17 reviews
May 19 - Jun 1, 2025
Group size: 1 - 12
Enchanting Sicily 2025
96100 Syracuse, Free municipal consortium of Syracuse, Italy
17 reviews
May 19 - Jun 1, 2025
Group size: 1 - 12
About this trip
On our signature tour of Sicily, you’ll discover off-the-beaten path towns, interact with locals, and immerse yourself in Sicilian culture and ancient history. You’ll tour intriguing UNESCO World Heritage sites, remote mountain towns, and charming seaside villages. You’ll attend a world-class performance of a classic Greek play in Siracusa’s Ancient Greek theater. You’ll interact with Sicilians in a meaningful way. You’ll stay in 4-star hotels and characteristic inns and relish family-run trattorias as you explore Sicily’s 3,000 years of human history with authentic experiences, vibrant flavors, and sweet melodies that will capture your imagination.
Ask about our optional prelude stay in Taormina!
Enchanting Sicily Tour Highlights
- Pre-stay option in Taormina
- Professional, local guides
- Siracusa/Ortigia*
- Interaction with locals
- Cooking class and market tour
- Live performances of classic Greek theater and Sicilian folk music
- Mount Etna*
- Wine experience on Etna
- Ragusa Ibla*
- The Roman Villa of Casale in Piazza Armerina*
- Valley of the Temples in Agrigento*
- Hidden mountain towns
- Palermo’s Arab Norman patrimony*
- Off-the-beaten path seaside villages
- Erice and Trapani’s salt flats
- Coastal boat excursion
- Outstanding seasonal cuisine
- The logistics and details managed by our expert guides
- Private and clean professional transportation
*UNESCO sites
What's Included?
Land only.
14 days, 13 nights.
Tour price includes costs for all excursions, planned entertainment and ticket prices, tour transportation, and all breakfasts, ten lunches, and five dinners)
The Benefits of Traveling with Experience Sicily
- Owner-managed tour--call, and you'll speak directly to Allison Scola
- The logistics and details managed by our American office and Sicilian insiders
- Select, private and clean professional transportation
- Local, expert guides at all principal sites
- Meaningful interaction with locals
- Off-the-beaten path seaside villages and mountain towns
- Outstanding traditional cuisine
- An excellent balance of structured and free time
PRICE INCLUDES
- Group airport transfers on designated arrival and departure days
- Four-star accommodations
- All breakfasts, ten lunches, and seven dinners (all but eight meals)
- All transportation, entrance fees, tickets to entertainment, all excursions, most gratuities
- English-speaking/Italian speaking tour leader, professional drivers, and licensed, local guides
WHERE WE STAY
- Optional pre-tour stay in Taormina (For an additional cost.)
- Ortigia/Siracusa (4 nights)
- Ragusa Ibla (1 night)
- On the Mediterranean Sea in Agrigento Province (3 nights)
- Palermo Center (2 nights)
- Scopello (3 nights)
ACTIVITY LEVEL
- Walking and touring historic sites, towns, and villages for a few hours each day. Paced to savor the moments.
- Structured days with planned leisure time
Taormina Prelude!
The seaside resort of Taormina offers you sweeping views of Mount Etna, people-watching, cafés, boutiques, and an impressive ancient theater. Arrive one day or two days early to acclimate to Sicily and explore Taormina at your leisure with the guidance of Experience Sicily.
Optional pre-tour stay in Taormina
Includes airport and hotel transfers, hotel stay, buffet breakfast. The lunches are on your own. Dinner on the first night is on your own. Experience Sicily Owner/Curator Allison Scola will be present for the evening of the second night and will accompany your transfer to Siracusa on the first day of Enchanting Sicily. Dinner with Allison on the second night is included with your pre-tour package. We will provide you with a list of restaurant recommendations and can make reservations for you as you wish.
A group transfer to Siracusa for your first hotel of Enchanting Sicily will be scheduled for the afternoon of the first day of Enchanting Sicily. Exact time to be determined.
Available Packages
Double Occupancy
Deposit:$1,000
Available until April 19, 20256 left
Early Registration Incentive Pricing! Pay in-full by November 1, 2024 and receive $300/person off the cost of your tour. Use the code ENCHANTINGEARLY300 at check out!
$7,900
Deposit:$1,000
Single Occupancy
Deposit:$1,000
Available until April 19, 20254 left
Early Registration Incentive Pricing! Pay in-full by November 1, 2024 and receive $300/person off the cost of your tour. Use the code ENCHANTINGEARLY300 at check out!
$9,125
Deposit:$1,000
Available options
Taormina 1-day (Double Occupancy)
$400
Taormina 1-day (Single Occupancy)
$590
Taormina 2-day (Double Occupancy)
$610
Taormina 2-day (Single Occupancy)
$920
Your Organizer
Experience Sicily
17 reviews
Experience Sicily is a boutique tour operator based in the United States with an office in Palermo, Sicily. Together with her Sicilian cousins and deep network of local contacts, Owner and Curator Allison Scola specializes in experiential travel in Sicily through leading small-group tours of Sicily and custom Sicily itinerary planning.
Sicily is our passion. We want to share it with you. Let’s Experience Sicily together!
Reviews
RK
This was an absolutely fabulous trip from start to finish. Allison Scola organized everything flawlessly. We stayed in beautiful hotels where our luggage was delivered to our door. The organized meals were delicious. We had a cooking class at one meal and learned a Sicilian dance at another meal accompanied by a great trio of musicians. Our daytime hours were filled with interesting excursions led by passionate as well as erudite guides. We had an elegant wine tasting at a restored winery. Our trip to Mt. Etna was exciting in off road vehicles and the visit to a shepherd’s farm with home cooked meal charmed everyone. Allison works with the best to give her group an unequaled Sicilian experience.
By Randal K for Stunning Sicily 2024 on Nov 02, 2024
Our trip to Sicily with Alison was wonderful. The itinerary was thoughtfully curated and we learned a lot about the history of Sicily. The cooking classes were lots of fun and we learned how to cook some delicious Sicilian specialties. The size of the group was such that we got to know everyone quite well. The transportation provided was quite comfortable. I would rate the accommodations as 3 star, but comfortable enough considering we did not spend much time at he hotel.
By Frederick D for Stirring Sicily: Cooking in Sicily 2024 (Tour 2) on Sep 27, 2024
I recently returned from 10 wonderful days in Sicily, spent with the Experience Sicily tour group, and happily recommend this company for small group travel in Sicily. This was not my first trip to Sicily, but it was the first with a tour group, and I must say it was quite nice having someone else make all the arrangements for me. The focus of this trip was food and wine so we had several visits to farms and wineries, cooking classes with professional chefs, and a special tasting with an artisanal gelato maker. In addition we visited major archeological sites with excellent guides.
Allison, who lead the tour, is extremely knowledgeable and passionate about Sicily and eager to convey information about the history and culture of the island. We also heard a lot of great Sicilian music!
By Mary Ann S for Stirring Sicily: Cooking in Sicily 2024 (Tour 1) on Sep 13, 2024
Experience Sicily! We are home now, adjusted to our local time zone, with time to reflect and appreciate the wonderful time we had in Sicily!
The entire Experience Sicily team is extremely customer oriented, very responsive and exceptionally knowledgeable. Allison Scola, who is an amazing individual, adds an unprecedented passion and excitement to this incredibly talented and dedicated team. The entire Experience Sicily team is wonderful! They understand the vacation industry. Trip pre-planning activities are well documented, coordinated and communicated. Once we arrived in Sicily the local team was equally organized! These two weeks we just spent in Sicily, were some of the best vacation days we’ve had! The entire ES team delivered a wonderful customer experience.
On our tour we saw many wonderful things; Including UNESCO sites, archaeological parks, ancient theaters, valley of the temples, museums, churches, and cathedrals! Excursions were lead by certified professional tour guides. Their knowledge and expertise helped us understand and appreciate what we were seeing and learning.
We had the privilege of meeting and traveling with world-class chefs and wine experts. We were treated to the best gelato ever! We participated in several cooking classes! We learned how to make different kinds of pasta, caponata, sausage, panelle, and of course Arancini. In Ortigia and Palermo, we walked through the open markets. Fresh fish, fresh meats, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, fresh breads, fresh pastries, fresh everything!! Vendors chanting and competing for your attention… hard to describe, easy to enjoy! For sure, Sicily has the best cannoli in the world and fortunately for us we found a couple pasticcerias where we treated ourselves!
We visited a working sheep farm where they were making fresh ricotta. We actually tasted some of the fresh ricotta curd. What a treat! We stopped at a local butcher shop and to make fresh sausage, we bought homemade salami, chess, and then headed off for lunch. Our hosts, Giuseppe and Valeria, treated us to an unbelievable Barbecue-Picnic lunch in the mountains.
A trip to Trapani to visit the salt flats included a walk through the salt beds with a view into some of the ancient technology (Archimedes screw) that was used to move water from one flat to another. We took a boat excursion on the Tyrrhenian Sea where we were able to jump into the sea to enjoy the cool refreshing waters. Hiking on Mount Etna, visiting wineries… On our winery tours we experienced the entire process of how fresh grapes are turned into wine. We tasted wine drawn from the cask. We bottled, corked, and labeled our own bottles.
Eating in amazing trattorias, enjoying passeggiata, learning the differences between Buongiorno, Buonasera, and Buona note!
With love and appreciation, Grace & Andy DeMore
By Andrew D for Stirring Sicily: Cooking in Sicily 2024 (Tour 1) on Sep 07, 2024
If you want to see , feel and taste Sicily…. You must go with Experience Sicily. Alison Scola’s knowledge of the history, culture and charm of Sicily is a joyous journey. You will love every moment you spend with her! Thank you for the best and most informative vacation experience 💕👏👏
By Cheryl S for Stirring Sicily: Cooking in Sicily 2024 (Tour 1) on Sep 06, 2024
References
https://experiencesicily.com/tag/pierfilippo-spoto/
Pierfilippo and his team in Sant’ Angelo Muxaro in Agrigento , Sicily are amazing and I highly recommend him. Pierfilippo is top class and such a lovely person. His natural Sicilian warmth and humor, his deep knowledge of Sicilian, Italian and World history, his expert knowledge on culture and his vision for his region and country make him a delight to be with. He is the perfect contact if you are looking for a cultural experience in Sicily.
The connection came from Angelo Marchica in Palermo who originally comes from Sant’ Angelo Muxaro. Angelo leads the company Streaty - Street food tour of Palermo. This we have done twice with my family. In 2018 we did tours in Palermon with Streaty. It was amazing, such fun and we did it again in 2022! Thank you Angelo!
Pierfilippo organized for me a tailor-made “Sicilian programme”. This included pick up at the airport of Palermo Falcone Borsellino with Giuseppe, a dedicated and qualified teacher of Italian (and some Sicilian) with Rorita, work on an olive farm to help with the harvest with Paolo, visits of major UNESCO heritage centers and other cultural buildings as well as dinners and lunches with lovely local people (Lisa, Alfonso, Francesco, Caterina, Maria, Gloria.....from Sant’ Angelo Muxaro and the region. Yoga lessons with Ailin. There were so many delightful highlights and beautiful memories. Sant’ Angelo Muxaro in Agrigento, Sicily is a lovely village full of history going back + 3,000 years. It is part of our European heritage and I am so lucky to have learnt something special there.
Pierfilippo also organizes groups who wish to do their own tailor-made programs. There were groups from the USA there as well as from Italy and other European and Asian countries.
I feel so very grateful to Pierfilippo and to all the wonderful Sicilians I met there who educated me, who taught me, who were so patient with me. I was quite sad to have left the Sant’ Angelo Muxaro in Agrigento but I do know, I will come back again…with friends and or on my own. Possa Dio proteggere miei amici in Sicilia in Sant’ Angelo Muxaro.
By Christopher B on 17 Nov, 2024