A taste of Sicily Tour

We'll greet you at Catania Airport, and transport you to our luxury 4* hotel in Taormina. Our team will help you unpack and build your bike, we'll hand out the team kit, and make final preparations before tomorrow's ride. After discussing the week's programme, the team will enjoy a relaxed warmup ride around this beautiful city. We'll savour dinner in one of the excellent restaurants specialising in local Sicilian dishes. This assumes we can tear ourselves away from the beautiful pool at our spa hotel.

Your epic tour starts today with an epic ascent up to Mount Etna, the largest active volcano in Europe. Have you ever cycled up an active volcano before? Here's your chance. The Giro ascended Mt Etna in 2017, 2018, 2020 & 2022 becoming a classic epic ride. You have a choice of riding from our hotel to the town of Linguaglossa at the base of Etna, or if you prefer, to save your energy and we'll drive you there. Our ascent starts from Linguaglossa. The 18.2km / 1,235m ascent of Etna is a truly unique experience, with solidified black lava flows a key feature towards the top. Then an incredible descent will take us all the way to the beautiful city of Catania. We'll then get to our hotel, where we'll enjoy our well deserved rest and get ready to explore the city.

Today is the shortest stage of our tour, allowing our legs to recover from the Mount Etna ascent. We'll ride as a group along undulating roads overlooking the coast directly to Syracuse. There will be photo opportunities and we should reach Syracuse with plenty of time to spare to allow a leisurely exploration of this really beautiful and ancient city.

Later in the evening, we will find ourselves enjoying a delicious dinner overlooking the water in Syracuse.

Today we say goodbye to Syracuse and head inland to the UNESCO Heritage site of Noto, yet another incredibly beautiful city on our way to Ragusa. We will be visiting the Baroque centre and will enjoy rich coffee or a refreshing gelati before continuing our journey to the UNESCO city of Modica, rebuilt in the Baroque style after the massive earthquake in 1693. Possibly a light lunch here before reaching our destination, the deeply divided city of Ragusa – divided by deep ravines!

We’ll help you settle into your hotel and then explore this city of two parts followed by a well-deserved dinner.

On today's menu, right after our delicious breakfast, we will leave for Vittoria, one of the youngest towns (all relative of course!) in this region and where women continue to create elaborate embroideries first introduced during the Arabic period.

We’ll stop for a gelato or gelati (yes there is a difference!) before continuing with our ride to a town on the opposite side of the age spectrum - Vizzini is one of the oldest towns in Sicily. We’ll pass through Vizzini to our delightful castle hotel.

In the afternoon, you can choose between visiting Vizzini or resting and enjoying the castle's wonderful pool and spa.

The last day of our Sicilian tour. Today we embark on a journey through the rolling hills of interior Sicily. We’ll stop by for a double espresso and sweet pastry in Vizzini and start our ride to Caltagirone. Interesting fact, the name is derived from Arabic qal'at-al-jarar" – the castle of (pottery) jars and it remains a thriving pottery centre.

Like much of this region, the town was destroyed by the 1693 earthquake and rebuilt in the Baroque style. After a light lunch, we will ride our last gentle descent to Catania, where you can spend the afternoon to exploring the city.

In the evening, we will have our last dinner celebrating a small journey through south eastern Sicily.

After last night's celebratory dinner and this morning's sleep-in, a hearty breakfast, it’s time to say goodbye... A last espresso (or latte macchiato, or cappuccino) a sweet Sicilian pastry and we'll drive you to Catania Airport.

If you are continuing your trip in Sicily, we'll help you and if not, then remember to come back as there is so much more to Sicily.