Palermo: We loved Palermo. The apartment was wonderful! The section of town was perfect, a little more quiet, yet still in the heart of historic Palermo. It gave us the chance to see daily life as well as more tourist activities. We highly recommend the Palazzo Butera. We spent the better part of the day there, enjoying the art, seeing the restoration with some of the process opened up, and enjoying quiet drinks on the terrace with time to sketch and read.
A restaurant right across from the apartment, L’Ottava Nota was fantastic. A little restaurant, MadoniEAT right down the block was a great place for breakfast or lunch. The new shops and restaurants on the harbor / marina were really fun.
The Palermo guide was wonderful. He gave us a “lay of the land”, described its key elements well, and gave us some great tips. His guided tour of Palazzo Abatellis was terrific. He clearly understands its art well as well as Scarpa’s vision for the Villa / Museum. Knowing Scarpa’s work, this was especially meaningful to me and it was wonderful to experience a museum that was intentionally not a blank canvas but a well curated experience.
Villa Flora Relais, San Cataldo: Wonderful hotel with its own great restaurant. We enjoyed drinks in the afternoon / evening on their terrace after our trips during the day. The staff was great. It was a wonderful contrast to the city of Palermo to get the chance to drive through the center of the island and see the rural countryside. We arrived on a Sunday and the restaurant was closed. As it is in more of the countryside, options were few, but they directed us to a place nearby that really gave us a picture of local life. Experiencing her ancestral town was deeply moving for Sarah.
Piazza Armerina was amazing to see and learn about. Our guide was great. Obviously there was a hiccup at Valley of the Temples. I had only brought the summary with me for the whole trip, so I didn’t have his number with me. But, honestly, we did fine, and I think even better unguided. There is so much information at the site. And, it probably helped that I am an architect.
On our way to Siracusa, we stopped in Ragusa. We had lunch at a great spot, Luigi’s Trattoria. The city is beautiful and great for shopping. But, they take siesta very seriously and everything shut down at 2:00 so our timing was a bit off.
Siracusa: Fantastic hotel! We loved the room, looking out over the sea on the second floor. There is a great terrace on the second floor for drinks that is also a restaurant. We sometimes took a break there to sketch and relax when it was not open for drinks but seating still there.
The tour was fascinating. We especially enjoyed seeing the tunnels beneath the city and hearing about Sicily’s and the city’s history from the perspective of our guide.
Taormina: The hotel was beautiful and the views from our room spectacular. Driving in the city is a bit crazy. Also, a big heads up that the hotel apparently knows… Google and Apple Maps takes you to the back of the hotel and it is a pretty harrowing drive up a very winding and steep drive. I managed to scratch up the car trying to navigate around a wall. I wound up parking the car, trying to get in the hotel (which I couldn’t from behind, and then calling the hotel when they told me about the problem with maps. I highly recommend letting their service park the car and retrieving it after. There is no need for the car otherwise.
The boat tour of the Aeolian Islands was not great because the seas were very rough and at least 1/3 of the passengers were really seasick. (Thankfully we were fine). Although we enjoyed a very nice lunch on Panarea, there wasn’t much to do or see, even as the island itself was beautiful. We avoided doing a tour and just explored, which I think was a good move. Stromboli really didn’t offer much either. In the end, it was a very long day, one that would have been better going to the beach at Taormina.
Taormina was also the most “touristy”. While lovely, it felt like a high-end shopping mall had invaded what, must have been a simply beautiful town in the past.
I really can’t say enough about how much we enjoyed this trip and how much we were inspired. We got to experience deep history, wonderful architecture, breathtaking landscapes, and beautiful people who guided us, served us so graciously, and lived ordinary lives for us to witness in its diversity and energy.
Your work made that all possible and we are deeply grateful for it. All the best.
Ed and Sarah, New Jersey, USA