Where to Go and What to See

Holidays by Destination Europe Italy Sicily Where to Go and What to See 

While the interior is the image of Sicily perpetuated in films, most activity and points of interest are on or near the coast, some of which is really lovely. Whatever centre or centres there you pick as a base, there will be plenty of day trip options, should the seaside pall.

It is worth bearing in mind that sections of the coast are irredeemably damaged by white elephant industrialisation, most a legacy of mainland government plus Mafia. Worth avoiding are spots between Palermo and Cefalu; others between Catania and Siracusa; just west of Palermo, (development interspersed with poor quality tourism); and around Gela on the south coast.

In other words, although there are many delightful spots, Sicily is somewhere you should choose your destination reasonably carefully. If you do so, you may well find yourselves holidaying among other Italians, rather than northern Europeans.

Main points of interest are below but there is plenty more if you just want to nose around. Area divisions are slightly arbitrary but designed to some idea of location.

The North Coast

Working west to east:

San Vito lo Capo is a place Sicilians go on holiday, right on the northwestern tip of the island. A small centre with a few streets of largely holiday homes, behind a sandy beach. Tourism is very largely with Italians in July and August, extended in September by a couscous festival.

Castellamare del Golfo is another spot popular with locals, based around an Aragonese castle.

Scopello is a medieval hamlet with old watch towers and old tuna fishery, becoming fashionable with refurbished self-catering accommodation increasingly available. This is a quieter alternative to San Vito, more sought after, and therefore generally more expensive.

The nearby Lo Zingaro nature reserve includes 7km of coastline including cliffs and coves with steep hills/mountains behind. The further in you go, the fewer people you'll find on the beaches.

Palermo was once the greatest city in Europe, the history marked in Arab remains, Norman art and architecture, medieval streets, baroque churches, and markets which go back centuries. WWII left facades in front of empty shells and in places dingy shops lurk on the ground floor of fine palazzi. Elsewhere these would be proudly floodlit and admired. The reason the city is not an international hotspot is the corruption which has stymied development and proved fertile ground for petty crime. For this reason if no other it is not an ideal spot to visit with young children. However, key attractions, like the golden frescoes, are a delight for young viewers, as well as fascinating for those who can compare them works in Ravenna and Istanbul. You'll find them in the Palazzo dei Normanni's Sala d Ruggero with 12th century hunting scenes, as well as the chapel. There is also the church of La Martorana with Greek 12th century mosaics. Also intriguing is the deconsecrated San Giovanni degli Eremeti, built in 1132 on mosque foundations and the most clearly Arab in style with domes as well as cloisters.
If you want more culture there is the Museo Archeologico Regionale with Roman, Greek, Egyptian and Phoenician. The Galleria Regionale is home to a good medieval art collection while the Museo Etnografico Pitre includes all the folk art - painted carts, puppets and theatre, dolls, games, terracotta figures and more.
If your offspring enjoy being scared there is the Convento dei Cappuccini with catacombs of preserved though decayed bodies lining underground corridors in either stone niches or glass coffins.
Mondello is a nearby resort with 2km sandy beach, home to Palermo's evening passeggiata.

At Monreale just southwest of Palermo are what are considered the best mosaics of all in the Norman cathedral. By Greek and Byzantine craftsmen, the scenes depicted range from Adam and Eve onwards and include Noah's Ark, the Creation, and more. The cloisters are an attractively quiet spot, again with a touch of Arab influence.

Modern buildings stretching along the shore outside Cefalu are still less touristy than Taormina, and access to the beach and sea is much better. The cathedral and town clinging round it remain pleasant. The mosaics in the church are more markedly Byzantine in style than those at Monreale, and much smaller, though still attractive. On the rock above the town are megalithic remains.

The Aeolian Islands

Volcanic, almost depopulated by emigration in the 20th century, now rather fashionable, particularly with Italians in high season. They are reached by hydrofoil from the mainland. Given that the best way of getting around is by bike, cycling age and over is ideal. The shortage of accommodation means booking ahead is essential in summer. Given that restaurants tend to both pricey and poor, self-catering might be a good option. Hot springs are an extra entertainment.
Lipari is the most popular island, with a walled upper town and collections of pottery from the Neolithic inhabitants. Panarea is the smallest and considered prettiest of the islands, now with some jetset cachet - and remains of a Bronze Age village. Stromboli offers guided ascents of the volcano which erupts every eight minutes. Island hopping is popular with hydrofoils taking between 10 and 45 minutes between islands.

The island of Ustica, Italy's first marine reserve, is an offshoot of the Aeolian islands, reached directly from the mainly, with some self-catering options.

The East Coast

Taormina is a hilltop village/town, almost entirely given over to tourism (an earner since the times of Goethe) with narrow streets lined by old houses/palazzi. There is a particularly well sited Roman theatre, and below is the beach of Mazzaro, reached by cable car. The sea caves to the south can be explored by boat. Considered chic, as usual in these cases it is not nearly as smart as you might hope, and tends to appeal to the empty nester age group rather than younger families.

Naxos is across the bay from Taormina, the sand coarse but the beach wide, and together with nearby Giardini it makes a popular holiday resort, considerably cheaper than Taormina.

Mount Etna is one the world's largest active volcanoes, towering over this part of Sicily. The Circumetnea is a private train line through the fertile lands and recent lava of the slopes. Closest stop to the top is the medieval town of Randazzo, built in dark lava. Whether you want to get closer is up to you as it is not always safe. If you wish to venture up, the tourist office in Nicolosi can provide information.

Catania was founded by Greeks and damaged by earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. It was rebuilt in rather gloomy volcanic stone in the 17th and 18th century in big, baroque style. Again, it is probably not the obvious place to visit with children, but it is a living city with lively fish and food market, a lava elephant supporting an Egyptian obelisk in the middle of the Piazza del Duomo (the elephant symbol of the city), plus a Roman theatre.

Siracusa (Syracuse) was once the most important city of the Greek world, the spot where Archimedes jumped out of his bath. It is also one of the few parts of the world where you can get some glimmering of what a Greek temple was really like. The duomo was constructed by simply filling the gaps between the gigantic outer columns of a temple to Athene. The modern city suffered bombing by both sides in WWII and has been all too poorly redeveloped. The main area to focus on is the original fortified island, now almost entirely medieval but including the remains of a temple to Apollo, the pretty Fonte Aretusa decorated with papyrus, fish and ducks, (once freshwater and where Nelson took on water before the Battle of the Nile). The Museo Regionale d'Arte Medioevale e Moderna includes some good pictures. There is an archeological museum in the new part, along with catacombs, and to the west a good archeological park including a Greek theatre and cave used as a prison.

To the South

A group of Baroque towns built after an earthquake had destroyed the earlier centres is one big draw. They look delightful and indeed are now seeing a return of natives who left in the ‘50s and ‘60s to seek work up north. Ragusa is the main centre and Comiso and Modica smaller centres, though Noto is considered the most attractive. The cathedral's dome unfortunately collapsed in the ‘90s with predictably prolonged closure for repair.

The coast is not on the whole enticing but Agrigento is a big draw, with a series of Doric temples in the Valle dei Templi with views to the sea as well as back to the current, originally medieval, town. Given the quantity of illegal building, it is something of a ‘see it now' sight, best early morning before the crowds. There are five temples in varying states of repair, the Tempio della Concordia particularly well preserved. There is also a good archeological museum with lovely vases.

Inland

Enna is the best known of the inland towns, medieval including a strong castle and archeological museum with finds from Neolithic to Roman via Greek.

Piana degli Albanesi is a 15th century Albanian colony whose inhabitants are still Greek Orthodox.

Piazza Armerina is known for its Roman mosaics, considered some of the best ever found. There are no less than an acre in an imperial Roman villa, used up to the 12th century when covered by a mudslide. Roofs and outline walls in plastic and metal give an outline of the original size and shape of the place and the floor pictures include a circus scene with a chariot race, a hunting scene with tigers, ostriches, elephants and more being caught for use at the games in Rome, gymnasts in ‘bikinis'. In the private apartments is a children's circus with chariots drawn by birds, and a children's hunt where the hares and peacocks refuse to be chased. The town is largely 17th and 18th century, charming in its own right.

The West

The most African part of the island and the region which has traditionally had more links with Africa than Europe and is the base for the fishing industry, particularly tuna.

Eraclea Minoa another Greek site, named after Cretan king Minos. Some of the once 6km of walls survive, there's a theatre and small museum, plus a decent beach.

Selinunte is another Greek site with a number of temples along with city streets, and stepped walls rising over a beach below.

Segesta is a single temple in countryside, its unfinished state (it has no roof) not obvious until you get close. Although the temples at Agrigento are more famous, for children the simplicity of this site might be a better choice. There is also a theatre.

Trapani the largest of the western towns, a big trading centre in the early Middle Ages, now very remote. There are churches and the usual archeological museum, but with children probably of more interest is the daily fish, fruit and vegetable market.

Erice a hillside town, very charming in a Tuscan or Umbrian way, with narrow alleys and stone buildings as well as lovely views. .

Marsala with a 16th century centre with a couple of prized items - the remains of a Punic warship (slightly sketchy), dug up from offshore in the ‘70s, and some 16th century wool and silk tapestries depicting the capture of Jersualem.

On the flats between Marsala and Trapani are salt pans dating back to the Phoenicians, where after the summer's heat, the salt is harvested in late August/September, with mounds still around in October. The piles of brilliant blue-white salt are striking, the salt pans less so, but intriguing.

Mazara del Vallo is the most important fishing port with a kasbah with once again a Tunisian community now North Africans crew the boats.