Slow trip

21 slow days of food and wine: Siracusa

Twenty-one days in Sicily's southeast corner means cooking with fishmongers in Siracusa's morning markets, drinking wines made from grapes that ripen on volcanic slopes near Catania, and eating bread still warm from wood-fired ovens in Noto before the tourist crowds arrive. Spring is when the region tastes best: sea urchins appear in March, early wines from the 2023 vintage are ready to taste, and the baroque town squares are still quiet enough to hear the fountain water. You'll move slowly between four or five bases, returning often to the same restaurants and the same corners of the same piazzas.

21 days · March or April · food & wine-first · easy walking

Siracusa

Siracusa, 21 days

Base yourself in Siracusa and make these your day trips.

9 towns · qualifying pool of 9 from 26 candidates

Coastal towns in the provinces of Siracusa, Catania, and Messina. UNESCO listed and historic city centers.

Getting around

Siracusa, your base, is on the rail network. 7 of the 9 towns in this corner have a railway station, so a car-free version of this corner is realistic. Check Trenitalia timetables before you commit a day: rural frequencies run thin, especially on Sundays.

Day 1 · Arrive in Siracusa

Settle in. Siracusa is your base for the next 21 days. Take the afternoon to walk the centro, find your bearings, eat something local.

Province: Siracusa

Siracusa

Ortigia island, wrapped in honey-coloured Baroque stone, sits at the heart of the city Cicero called the most beautiful in the world, on the eastern Sicilian coast south of Catania.

Picked for:art and history · coastal

Day 2 · Day trip to Catania

First outing. Head to Catania for the day. Take the slow road, leave time to wander, be back in Siracusa for dinner.

Province: Catania

Catania

Sicily's second city and the cultural anchor of the Ionian coast, a UNESCO late-Baroque centro storico rebuilt in lava-black stone after the 1693 earthquake, sitting at the foot of Etna with a 17th-century elephant fountain (U Liotru) as its civic symbol.

Picked for:art and history · coastal

Day 3 · Day trip to Noto

Out again, this time to Noto. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Siracusa.

Province: Siracusa

Noto

The capital of Sicilian Baroque, rebuilt entirely in golden limestone after 1693.

Picked for:art and history · plain

Day 4 · Day trip to Pachino

Out again, this time to Pachino. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Siracusa.

Province: Siracusa

Pachino

Sicily's southernmost town, on the Capo Passero promontory, and the name behind the Pomodoro di Pachino PGI cherry tomato.

Picked for:sea and coast · spring travel

Day 5 · Day trip to Aci Castello

Out again, this time to Aci Castello. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Siracusa.

Province: Catania

Aci Castello

A coastal town just north of Catania on the Riviera dei Ciclopi, where the basalt headland holds the 1076 Norman Castello d'Aci and the seven volcanic Faraglioni dei Ciclopi rise from the sea, the rocks the Cyclops threw at Odysseus in Homer's Odyssey.

Picked for:sea and coast · spring travel

Day 6 · Day trip to Modica

Out again, this time to Modica. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Siracusa.

Province: Ragusa

Modica

A vertical Baroque city in the Hyblean Mountains, rebuilt from the 1693 earthquake and home to a chocolate recipe brought from Aztec Mexico.

Picked for:food and wine · hill town

Day 7 · Day trip to Riposto

Out again, this time to Riposto. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Siracusa.

Province: Catania

Riposto

The Ionian port whose name comes from the Sicilian for cellar, where the wine of Mascali and Giarre was stored before shipping.

Picked for:sea and coast · spring travel

Day 8 · Day trip to Taormina

Out again, this time to Taormina. Same rhythm: leave after breakfast, return for evening in Siracusa.

Province: Messina

Taormina

A terrace on Monte Tauro above the Ionian, with Etna on the southern horizon.

Picked for:sea and coast · spring travel

Day 9 · Day trip to Lipari

Last day trip in this corner, to Lipari. Make a day of it, then back to Siracusa.

Province: Messina

Lipari

The largest Aeolian island and the only municipality that administers six of the seven, with a clifftop castle citadel rising above two harbors.

Picked for:art and history · island

Day 10 · Day in Siracusa