Sicily is the largest island of the Mediterranean and blessed with breathtaking nature, a richness of history and tradition and food to die for!
Each area, town, village has a strong local identity, with traditions, cuisine and even the local dialect changing between places just 10 minutes apart. There is always something new to discover and enjoy!
We have divided our guide into four parts - Southern, Southwestern, Northeastern and Northwestern. This division largely fits with how road networks within Sicily are set up which means that it makes sense to explore the Southern area as defined in the map before moving somewhere else and so on.
Defining Sicily, as any place in the world, is hard because of the mixture of natural settings (from the fierce nature of the Etna Volcano to the tranquil coasts of Ragusa and from long, arid plains of the inner land to the rocky sea cliffs around Palermo) and the mixture of cultures with the influences of the Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards and various others that have visited the island still visible today. The result is something uniquely Sicilian and offers wonderful architecture, food, traditions and, above all, personalities that are hard to resist.
Something we particularly love about Sicily is how it manages to be a fascinating place while hardly trying to do so. It all simply seems to exist and it's up to you to join in and enjoy it.
In order to make the journey even more interesting we like to point people to the lesser known places, to areas where the pursuit of tourists (and its associated evils) has not led to five-star hotels ruining the coastline, and cookie-cuter restaurants with no local feel.
We prefer the smaller hotels, from family run B&Bs to boutique four star hotels and the same restaurants and bars that locals use. Such a holiday, we believe, gets you closer to what Sicily is all about - a place that is primarily and foremost for the people that live there. Over the years we gained an intimate knowledge of the place and its hidden corners and have built close links with some of the best producers, restaurants, hotel owners and guides.
In fact the best advice would be to stop reading about it and, hop on a plane and see for yourselves! As Goethe said in A Journey to Italy: "Without seeing Sicily it is impossible to understand Italy - Sicily is the key to everything".