8-DAY TOUR IN SICILY

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:
·two nights in five-star, five nights in four-star accommodations
·six dinners, four lunches
·two winery lunches
·cooking class

Tour dates in 2010: September 20 to 27

The complete tour price based on 15 persons, direct booking, is €3150,00

Day 1 · Monday [D]

Afternoon: Arrival at Palermo (PMO) airport and transfer to Relais Santa Anastasia in Castelbuono, a tastefully restored Benedictine abbey founded in the year 1100, now a five-star hotel amidst surrounding verdant hills and vineyards with the sea and Aeolian Islands on the horizon.

Evening: Dinner in hotel

Day 2 · Tuesday [B, L, D]

Morning: After a late breakfast in the hotel, we will taste our first Sicilian wines in the of Abbazia Santa Anastasia's cellars, wines classic yet modern all intended to accentuate the characteristics of the grapes.

Lunch: La Brace in Cefalù

Afternoon: Guided walking tour followed by leisure time to browse in the village of Cefalù, the jewel of the Sicily's Tyrrhenian Coast. The Greeks thought its massive peak, the Rocca, resembled a head or kephalos, the origin of its name. It reached its greatest moment of artistic splendor in the 11th Century, its cathedral a pantheon to Norman dynasty.

Evening: Surrounded by the mountains and woods of the Madonie Park, we will savor the traditional plates at Romitaggio San Guglielmo near Castelbuono.

Day 3 · Wednesday [B, L, D

] Morning: An early morning breakfast and departure for the Tenuta di Regaleali nestled in the heart of a landscape of incomparable beauty. It was a feud acquired in the early 18th Century by the Tasca D'Almerita family, an important name in Palermo's history. We will visit the vineyards and cellars of this vast estate in Sicily's heartland where differences in the geological composition of the estates 500 hectares (1250 acres) is a precious resource in its production, experimentation and research (80 examples of Italian, Greek, Spanish and French varieties).

Lunch: Tenuta di Regaleali

Afternoon: Anna Tasca Lanza (The Heart of Sicily, La Sicilia in Cucina, The Flavors of Sicily) will share with us the knowledge and boundless love for her native cuisine and culture. Between visits to the vegetable garden, apricot, almond and cedro orchards, ricotta and pecorino cheese factory, we will recreate the recipes from this renown cook's repertoire, from the wealth of ingredients in season.

Evening: Dinner, of course, is none other than a feast of our class creations, each dish accompanied by another Regaleali wine.

Day 4 · Thursday [B, D]

Morning: After breakfast, departure for the western coast, pausing in Palermo’s historically and artistically ecclectic center for some independent time to shop, visit Quattro Canti, botanical garden, endless street market, and Monreale cathedral. (docent guided visit optional)

Lunch: Unscheduled

Afternoon: Heading south from Palermo, we will visit the Casa Vitivinicola Feoto dello Jato. Seven grape growers have united here in promoting their territory in an area of extreme historical and archaeological interest rich with vineyards in a rupestrian Mediterranean landscape of irises, myrtles, and hawthorns. Late this afternoon, we will check into the Tonnara di Bonagia, a 17th Century tuna factory now four-star hotel and focal point for our next days in the province of Trapani.

Evening: Walk to dinner at the Cortile di Venere where, in the characteristic courtyard, we might venture an aphrodisiac spaghetti with tuna roe.

Day 5 · Friday [B, L]

Morning: After an early breakfast, departure for Marsal Botti in Marsala. Here, where the Li Causi family has maintained the art of the master cooper for two hundred years, we will be guided through the each stage in the making of barriques and large casks. Marsala is better known for its wine than as a town, its history rich with historical figures, an important crossroads for wine, and a gathering point for the high society of the belle èpoque. Already home to the original wineries of the Englishmen Woodhouse and Ingham who succeeded in competing with the Spanish Sherry and Portuguese Port and Madeira in late 18th Century, these establishments were later taken over by Cantine Florio in 1833. Here we will visit the museum and cellars where five million liters of Marsala mature in oak barrels.

Lunch: On the beach at Ristorante Delfino where, as everywhere in this corner of Sicily, fish is de rigueur. We can try the couscous (result of Arab domination), Octopus salad, swordfish carpaccio, sardine rissoles or Trapani pesto (almond, basil, ripe tomato, pecorino cheese, salt, pepper, olive oil and ...garlic!)

Afternoon: Unscheduled to browse or visit artisan workshops in Trapani. In recent years, young and old have joined in cooperatives to preserve the famed traditional craft in coral here.

Evening: Dinner on our own in hotel

Day 6 · Saturday [B, L, D]

Morning: Another early departure for the solitary and imposing temple of Segesta, where our guide will illustrate one of the most important, suggestive and best conserved examples of Doric architecture. Dating to the 5th Century BC, it was undoubtedly the political capital of the Elimi population, defined by Thucydides as a mixture of Sicani, Trojans, and Phoenicians. Afterwards, we will visit the Azienda Agricola Ceuso, a small producer in an area of antique tradition near Alcamo. Only three wines from the most symbolic Sicilian Nero d'Avola are vinified and aged in the baglio, a classic example of Sicilian rural architecture.

Lunch: Azienda Agricola Ceuso

Afternoon: Returning to the Valderice, we will follow one of the most enchanting and unspoiled coasts in Sicily with its calcareous massifs, splendid seascapes, broad sandy beaches, rich fauna and flora.

Evening: Towards sunset, we will climb the 2500' Mount Erice to catch the spectacular views of Trapani and Egadi Islands. If fortunate, we can see as far as the islands of Ustica, Pantelleria, and Cape Bon in Africa. Following a stroll in the village of Erice, a Carthaginian, and Elimi fortress in the 7th Century B.C., we will dine at Monte San Guliano, then a coffee and dessert at Maria Grammatico's, the village's most famous confectioner.

Day 7 · Sunday [B,D]

Morning: Unscheduled

Lunch: Unscheduled and on our own

Afternoon: Our private charter will take us (in a round about way!) to the island of Favignana, the largest of the Egadi Islands and only a half-hour crossing from the port of Trapani. Arriving from sea, we immediately recognize the Tonnara Florio and Villa Florio, both constructed the mid-19th Century and, for decades, the centers of town life. Time at leisure to explore the antiquarium, Piazza Marina, narrow streets of the Sant' Anna district or just delight in the aromas of fruit trees, flowering plants and aromatic herbs in the courtyards and gardens.

Evening: Gala dinner at the Ristorante Egadi; return to Trapani

Day 8 · Monday[B]

Transfer for departure at the Palermo (PMO) airport, continued stay in Palermo, eastern Sicily or further destinations.

Included are:
·accommodations (two nights in five star, five nights in four-star hotels; bed & breakfast; double room occupancy)
·meals and pre–selected wines as indicated
·winery visits and tastings
·transfers in air-conditioned coach
·monuments and museum entrances
·services of registered guides

Optional extras not included are:
·any air or train fares
·taxis or transfers to and from airports or other arrival and departure points not specified in the program
·single room supplement
·personal hotel expenses (drinks, laundry, telephone calls)
·meals and additional drinks not indicated in the program
·rentals (car or mobile telephone)
·travel insurance
·obtaining documentation
·gratuities

Please note that importers, distributors, clients, journalists, etc. understandably take last minute precedence in any winery visits and tasting. In such eventuality, we reserve the right to reschedule those wineries as planned within our itinerary.