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Tours, travel, excursions, experiences.

Arethusa. Wel­come to the world's fa­vorite Si­cilian web­site, with over two mil­lion read­ers each year, around 200 at this very mo­ment. Each of the fol­low­ing topics is a gate­way to many (print­able) pages. Come vis­it our sun­ny is­land. We've been ex­pect­ing you for three thou­sand years!

Sights.Sights & Activities: Our ever-popu­lar list of things to see and where to see them, ev­ery­thing from an­cient Greek temples to Baroque palaces, great nat­ural sites and much more. Not a dry aca­dem­ic list of ar­cane sites, but in­ter­est­ing at­trac­tions open to the pub­lic. And things to do.

Localities.Localities: Cities and towns around Si­cily listed, along with a map (this site is full of maps). There are dozens of pages ded­icat­ed to spe­cif­ic places. This is the easi­est way to find a place if you al­ready know what you're look­ing for. If you don't, try search­ing by re­gion...

Regions.Scenic Regions: Rivers, moun­tains and the cas­tles nes­tled among them. Here you'll dis­cov­er Si­cily through its nat­ural beau­ty of coasts, hills, streams and Eu­rope's great­est vol­cano. And the hin­ter­land, the "secret" Si­cily and its very real peo­ple.

Sights.Food and Wine: Si­cily's de­li­cious cui­sine. Page after page ded­icat­ed to spe­cial­ties and cu­riosi­ties. The main wine page is a vir­tual one-stop guide to our is­land's wines and liqueurs. The last two decades have seen a Si­cilian wine re­nais­sance. Taste it!

History.History: Three thou­sand years of his­to­ry await you in Si­cily. In this pic is Archi­medes, one of many Si­cilians pro­filed on this site, be­cause be­hind the place is its peo­ple. The philoso­phers, sci­en­tists, artists, poets, kings and queens. The culture. And, of course, the or­di­nary folk.

Students.For Students: Not sur­pris­ing­ly for a site that has be­come an in­ter­na­tion­al point of ref­er­ence for Si­cily and Si­cilians, we're con­sult­ed by stu­dents of all ages. In ad­di­tion to our pages for younger students, this site pre­sents much cur­rent in­forma­tion about Si­cily and Si­cilians. (Shown is the An­nuncia­tion by Antonel­lo da Mes­sina.)

Sicilians.Sicilian Identity: The world's most con­quered is­land boasts a magi­cal lega­cy. Frederick II (shown) was one of Eu­rope's great­est me­dieval mon­archs. Much of this site is dedi­cat­ed to what makes Si­ci­ly unique. Since it's per­son­al, there's a sec­tion on genealogy for fam­ily his­tory re­search­ers. Si­cily even has its own language.

Meet the peoples.Peoples of Sicily: Tours and lec­tures based on the most in­sight­ful book about Si­cil­ian his­to­ry and cul­ture writ­ten in the last ten years, by two lead­ing schol­ars who are re­writ­ing the his­to­ry of our is­land. Don't just visit Si­ci­ly. Meet the peo­ples! (Read more.)


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» Why Si­cily? 12 cul­tures in 1.
» Top 12 destina­tions in Si­cily.
» Sights to see, things to do.
» Scenic Places & ge­og­ra­phy.
» Tours of Si­cily & more.
» Hotels and other lodg­ing.
» Country Cooking Classes and lodg­ing.
» City Cooking Classes in Palermo.
» Restaurants reviewed.
» Travel Faqs with real in­fo.
» Sicily Air­ports - get­ting there.
» Airlines servicing Si­cily.
» Travel Ideas for your visit.
» Sicily Maps - roads & cities.
» Sicily Weather fore­casts, temps.
» Beaches in Sicily - a selection.
» Travel Services. Some­thing dif­ferent.
» Student Tours of Sicily - discovery.
» Palermo - guide to the city.
» Villas in Sicily & how to find one.
» Golf courses & resorts.
» Sightseeing and touring.
» Tour Guides listed by locality.
» Transportation - trains, buses...
» Sicily for Children. For families!
» Young Students. Study resources.
» Cooking Classes around Si­cily.
» Travel Guide Books reviewed.
» Sicilian Genealogy. Family history.
» Travel Agent Resources and ad­vice.
» Sicily Facts and figures.
» Sicilian Culture - all things Si­cilian.
» Sicilian Literature - then and now.
» Arts and Artists. Creativity.
» Sicilian Identity - ethnic legacy.
» Religions of Sicily. Faiths.
» Peoples of Sicily. Meet the peoples!
» Invisible Sicily - the unseen.
» Kingdom of Sicily - the book.
» Sicilian - language of a people.

Travel services.Sicily Concierge: Per­son­al­ized trav­el, ex­cur­sions, tours of Si­cily, events, student tours in Sicily, con­fer­ences in Sicily, the popu­lar Peoples of Sicily tours and much more, from a trav­el agen­cy based in Si­ci­ly. Family history tours too. Real ser­vice from a real tour op­er­ator.

Tours and excursions.
• Golden Sicily. A fa­vorite, with al­most week­ly de­par­tures all year.
• Tours of Sicily with de­par­tures al­most ev­ery week of the year.
• Shore Excursions from Palermo - pri­vate shore trips in west­ern Si­cily: Mon­reale, Pa­lermo, Erice, Se­gesta, Cef­alù.
• Day Tours from Palermo - reg­ularly-scheduled with fre­quent de­par­tures: Erice-Segesta, Agri­gento, Mon­reale, Piaz­za Armer­ina, Pa­lermo cook­ing classes.
• Shore Excursions from Messina - private shore trips in eastern Si­cily: Taor­mina, Etna, Mes­sina, win­ery visits.
• Tours of Italy including Sicily - the penin­su­la plus Si­cily.
• Day Tours from Siracusa - private ex­cur­sions, food & wine ex­pe­ri­ences, Taor­mina and more.
• Private Tours around Sicily - pre-planned pri­vate tours, from 4 to 11 days.
• Private Excursions from Catania - win­eries, Taor­mina, Sira­cusa and more.

Hotels in Sicily.
• SICILY Search the entire island.
• Agrigento Ancient Greek temples.
• Catania Sicily's bustling second city.
• Cefalù Splendid Norman cathedral
• Marsala Sicily's wine country.
• Messina Underrated but interesting.
• Noto Baroque splendor in scenic hills.
• Palermo Medieval legacy.
• Ragusa Baroque and charming.
• Siracusa Ancient Greek capital.
• Taormina Delightful hilltop resort town.
• Trapani Near Erice and Segesta.


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Read more. Time Trav­el­er's Guide to Nor­man Arab Byz­an­tine Pa­ler­mo, Mon­reale & Cef­alù. Per­fect if you're trav­el­ing in­de­pen­dent­ly and not with a tour group. From Ama­zon US, Ama­zon UK, Ama­zon CA, Barnes & No­ble, BAM!, Water­stones, Indigo, Fish Pond and other ven­dors. Pa­ler­mo: Lib­rer­ia del Cor­so. Mon­reale: Cathe­dral Book­shop.

From our resi­dent his­to­ri­ans, a new wave of books about Si­ci­ly, each a first!
The Peoples of Si­cily: The first over­view of all the civ­iliza­tions that pop­ulat­ed our is­land.
Women of Sicily: The first book on the his­tor­ical women of Si­cily writ­ten in En­glish by a Si­cilian wom­an in Si­cily.
The King­dom of Sicily: The first com­plete his­tory of the King­dom of Si­cily over its seven cen­turies.
Sicilian Food & Wine: The first guide of its kind pub­lished in En­glish.
Sicilian Genealogy: The first guide to Si­cilian fam­ily his­tory re­search.
Margaret, Queen of Si­cily: The first biog­raphy of this me­dieval queen.
Sicilian Studies: The first En­glish guide to the study of Sicily's his­to­ry and cul­ture.
The Vine Whisperer: Mak­ing wine and doing busi­ness in Si­cily.

If you're an educator, read this!

Discover the music of Filippo Testa!

Antique map of Sicily.Limited Edi­tion Map of Si­cily. Print is­sued with the pub­lica­tion of Men­dola's King­dom of Si­cily. Signed, num­bered, paint­ed, mea­sur­ing 53x58 cm (21x23 in), bear­ing me­die­val her­al­dic mo­tifs. €180. Ex­clu­sive­ly from Lib­reria del Cor­so book shop, Via Vit­torio Emanuele 332 (be­tween Quat­tro Can­ti and Piaz­za Bolo­gni), in Pa­ler­mo.

Our offices.
We are Si­cil­ians. But this site is not about its au­thors' egos, ce­leb­ri­ty or fame. It's about Si­cily and your dis­cov­ery of our is­land. This is an in­de­pen­dent pub­li­ca­tion with an of­fice housed in a his­toric palace in Pa­ler­mo's Kalsa dis­trict. On­line since 1999, Best of Si­cily pre­sents ac­cu­rate in­forma­tion about Si­cily. We pro­mote tours and trav­el in Si­cily, as well as books about our is­land's his­to­ry, peo­ple and cul­ture. We are not af­fil­iat­ed with any pub­lic agen­cy or trav­el bu­reau. Opin­ions ex­pres­sed on the site are not neces­sari­ly those of the edi­tors. The mate­rial on this web­site is orig­inal. While every at­tempt has been made to en­sure the ac­curacy of in­forma­tion pre­sented here, the pub­lish­ers are not liable for any errors.


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Finding it in Sicily.

Made in Sicily. Here's why...All text and images on this site (indexed under domain name bestofsicily.com) Copyright 1999-2022. Unauthorized re-publica­tion is prohibited. Last updated: Thursday, April 7th, 2022..

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