Sicily advice
 

Have you recently visited Sicily?
If so, please help us plan our 4 week trip by sharing
what you would have done differently

and, if you wish, quick summary of your trip and high points.

You will need to provide a lot more information if you want useful advice. People here are glad to help but aren't interested in planning your whole trip and don't want to waste a lot of time giving information that doesn't help with the kind of trip you want! What are your interests? What made you decide on Sicily?
What do you want to see? Are you looking mostly for history? Architecture? Art? Food? Other? Driving? Public transportation?
Maybe a good guidebook would help you get started.

I agree with SusanP and would add that IMO, the Rough Guide to Sicily is particularly good.

And I'll offer the one thing I most wish I'd done differently when I visited: I'd give it more time! Four weeks would be a dream. :)

I've planned my trip. I know what I want to see.
What I don't know is what I don't know.
Pickpockets at the Milan train station was something I learned about in advance of my arrival there.....
The heat is turned on a specific date, regardless of the temperature....something else I learned after my arrival and I wasn't prepared.
Things like that.

And what WE don't know is what YOU don't know ... so I don't "know" how we can help.

Good luck!

I would have learned to speak and understand the basics of the Sicilian language.
Next time I will.

High points were finding a small in the middle of nowhere seaside cafe, talking to the waiter-cum-owner-cum-chef in broken English/Sicilian/Italian, not knowing what we were ordering other than fresh fish, and enjoying a remarkable meal like none I’ve ever had before.

Similar experience in a small town at a ceramics shop - 85 yr old artisan proudly showing us his wares.

Sicily is a large island. Most tourists do not realize how large it is.
Except for a few routes, I prefer buses over trains.
They all speak Italian, as long as guests behave. Otherwise many pretend to speak only the local dialect. If you call Sicilian a dialect they will hate you, but it's a dialect.
When you joke about the Mafia, actually you are joking about 1,031 murdered cops, prosecutors, judges, journalists and innocent bystanders. The Godfather part 2 is not a doc.

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It seems you haven't learnt much.

• The underage pregnant pickpockets "work" inside the metro stop under the train station, the reason is quite obvious if you think at the layout of the elevated tracks area at Milano Centrale.

• City Mayors can bypass the Regional laws about heating and AC when the temperature in their city is significantly different from the season averages. Given the way You make questions, most probably you were the only one complaining in that city.

Learn as much as you can about the history of Sicily before you go; the mix of cultures over the centuries makes Sicily what it is (I find it fascinating).

The roads were in good condition, though in certain places they were not cambered. So when it rained, the water stayed on the road, instead of running off. Just meant that we had to be a little more careful when driving.

To reinforce what has already been said, the Mafia / the Cosa Nostra is not a romantic thing or group, and are NOT liked in Sicily; it's the source of many problems. Also the Godfather movies aren't particularly popular, at least based on my conversations with people when we were there. Probably not a topic to discuss unless you feel very comfortable with whomever you're chatting with.

High points, for me, was all of the mosaics (I love mosaics), and being in such an old city as Siracusa (I minored in ancient history in college). And I developed a huge love of caponata, and would order it any time I saw it on a menu.

High points, for me, was all of the mosaics (I love mosaics), and being in such an old city as Siracusa (I minored in ancient history in college). And I developed a huge love of caponata, and would order it any time I saw it on a menu.[/QUOTE]

Can you say more about the mosaics? Which were your favorites?

We had a much shorter trip to Sicily than you are planning but thoroughly enjoyed Palermo, Siracusa, the temples of Agrigento and the mosaics at Villa Romano del Casale. We were advised not to leave luggage in the car when we visited Agrigento and Villa Romano del Casale.

I agree with the statements above about the Mafia. We took a food walking tour in Palermo (https://www.streaty.com/city/street-...rs-in-palermo/) which we really enjoyed and the guide indicated his family had really suffered during the time the Mafia was unrestrained.

I pulled my trip notes; the mosaics were in and around Palermo. We hired a cab to take us to Monreale (we didn't pick up our rental car until we left Palermo). My mistake, the two-hour time frame included travel time, so we had less time there than I anticipated. I wrote that because the mosiacs at the Cathedral there are higher on the walls, they were not as easy to see. We also took the train to Cefalu, and saw the mosaics in their Cathedral; I think I preferred those in Monreale.

In Palermo, I liked the mosiacs at Chiesa della Martorana; there are also mosaics at the Palatine Chapel. Those are all Byzantine mosaics.

In other parts of Sicily, for Roman mosaics, the Villa Romana cannot be beat. We spent a LONG time there.

What is your itinerary? People might have comments about what they wished they had seen, etc.
We were there 3 weeks and on the go -- we could easily have expanded the time, and yet sometimes I think just walking the streets, sitting in a cafe, not doing much -- more time should be spent doing that -- 'doing nothing.'
Along that same line, with 4 weeks there is also more time just to explore on the way to/from a destination and stumble upon things you would not otherwise see.
Hill towns/villages -- many have ancient dialects dating to Norman times. I would spend more time checking out some of these places.
When will you be there? At some points during the year (summer?), not when we were there, there are plays & performances in the ancient theatres. That would be something to see.
Palermo -- they have a great opera house. Also, the puppet shows, I had no interest but have since learned much about this and the commedia dell'arte -- these sorts of things are in Palermo.

I really do not have a handle on what you are looking to learn, but I visited Scily twice, for about three weeks each time, in the past 3 years. And quite a few visits prior to that...

I wrote these comments fairly recently, so maybe you can find something helpful here.

There is no need to learn "Sicilian"; people you will encounter as a tourist speak Italian, although knowledge of Sicilian dialect might open a few doors if you venture to the hinterland.

Here is a report focused on food; there are a few others on this site:

https://www.hungryonion.org/t/catani...sicily/40294/4


https://www.hungryonion.org/t/marina...sicily/40342/3



https://www.hungryonion.org/t/sicily...-in-2023/34398





https://www.hungryonion.org/t/salina...icily/40448/12





https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...024-a-1724938/

Focus is on food, which determines our plans when we travel to Italy and Spain, but perhaps a few tidbits may be of some help.....

Catania was a big surprise to me...after neglecting that city for during earlier trips to the island, we finally included it, for the first time, in 2023, and cannot get enough of this city...and it's people!!! A gem!!!!

Airport is very close to the city, about ten minutes and about 25 euro in a taxi, so easy to include a few days , given the time, when your arrival or departure is out of that city.

Unfortunately, our trip to Sicily was over 20 years ago, but I regret that we didn't stay longer, so I am jealous of your four weeks.

What I'm glad we were able to do was get adopted by two taxi drivers. The one in Palermo drove use everywhere and taught us the vagaries of bus travel. Time kept us from taking a driving trip with the one in Siracusa.

Friends have said driving outside the city was no problem. I hope you will share what you end up doing!