Tour Route of Sicily

Tucked away at the foot of Italy, Sicily is nevertheless the largest region in Italy and is the third most densely populated.

Whilst Sicily has made a lot of headlines in the past due to its fierce mafia connections and everyone has heard of the rumblings of Mount Etna, Sicily has a lot to offer as a travel destination.  With over 2,000 years of history and the past domination by many different rulers from the Greeks to the Romans, Byzantines, the Arabs, Normans and the Spanish, all of whom have their mark on the island and contributed to the rich archeological heritage and interesting mix of customs and culture.

Sicily has the highest average hours of sunshine in the whole of Europe and it’s vast coastline provides many magnificent beaches.  So whether you’re looking for history and culture or sun, sand and sea, Sicily has them all.

Tour Route of Sicily

Our tour route of Sicily starts at Taormina from where excursions are made to Mount Etna and Syracuse.  Being fans of Inspector Montalbano, we made time to travel down to Ragusa to search out the sites where the series was filmed.  We couldn’t believe our luck when we were invited into the town hall and the mayor’s office which serves as the police commissioner’s office in the series!

Having fulfilled our search for Montalbano, we travel from Taormina to Piazza Armerina in central Sicily to see the famous Villa Romana del Casale.  From Piazza Armerina, we head west to Agrigento, then north to Selinunte, Erice and Palermo.

If you only have a short time in Venice and want to explore the islands of its lagoon, the most popular ones are Murano, Burano and Torcello. These three can be covered in the one outing and can be reached by the public vaporetti. The vaporetto ride on Venice’s waterways is always fun and apart from being attractive islands to visit, Murano and Burano have things that visitors want – glass products and lace!

Murano

Murano Glass

Murano is actually a cluster of islands connected by bridges.  Murano is world-renowned for its glass products. Its glass-making industry began in 1291 when the city of Venice moved the glass furnaces and the glass artisans to Murano to avoid the risk of fire to city buildings and also because of the smoke.

Murano prospered as a result of glass-making so much so that from the late 13th century they were able to impose self-government and mint their own coins.

By the 15th and 16th centuries, Murano was the main glass-making centre in Europe and Murano glass artisans were revered and enjoyed elevated status and many privileges, including immunity from prosecution by the notoriously high-handed Venetian state.  However, these privileges came at a cost – the artisans were not allowed to leave Murano to set up businesses elsewhere.  Those who harboured thoughts of leaving ran the risk of severe penalties – and even the possibility of death.

Although Murano enjoyed a period of wealth from its glass-making industry, few of its buildings bear witness to its period of splendour and some of the glass factories are now derelict.

To Get to Murano: Catch Vaporetti n. 41 and 42 from S. Zaccaria to Murano.  See here for the ACTV’s Network map.

Burano

Burano Island, Venice

This island can be recognized from a distance by the tall, tilted tower of its San Martino church. With 5,000 inhabitants, Burano island is densely populated. This is a fishing village and on a walk around the waterways you’ll see lots of little fishing boats.

Burano’s Once Famous Lace

Burano is famous for its lace. In the 16th century, Burano’s lace was the most sought after in Europe. With its fine, delicate work, Burano lace became known as puno in aria (“points in the air”). Unfortunately its prestigious lace industry collapsed in the 18th century due to foreign competition and the decline in the Republic.

The need for income resulted in the industry being revived in 1872 and in the establishment of a lace-making school, the Scuola dei Merletti. These days, it’s hard to find genuine pieces of work as it takes weeks of hard labour to make them. Visitors will nevertheless be able to watch the local women doing their craft at the school, next door to which is a museum with some antique lace collection.

Even if you’re not interested in lacework, you’ll enjoy exploring this island with its brightly coloured houses, the main feature of the island. Burano is certainly the most picturesque of the lagoon islands. The street from the ferry stop will take you to Via Baldassare Galupppi which is the main thoroughfare. This street was named after a Burano-born composer. When you hit Galuppi Square, you’ll see many shops selling local craftwork, souvenirs and their famous lace.

As you stroll around the island, look out for “Casa deo Bepi Sua” (the house of Joseph Sweaty). You can’t miss this most colourful of houses with geometric shapes painted on it. It’s believed that the colours were used in the past to show where the boundaries of properties are. Others say that the houses were painted in bright colours by the fishermen so that they can see their house from a distance. Whatever, the real story is, this is a charming island.

There are many trattorias, pizzerias and restaurants on Burano, but the special one that we dined at was restaurant Da Romano. The restaurant’s guest list includes many celebrities.

To get to Burano: Catch Vaporetto no. 41 from S. Zaccaria and change to no. 12 at Fondamenta Nove.  See here for ACTV Network map.  Note:  there are less services to Burano than Murano, so plan your trip well.

To get to Torcello: You’ll need to catch a ferry from Burano and allow more time.  We missed out on Torcello on our last visit to Venice as we ran out of time.

If you have limited time in Venice and don’t want to mess around with finding your way around, it may be more effective to join a tour.  Viator has a half day tour that covers all three islands.

See Travel Signposts Photo Galleries:  Murano and Burano

Map of Italy with major cities

A Suggested Route around Italy

A comprehensive tour of Italy would take a long time, and if limited to the usually visited sights would omit many interesting experiences. However, here is my offering, and I’d say this was a 24 day minimum (excluding Rome):

Note: links to the towns go to photo albums on the TravelSignposts website

Rome – Cerveteri/Tarquinia – Viterbo – Orvieto – Siena – San Gimignano – Florence – Pisa – Carrara – Portofino (Cinque Terre) – Genoa – Milan – Stresa (Lake Maggiore) – Como – Verona – Bolzano – Cortina d’Ampezzo – Brenta Canal – Venice (NOT Mestre) – Pomposa – Ravenna (St Apollinare in Classe) – Perugia – Assisi – Castel Gondolfo – Frascati – Pompeii – Sorrento – Capri – Positano (Amalfi Coast) – Bari – Matera – Castellana – Alberobello – Lecce – Taranto – Calabrian Mountains – Taormina – Syracuse – Ortygia Island – Piazza Armerina – Enna – Selinunte – Agrigento – Mondello – Palermo – Naples – Monte Cassino – Rome

Most of the standard Europe tours cover roughly the same major highlights, but miss out Sicily, the Genoa section, one or both of the Italian Lakes and Dolomite sectors, and the southeast sector round Alberobello. Distances are not huge and roads are good, so in many cases it would easily be possible to change the order I’ve given above without major difficulty.

Don’t know where a place is? Try this map from Google:

Other Italy pages:

Travel to Italy for more than a Roman holiday!

When to travel to Italy for your tour: weather and seasons

Useful facts, dates and links to help you plan your tour of Italy

Food in Italy: a brief gastronomic tour

Book your sightseeing tours or day-trips in Italy online

Book your hotel in Italy online

TOUR ROUTES IN ITALY: PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS