friends who might invite you to their home and allow you an insight into a part of local life. Who you know makes all the difference, and any invitation to a Sicilian home should be viewed as a real compliment.That said, it is difficult to make blanket assertions about Sicilian culture, if only because there are huge differences between the more modern-minded
city dwellers and those from the traditionally conservative countryside. It is certain, however, that modern attitudes are changing conservative traditions. In the larger university cities such as Palermo, Catania, Syracuse and Messina, you will find a vibrant youth culture and a liberal lifestyle.

Sicily's vineyards are massive - nearly 290,000 acres - and cover a greater area than that of the vineyards of both Bordeaux and Chile. And while grapes have always been a bigfeature of the Sicilian economy, Sicilian wine is not wellknown. Traditionally, the heavy wine was sold as a base to strengthen many French labels, but Sicilian wine is now elbowing its own way onto the table, with white wines fermented at cool, mountain temperatures taking the lead. Whites tend to be light, dry and floral, while reds are heavy and fruity.The most renowned winery is the Regaleali estate in Caltanissetta province, owned by the Conte Tasca family since 1834. The best of the estate's wines are the Nozze d'Oro (a refined white made to mark the count's 50th wedding anniversary in 1985) and the Rosso del Conte, an intense, full-bodied red.The wine you'll see on most menus, however, is the Corvo di Salaparuta, a velvety red that is an ideal companion to meaty falsomagro. The estate's whites (made with one of the island's best grapes, inzolia) are usually quite fresh and slightly fruity; Corvo Bianco is an excellent and reasonably priced drinking wine.Rapitalà in Alcamo produces the island's most popular white wine, a soft, neutral white that goes well with most white-fish dishes. The estates around Alcamo also hold a denominazione di origine controllata .

In ancient times Sicily was bisected by large navigable rivers (the Belice, Simeto and Salso) and cloaked in verdant oak forests. For the Greeks and Romans, hunting large mammals such boars, wolves, deer and wildcats would have been a weekend pastime as seen in the mosaics at the Villa Romana del Casale. But it was the Romans who began the devastating process of deforestation to plant huge wheat fields to feed the Roman army. This ultimately resulted in the silting up of Sicily's rivers, the near-destruction of its limited wildlife and the reduction of its forests to a mere 8% of the total area of the island. Only fish and fowl have managed to escape this devastating scourge and remain in all their abundant variety during the seasonal migrations of the year.

Palermo (population 680,000) is a city that's quite apart from the rest of Sicily's urbanspaces. Though it's on the traditional end of the scale, it carries with it a sense of unpredictability and adventure: its streets are jam-packed with traffic; its markets are ahive of hollers, smells and countless gastronomic offerings; the winding, palazzo-strewn streets of the old quarter contrast with the wide boulevards and glam shops of the new town. It's a European city with a chaotic nature and a penchant for rule bending. This is an ancient city that showcases the remains of Sicily's countless invaders: it was once an Arab emirate, the seat of a Norman kingdom and, in the 12th century, Europe's grandest city; later, its fate was more grim than glam. The city is still a real beauty, but its gems often need seeking out. You'll be surprised by the number of gorgeous, swirling palazzi - the fusion of Byzantine, Arab, Norman, Renaissance and baroque architecture is a feast for the eyes. But it's not just history that makes Palermo so terrific. An increasing number of bars, clubs and great restaurants means it's fun after dark, while Mondello beach is a mere 15-minute bus ride away, making it easy to cool off on summer days. And should the chaotic capital make you crave some peace and quiet, the lonely island of Ustica offers total escape. While you're in the city, don't miss its simple joys, such as watching families stroll and eat ice cream by the seafront, or bargaining with the quick-wittedmarket salesmen. But most importantly, whatever you do, don't miss Palermo.

Cobalt-blue sea, wild, windswept mountains swathed in flowers and steaming volcanoes - these go some way to explaining why the Aeolians (Isole Eolie) are the European holy
grail for island lovers. Part of a huge volcanic ridge, the seven Aeolian Islands represent the very pinnacle of a 3000m-high outcrop that was formed one million years ago. Created by successive explosions - first Panarea, Filicudi and Alicudi, then Lipari and Salina, and finally the still-boiling Vulcano and Stromboli - the islands exhibit an extraordinary variety of landscape. Hillsides of silver-grey pumice and lush green vineyards give way to jagged veins of black obsidian. A wilderness of flowers and plants enriched by the volcanic soil, as well as an abundance of sea life, make these islands a paradise for naturalists andscuba divers alike. Recognising their unique volcanic characteristics, Unesco declaredthe islands a World Heritage site in 2000. The Aeolians' natural beauty and unpredictable nature have tempted and repelled people throughout the centuries. Myths name the island as the home of the god of the winds, Aeolus, and they were also thought to be home to the monster Polyphemus and the god of fire, Vulcan. Modern hedonists, including the international jet set and film stars, arrive in droves in the summer to swim, hike, dive and party in this playground. The best time to come is in May and early June or late September and October; prices soar in July and August, when the population doubles.

The centre of Sicily is a place of subtle moods and dramatic scenery, a place wheresevere mountain ridges cloaked in a patchwork of farms are interspersed with a series of atmos-pheric mountain towns. It is an ancient landscape redolent of the huge feudal estates from an era not long past, when hunger drove men to work in the harsh sulphur mines that surround Caltanissetta. Today it is a place of great beauty and harsheconomic realities, where farming and mining continue to power the local economyand create close-knit communities. These physically and culturally isolatedtowns retain the remnants of traditional Sicilian life, creatingafascinatingprovinceon an already fascinating island: Enna is the natural crossroads of theisland; Lago di Pergusa is the source of the powerful myth of Persephone and Demeter; Piazza Armerina holds a famous Roman villa; and Caltagirone is a typical provincial town.For more than a decade now, tour operators have been touting the area as the next big destination. Walking enthusiasts love this area too, as do people keen to get a break from the scorching summer temperatures, but tourist droves won't be crowding this area any time soon. It's still a region for independent travellers, especially those with their own vehicle - the public transport isn't as good as in the rest of Sicily.

Magnificent, overdeveloped and unruly, the Ionian Coast is Sicily's most popular tourist destination, its commercial engine room and home to 20% of the island's population. Thriving cities like Messina and Catania do the Greeks proud - they are still centres of trade and business and house two of the largest universities on the island. Moneyed entrepreneurs have built their villas and hotels up and down the coastline, eager to bag a spot on Sicily's equivalent of the Amalfi Coast, a fortunate few owning the luxury homes of Taormina's Monte Tauro.Above it all towers the muscular peak of Etna (3323m). With puffs of smoke billowing from its snow-covered cone, it's an ever-present reminder of the superficiality of success that rings its base. Like Californians, Etna's residents enjoy the good life to the full, waiting for the 'big one' that might sweep it all away. Nowhere is this more palpable than in the city of Catania, the capital of the Ionian Coast, destroyed by Etna in 1669 and rebuilt again in lava.For tourists the Ionian Coast is an exciting destination, home to Europe's largest active volcano and its 590 sq km of well-managed national park. Within its boundaries it shelters some 20 farming communities, a far cry from the profiteering coastline. It is the largest unspoilt wilderness left in Sicily, home of the Titans and, as Aeschylus saw it, the column that holds up the sky.

One of the most magical corners of Sicily, Syracuse and the southeastern part of theisland brim with Sicilian baroque, historical remains, amazing food and some beautifulbeaches and landscapes. At the same time this part of the world somehowmanages to remain unflooded by tourism - how perfect is that? Starting with glorious Syracuse which, like some noble and elegant dame, just gets better with age, you'll likely find it hard to pull yourself away from this gorgeous city. But make sure you do, for a little further from Syracuse you'll reach the 'baroque triangle': Noto, a renovated shrine to Sicilian baroque and a paradise for lovers of the style; the friendly and charming Modica, where you'll eat and drink well, admire the dramatic baroque and sigh over the landscape of cluttered pastel-coloured palazzos; and finally, the knockout that is the largely undiscovered Ragusa, abundant with baroque and teeming with dozens of delightful B&Bs and great restaurants.If that's not enough, the coastline running underneath Modica and Ragusa all the way east to Riserva Naturale Oasi Faunistica di Vendicari is full of long sandy and pebble beaches - most of which are relaxed and not too crowded in high season - so swimming opportunities in this area are top class too. There's no two ways about it: the southeast is a stunner.