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Start your day exploring beautiful Taormina and its historic Greco-Roman theatre.
Sample Sicilian favourites including granita, cannoli, arancini and pasta alla Norma.
Take a cable car up Mount Etna and discover its dramatic volcanic landscape.
End your day with traditional Sicilian food and a glass of local wine.
Discover Taormina, Mount Etna and more of this stunning island on an escorted Travelsphere tour of Sicily.
The largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily, is well worth a visit, and if you only had 24 hours there, here are our tips for a great day out.
If you fancy a spot of breakfast before a day of sightseeing in Taormina, why not indulge in granita, a Sicilian speciality? At breakfast, this semi-frozen treat is served with a buttery brioche roll, perfect for dunking. Flavours range from refreshing lemon to almond, coffee and pistachio, making this a deliciously Sicilian way to start the day. Later, you might want to stop off in a café and indulge in another delicacy, cannoli – deep-fried pastry tubes filled with sweetened ricotta.
Taormina is one of the island’s most picturesque towns, set on a rocky hillside overlooking two sweeping bays. At its heart is Corso Umberto, the town's lively pedestrianised main street, lined with historic buildings, cafés and shops and opening onto attractive piazzas.
Taormina's Greco Roman theatre is a great place to wander, soaking up centuries of history and some of the best views on the island as you go. Erected around the 3rd century BC to host dramatic performances, then transformed into a Roman gladiatorial arena, it is remarkably well preserved. Mainly built in brick, it’s thought that the Romans rebuilt the theatre over the original Greek foundation, and in its heyday, it could seat up to 5,000 excitable spectators. Its spectacular position is part of its appeal, with views stretching across the surrounding coastline towards Mount Etna.
As you explore the amphitheatre, you’ll see Mount Etna looming large in the distance, and with this still-active volcano just a short drive away from Taormina, that’s the place to head this afternoon.
Rising to more than 3,300 metres, Etna is Europe’s highest active volcano and its eruptions have shaped the surrounding landscape over thousands of years.
You can ascend via cable car for breathtaking views of not only this lunar landscape but the whole of the island. As you climb, fertile lower slopes gradually give way to a stark volcanic landscape of dark lava and craters – a dramatic contrast to the greenery and coastline below. From your elevated vantage point, take time to appreciate the sheer scale of this remarkable volcano and the landscapes its eruptions have shaped over centuries.
Come evening, seek out a trattoria in a hidden courtyard and sit beneath a lemon tree sipping a glass of Nerello Mascalese, a ruby-red wine produced in the fertile foothills of Mount Etna. Etna's mineral-rich volcanic soils and high-altitude vineyards have helped make the area one of Sicily's most distinctive wine-producing regions.
As well as plentiful seafood, the menu is sure to feature arancini – deep-fried, breaded rice balls filled with meat or cheese and caper pesto. Try caponata, slow-cooked vegetables with olives, raisins and pine nuts, or the traditional dish pasta alla Norma. Named after the opera Norma by Catania-born composer Vincenzo Bellini, the dish is one of eastern Sicily's best-known culinary specialities. Its ingredients – tomatoes, basil, aubergine and ricotta – are wonderfully simple, but combine into a triumph of Mediterranean flavours!
Brooding Mount Etna forms a dramatic backdrop to your discoveries as you revel in Greek and Roman history and uncover medieval treasures.
Brooding Mount Etna forms a dramatic backdrop to your discoveries as you revel in Roman history in Sicily followed by a relaxing four days on the UNESCO-protected Aeolian island of Lipari.
