Appreciate the input. Now I’m down to 2 days Taormina / 4 days Siracusa or 3/3…
Leaning towards 2/4 so I can do a day trip to Noto.
Make sure to stop by bam bar in Taormina for a granita.
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I agree with the modica comment. We stayed in the ragusa area and visited Cos & Occhipiniti. Ortigia/Siricusa was one of my top places for sure.
Now leaning towards two nights Taormina, 4 nights Ortigia with a day trip to Noto.
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Barry,
We did a week on Sicily last fall.
Four days in Taormina and three days in Noto.
Taormina - Used it as base to visit the area. By far the most tourists we saw while visiting Sicily.
Hotel Ashbee - Great hotel but not cheap. Very nice 2* Michelin restaurant on property.
Visited Girolamo Russo and Maugeri on the slopes of Mt. Etna
Noto - Beautiful old quarter. Definitely quieter than Taormina. Fantastic Baroque architecture.
Hotel Q92 - Cool hotel right in the old quarter.
Visited Siracusa/Ortigia. Also went to the beach for one day just south of Noto.
If we were to change anything, we would stay in Ortigia instead of Noto and do a day or two visit to Noto.
You can see my pictures of Sicily on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/giantdolphan/
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@Gus_Siokis Im with you on Ortiga good base in a beautiful city with lots of history to see close by. Russo was my favorite of Etna along with Terre Nerre and Src
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I was underwhelmed in the extreme by noto. Day trip with a visit to cafe Sicilia and you’re good.
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Seconded. We did Noto as a day trip from Siracusa and enjoyed a serious hike into a canyon nearby much more than lunch and a few hours’ walking around town…
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We returned from a trip to Sicily and leveraged a lot of the information on this site. Below are my takeaways:
Tips:
Order wine immediately (or advance if you can). This island runs slowly… 30 min for the list… 30 min for the wine to arrive… and then 15 min to bring it to temp…. 1HR+ before you have the wine you want, at nearly every restaurant.
Palermo:
Tour of Palazzo Conte Federico was a fun highlight
Tour of the Teatro Massimo was worth doing
Botanical garden was nice, but not mesmerizing
We did two pizzerias: Mastunicola and Procopio - enjoyed both, book ahead, both at same level
Grano Granis was a gluten free café for lunch that was nice, but not noteworthy.
Many gluten free bakeries were available, which was nice
Drive to Gulfi:
Group drove to Gulfi, stopping to see Roman mosaics at Villa del Casale, Piazza Armerina. Great hospital around the corner for when you get food poisoning!
We did dinner at Locanda Gulfi. Beautiful location, OK wines (on my 87-96 scale, I’d give them 90-92). I’d go for dinner, but manage expectations on this being a wine centric restaurant. Many wines were not available, the reds came warm and all shaken up with lots of sediment, with whole glasses of wine discarded. Perplexing given this is a winery restaurant, and the wines were not cheap by Sicilian standards. Fun to try a 2016 Pinot from Sicily, some of the other wines were a bit heavy. The higher rated CT wines were listed, but not available.
Day in Modica/Ragusa + Olive Oil Farm
We started off doing the “Bean to Bar” tour at Modica, the oldest chocolate house. The chocolate is nice, but in that grainy style where sugar isn’t melted. Modica is a nice village, but not for a long time.
We went to Ragusa from there. In August heat, a mistake to get there in the afternoon - blazing hot and the city comes alive in the evening coolness. If we did it again, we would have started the whole day later, doing Modica in afternoon and Ragusa in evening.
For lunch in Ragusa we did A’Rusticana. A nice courtyard off a side street and the food was traditional and great. A bit slow (like all restaurants).
Dinner at I Bianchi was great, on the side walk, and here the food was served faster. The food here was on a higher level than A’Rusticana. First restaurant on the trip that felt a little more elevated.
We also visited an olive oil farm, Oleificio Gulino, which I would recommend. We booked direct. The price quoted was well below other tours and other direct inquiries. We bought a lot of olive oil.
Ortigia
- Enroute to Ortigia we stopped at one of the private beaches. The best ones are not near Ortigia, but 45-60 minutes south of Ortigia, as they have more sand.
- We did dinner twice at Latteria Mamma Iabica. At this point, this was the best restaurant of the trip. It’s a Slow Food affiliated restaurant. It’s across the bridge and less touristed.
- If we did it again, however, we would have only done 1 dinner there and 1 at a restaurant in the Ortigia old town area, where the vibe is really charming.
- Gluten free arancini at… Arancina Gluten Free.. was a nice stop
- We did a guided tour through the Ortigia market one morning, which we would recommend to cover more ground quickly
- Interesting to see the Temple of Apollo next to a shopping mall
Taormina
- We did a daytrip to the city of Taormina, not the beaches – and it still felt too much
- The city has Santorini-like vibes on the main top strip, with a crowded boulevard, lots of Western retail (watch stores etc.) mixed in with knick knacks and large crowds
- Down the slopes (which are steep, so you will sweat coming back up), there were some interesting shops
- Lunch at Gourmet 32 was OK, I wouldn’t return.
- The granita at Bam Bar was a HIT. The line goes quickly. It’s worth it. Coffee + Almond was crushable. I had two of them. I’d franchise that shop.
Mt. Etna / Randazzo Restaurants
- We visited a pistachio farm in Bronte (Vivai Grassia Bronte). Like the olive oil, much cheaper to book direct. Would recommend it, if you like pistachios
- Lunch at ProtOsteria, tucked away in the middle of Bronte, was a very nice traditional stop. They did have a wine list, but we did not partake.
- Etna Quota Mille has a nice restaurant with a large wine list. A very viable option to stay or eat.
- Dinner at Cave Ox was the #2 restaurant of our trip. The service is slow, but the food is good. The wine list is extensive – and we ordered multiple bottles here. We were overcharged 150 euro on one bottle, flagged it to no interest to fix it by the owner, and let it be. I’d still go back, but no more letting such a mistake slide!
- Dinner at Vitis Vineria in Randazzo was the #1 restaurant of our trip. Awesome location in the nooks and crannies of Randazzo, awesome food, awesome cellar and somm. We went twice.
- Having a bottle on the picnic tables outside Il Guon Gusto Randazzo*. The “go to” wine store in Randazzo (3 wineries mentioned it to us). All recent releases, and every producer is here. Would grab a bottle, charcuterie in the early evening and enjoy the street scene of local life around you. I wish we did this more than once on our trip.
Mt. Etna / Randazzo Restaurants
Girolamo Russo: We liked this visit a bit. We liked their entry white the best (2025 Nerina), as it has less oak then their other wines. The guide suggested the higher end Cru were more complex, but I found them to be oaky and vanilla – Nerina was fresher and more complex. We liked both the 2021 and 2022 San Lorenzo reds. San Lorenzo is a cooler climate (higher & windier). 2022 Fuedo didn’t appeal.
Terre Nerre: We tasted 2023s and these were objectively difficult to swallow. So much extraction and oak. It was the 2023 or 2024 Santo Spirito which was the most mouth drying wine I’ve ever had – injecting a mouthful of wood. The flagship/old wine Don Peppino was able to carry the wood, but it felt like the wine could be better with less wood at that point. The wines were +50% more to buy here than in the US as well, not cheap! This wine stop had me thinking about modern barolos
Passopisciaro: We couldn’t squeeze this one in, but bought the 2019 Contrada R twice. It was certainly one of the best reds of the trip. Not sure about the QPR at $100, but a solid 93 on my 87-96 scale.
Benanti: Loved their top white, Pietra Marina. Different soil and elevage, and it shows. I found their other crus wanting, lacking concentration and intensity. These wines are usually on most lists, and aren’t particularly cheap. I’d buy Pietra Marina though.
Vino di Anna: This is a natural producer with a wild story. First vintage in 2016, 80 bottles, fermented in glass and Tupperware. No oak or sulphur. A bit natty, but pure and showed what an unoak grape could do. We had this at a restaurant, not a visit, and I’d be curious to visit and try their ‘22s
Sciara: We learned of this producer in Etna and couldn’t squeeze a visit. This would have been at top of our list. High altitude producer from California. Less oak (or no oak?). I’d be very curious to see what a lesser oaked wine can look like.
Salvatore Foti: This name came up on the island a few times. I’m told another producer who uses less oak. We bought a bottle of his top white and found it to be pure and intense, but with a strong oxidative note that didn’t resonate.
I Custodi: the 2014 Aetnus is a good wine at peak with good QPR. I bought the 2014 Saecular riserva back home to see if it would be even better. Not sure this would be a great visit, but I’d check it out.
**Overall, I’d say if we went back… we’d focus on exploring producers who use less oak/larger barrels/no roto fermenters. I’d mix some of the new growers in as well. This is a VERY young wine region, only 20-30 years old we were told by many. I imagine they will follow the arc that Barolo say, with less oak/extraction at some point in the intermediate future. The whites are so much better without oak, and I think the reds will show that as well.
Photos on Instagram:
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+100. Almond/coffee.
When in Sicily and Italy last year for 3 weeks, my goal was to bring home just one bottle of wine. I was not willing to purchase a bottle in Sicily and schlep it around for 3 weeks and trying to keep it cool along the way.
We had a great lunch and tasting at Benanti the first week, and I ended up buying a bottle of 2020 Pietra Marina! I love good Carricante. It was the most expensive purchase of a bottle I have ever made, at about $150. I kept it cool on the trip and it is now sleeping in my storage.
While in Colorado a few months ago I saw the 2016 version for only $145 on a restaurant list and as expected it was sold out!
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And it is only $85 in the UK! I plan to buy a case of 22s there when it is released
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I spent 3 weeks in Sicily earlier this year visiting my wife’s family in Catania/SE.
One of the standout visits was with Salvatore Foti and his kids, who run I Vignieri in Milo (East Etna). Focus on whites, and very little oak. Their ancient Palmento (traditional way of processing and pressing grapes) is still in use. Their sister (?) winery on the North side of Etna, I Custodi. also was fantastic.
Had a great time in Linguaglossa, including a great meal and wine at “In Cucina dai Pennisi”
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