Slow Sicily - Ancient Monuments and Agrotourism

Eleven days around Sicily at a deliberately unhurried pace, with farm stays rather than city hotels for much of it. The island holds Greek, Roman, Norman and Baroque layers stacked on top of each other, and this itinerary takes a run at all four.

Palermo opens it with two nights and a private tour covering the Norman Palace and the Palazzo Abatellis gallery, plus the Capuchin Catacombs, where some eight thousand mummified bodies are displayed standing in their clothes and which is not for everyone. Trapani follows with two nights and optional trips to the Zingaro reserve, the Greek ruins at Selinunte, the Doric temple at Segesta and the Aegadian Islands.

Realmonte comes next by way of Agrigento and the Valley of the Temples, where a row of Doric temples stands along a ridge above the sea, better preserved than almost anything in Greece itself and a reminder that this was once Magna Graecia rather than Italy.

Ragusa then gets two nights, reached past the tiled staircase at Caltagirone and the Villa Romana del Casale, a Roman villa holding one of the largest surviving collections of mosaic floors anywhere. Ragusa itself was rebuilt in two separate places after the 1693 earthquake, which is why it has two distinct halves. The trip finishes with two nights at Milo on Etna’s eastern flank among the lemon orchards and lava flows. Original Travel include the hire car, accommodation, the private tours, concierge access, a 24-hour helpline and carbon absorption. Flights and most meals are separate. Prices run from 2,700 to 3,900 pounds per person.