From Palermo to Mount Etna - A Grand Tour of Sicily

Thirteen days right round Sicily, which is the operator’s most thorough trip on the island and takes in Greek, Roman, Arab-Norman and Baroque layers in one circuit.

Palermo opens it with a private tour of the Abatellis Palace, the Arab-Norman buildings that make the city architecturally unlike anywhere else in Italy, and the Capuchin Catacombs. Marsala follows for two nights, which is where Garibaldi landed with his thousand volunteers in 1860 and set the unification of Italy in motion, and where the fortified wine is made. A tasting at a winery founded in 1866 can be added.

Agrigento comes next, via the spa town of Sciacca, for the Valley of the Temples. The Greek colony there was founded in the sixth century BC and the row of Doric temples along the ridge is better preserved than most of what survives in Greece.

Ragusa then gets two nights, reached through Enna and the Roman mosaics at the Villa Casale near Piazza Armerina, with its two halves of Ibla and Superiore. Syracuse follows via Modica and Noto, both rebuilt wholesale after the 1693 earthquake, and the Neapolis park there holds the largest Greek theatre in Sicily, with the island old town of Ortigia alongside. The trip finishes with three nights at Riposto, a working fishing port, with optional days out to Taormina, Etna and the vineyards on its slopes. Original Travel include the hire car, accommodation, the private tours, local concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption through their own programme. Flights and most meals are separate. Prices run from 4,450 to 5,750 pounds per person.