Top 5 Things to do in Sicily

Last year I was lucky enough to have been invited to a epic tour around Sicily by my parents, joining them and my sister on a jaunt around this beautiful Mediterranean Island stopping at a number of sites of cultural and historical significance along the way. Having really enjoyed a previous trip to Sorrento in Italy I was very excited to see what Sicily had in offer and I was not disappointed!

If you’re looking for a holiday full of magical sites to see and places to visit then Sicily is a great choice.  Our holiday was a package put together by a tour guide company which made it rather pricey but if you want to find your own flights to Sicily you can use a site such as WishSicily.com which may work out cheaper. Choosing your own stop offs will mean you can take advantage of all Sicily has to offer from history and culture to food and modern entertainment.

There are so many things to do and places to see on this island that I wanted to give you the run down of my favourite 5 activities which we took part in during our visit to inspire you.

Mount Etna

You can’t come to Sicily and not visit Mount Etna! One of the most famous features of the island, Etna is an active volcano on the east coast between Messina and Catania and is the tallest active volcano in Europe standing at around 10,922 feet high and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Greek Mythology says the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under Etna by Zeus, and the forges of Hephaestus the blacksmith were said to also be located underneath it. We didn’t spot any Greek Gods during our visit but the experience was magical indeed with the transformation of the landscape from lush Mediterranean vineyards and orchards to black volcanic rock and a beautiful layer of crisp white snow against a deep azure sky. There are several levels you can visit on the volcano including a trip up to the ridiculously cold and icy summit (if you’re feeling brave), or if you’re happy admiring the view from below you can find a number of little shops and restaurants available for tourists to find both heat and souvenirs. I really loved my visit to Mount Etna. The sense of peace and tranquillity really tugged at my soul. I really recommend a visit.

Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio

Sicily is an island of astonishing Churches. Set in the Piazza Bellini in Palermo the Santa Maria dell’Ammiraglio is certainly one of the most amazing specimens with stunning architecture and design. It belongs to the Eparchy of Piana degli Albanesi of the Italo-Albanian Catholic Church which includes the Albanian community who officiate the liturgy according to the Byzantine Rite in the ancient Greek language. The most fascinating aspect of the Church is all the different religions represented in its decoration which is due to the many different peoples who have taken ownership over the years, resulting in a number of transformations in art, architecture and culture. I could hardly tear my eyes away from the spectacular interior, which is dominated by a series of 12th century Byzantine mosaics (made with very thin but very real slices of gold) depicting religious scenes. This really is a must-see.

Villa Romana del Casale

Living close to a Roman Villa in Kent I thought I had seen some fantastic Roman mosaics, but nothing could have prepared me for the stunning examples of this decorative style at the Villa Romana del Casale just outside the town of Piazza Armerina. Built in the first quarter of the 4th century this villa contains the richest, largest and most complex collection of Roman mosaics in the world and is an UNESCO World Heritage Site. The villa complex is concentrated around a ‘peristyle’ a courtyard featuring pillars, surrounded with public and private rooms. The inhabitants enjoyed their very own thermal bathhouse as well a large basilica to the east and a huge formal dining room. The majority of the floors are covered in fascinating mosaic designs, the most impressive of all being the the Great Hunt which sees all manner of animals being chased along the corridor by hunters. This is certainly a villa I would like to have lived in, in it’s heyday!

Valle dei Templi

The Romans weren’t the only ones to make their mark on the Sicilian landscape. The Valle dei Templi (valley of temples) is an archaeological site in Agrigento, Southern Sicily and is a ridge which dominates the landscape with no less than seven Doric-style (identified by the simple circular capitals at the top of columns) Greek temples sitting on it! It is the largest archaeological site in the world with 1,300 hectares made up of Temples dedicated to the Greek Gods and Goddesses: Concordia, Juno, Heracles, Olympian Zeus, Castor and Pollux, Vulcan and Asclepius. Although it was a long walk I really enjoyed starting at the top and travelling along the valley to see the imposing and impressive temples whilst our tour guide gave us more information on the life and times of the people who created them.

Syracuse Greek Theatre and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica

The Greek Theatre at Syracuse was first built in the 5th century BC and later rebuilt several times with even the Romans renovating this picturesque and grandiose venue. It is set within the extraordinary Rocky Necropolis, a collection of cemeteries with rock-cut chamber tombs dating from the 7th to the 13th centuries BC covering around 5,000 tombs. It is again an UNESCO World Heritage site.  The theatre saw performances of works from playwrights the likes of Epicharmus, Phormis and Deinolocus. Although the scene building has been destroyed you can still see the “Stairs of Charon,” which allowed the actors sudden entrances and exits. Just above the main theatre there is a terrace excavated from the rock, the “Via dei Sepolcri” (Street of the Tombs) which you can access from the central stairway. The main feature of this terrace is the mystical grotta del Ninfeo, where water flows into a grotto carved into the rock, assumed to be a Mouseion or sanctuary of Muses which couldn’t be more suitable for a theatre!

Have you been to Sicily? What were your top sites? Let me know below.