Day 1: our guide and the car with a driver will meet you at the international airport of Catania. First stop at Aci Trezza, small and ancient fishing village, with its little fishing boats and nets cast on the sea-shore. Then lunch consisting of freshly caught fish in a restaurant with a view of the faraglioni, remarkable basalt rocks of volcanic origin in the middle of the sea. These were said to be the rocks which the blinded and enraged Polyphemus hurled at the ships of Ulysses. Second stop Taormina, an ancient village that sits on top of rocky mountains that overlook the sea. A visit to the Greek theatre and the historic center, where you will delight in a magnificent view: the sea, Calabria on the opposite coast, Etna, the largest volcano in Europe and the memories of Homer's poems blend together in unforgetable images and beauty. In the evening arrival in Syracuse, a small city founded in the 8th century B.C. from the union of 5 centers, and for centuries was a place of great splendor and power throughout the Mediteranean. It was also the capital of Sicily and even of the Byzantine Empire. Arrangements in your hotel and then a short walk through the characteristic streets of the island of Ortygia, ancient center and heart of the city. Dinner in a typical restaurant with exquisite sea-food dishes, which only traditional Sicilian cuisine offers, accompanied by vintage white wines that enhance every flavor and aroma.

Day 2: A walk in the archeological park where the Latomie are found, these are huge grottos of white rock where, in the 5th century B.C., the Syracuse people put the Athenians to their death. In the following centuries they were also used as burial grounds for the Romans and as catacombs for the first Christians. Then a visit to the grandiose Greek Theatre of the 5th century B.C., a place of extreme beauty and uncomparable fascination, where for centuries great Greek tragedies, from Edipus Re to Antigone, were staged. We will also visit: a Roman amphitheater of the 1st century B.C. where the gladiator combats took place; the Ear of Dionysus (as the famous painter Caravaggio called it), a curious and impressive grotto in the form of an ear with a small opening on the top from which the tyrant Dionysus could listen to his enemies secrets; Archimedes'tomb, the great philosopher and inventor of the 3rd century B.C. who with his incredible war machines allowed the city to resist the Roman siege for three years.
Therefore in the archeological museum you will be able to travel back in time through vases, ceramics, bas-reliefs, etc and live the history and art of the many cultures who have made up this land. Above all the marvelous statue of Venus, a perfect image of the "woman as is, as is loved, as is desired, as one wants to hold her" admired and copied by hundreds of artists throughout time.
After a lunch with freshly caught fish cooked in the typical Sicilian style from the city's port, we will move to Piazza Armerina. This was the great Roman villa of the 3rd century A.D., whose numerous halls and rooms are entirely decorated with incredible mosaics perfectly preserved that narrate hunting scenes, cute girls in bikinis, and immortal myths like the one of Ulysses and Polyphemus. Arrival in Palermo in the late evening. Dinner along with sampling of the renowned Palermo-style pasta with sardines, crunchy bread, swordfish wraps, good wine and flavors from the past.

Day 3: a full day to breath and fully take in the flavors, the colors, the legends, the art forms and the human expressions of the hundreds of people and cultures that have inhabited Palermo. The city encloses itself around a port, a natural bay of enchanted beauty at the foot of a hill where oranges and lemons are cultivated. Occupied by the Phoenicians in the 8th century B.C., Palermo was conquered by the Greeks in the 5th century. In the beginning of the 3rd century the Romans arrived, and in the 3rd century A.D. the Christianity explosion took place. For all of the 9th century the Muslims made Palermo the richest and most tollerant land in all of the Mediterranean, but its maximum splendor arrived in the 12th century when Frederick II made his court from the most prestigious and talented artists of the era. Then came the Aragons, baroque, Spanish Bourbons, the decline, the mafia, etc. That is why only here will you find Europe's hidden gems like the Palatine Chapel, a fable-like place of Arab-Norman art in which everything, from the columns, to the floors, to the walls are covered in precious and beautiful bizantine mosaics; the church of San Giovanni degli Eremiti with its Arab-style arches and small cupolas, but above all its benedictine cloister in a Norman style; the magnificent Cathedral, originally built on the sight of a cemetery and extracted in the place of a pre-existing Mosque, with its admirable fusions of different styles and its Gothic portico, a Norman supporting structure, a Baroque cupola; the Cappuccini crypt, where for centuries monks have preserved embalmed and mummified bodies of Palermo's nobility, creating these ghostly catacombs with millions of skeletons hanging from the walls; the daily fruit and vegetable market, the Vucciria, the constant expressions of spontaneity and brightness of the people. We will then visit the Cathedral of Monreale, over six thousand square meters of absolute perfection of Arab-Norman art, rich with breath-taking decorations and gold mosaics representing stories from the Old Testament; and finally the splendid rose and pomegranate garden of the Benadictine cloister. Lunch will be in a family-style restaurant in the center of town where the grandmother herself does the cooking. The dinner will be a suprise, but for now all you need to know is that the restaurant is very near the seven fairie's courtyard. According to legend, every night seven beautiful women choose a person to fulfill their unimaginable dreams, those they never knew could exist.

Day 4: a few kilometers from Palermo you will come upon a new wonder: near the small town, founded, according to legend, from Troy's refugees, the solemn and isolated temple of Segesta, from the 5th century B.C.,sits untourched with its 36 imposing doric columns even now creates a fantastic image of the divine beauty and hugeness of the landscape. In the middle of the slope, inbetween two tall mountains the temple raises up like a powerful prayer that the Greeks destined to their gods of human vices. On the top of the mountain the Greek theater, excavated in the rock, gives you one last and moving view of the entire valley. Then we visit the ancient and seducing medieval village of Erice, defensively positioned at the top of a mountain overlooking the magnificent valley, the sea and the islands on the other side of the coast. Because of its envied strategic position, it became the center of many wars between the Greeks and the Carthaginians. We will visit the medieval castle built on the acropolis of the ancient city; the suggestive walls (known as Cyclops) that surround the city; the small characteristic rock paved streets with carpet stores who still use ancient looms for weaving; delicious sweets made from almond paste and cream; and finally the famous temple of Venus, dedicated to the Godess of love, where sacred prostitution was practised. We will then have lunch in a small village with typical local dishes and a final toast with a sweet wine. This will be one of the many flavors that you will remember about the places and cultures you visited. In the afternoon we will return to Palermo and then transfer to the airport.