Sights and sites. Information about all kinds of places to see in Sicily. That's what you'll find here. Some of these places are little known beyond Sicily. (We are not associated in any way with the administration or owners of the attractions described on this page and receive no commission or payment for publishing this information.)

Discovering Your Place
What kind of traveler are you?

Finding Your Niche
Specialised "Niche" Travel in Sicily

Small Wonders
Sicily's Minor Archeological Sites

Discovering Your Place

What kind of traveler are you? It seems like a simple question, but the answer can influence your holiday (vacation) choices. This isn't really an exclusively Sicilian matter. It is part of any vacation choice. For simplicity, we'll view this in terms of categories --an imperfect but efficient way of determining traveler needs.

Years ago, England's Tourism Council conducted research to determine holiday maker's needs. While the Brits may not have a monopoly on this field, tourism is clearly more important in the British economy than to that of certain other nations, such as the United States. (The city of New York only recently established an actual tourism promotion bureau for public relations, something London did decades ago.) There were conformists, adventurers, sentimentalists and so forth. But here are the basic profiles.

"Bucket and Spade" is the most famly-oriented category. It presumes that the children need a beach, while Mom and Dad need a relaxing break. This is psychologically the simplest profile, so long as the kids don't drive their parents crazy. Sicily offers relaxing resorts that are perfect for this kind of vacation, and a cultural excursion to an archeological site like Taormina (shown here) is a real possibility.

"Relax and Recharge" points to the needs of couples and singles. This means spas, water sports and such. Less partying and culture but more physical well-being. In Sicily, this might mean mud treatments and sailing. Sunbathing may not be a form of exercise, but it's part of the formula.

"The 'In' Crowd" characterises the needs of party animals. Beach parties, dance clubs, group sports like beach volleyball. Sicily isn't as famous for this as, say, Ibiza, but it certainly has plenty to offer.

"Shabby Chic" brings to mind the idea of James Bond discovering a relaxing resort just before the place gets popularized by the overzealous travel press. A tricky category (partly because nobody thinks of James Bond's stylish ilk as "shabby") but Taormina used to be like this. Kind of. Nowadays, Cefalù, a delightful but relatively unknown resort town, comes closer to this image. "Shabby Chic" doesn't necessarily mean low budget, but it doesn't have to be excessively expensive, either.

Knowing what kind of traveler you are helps you to decide what kind of vacation suits you. Read on...

Finding Your Niche

Italians have taken to calling it "niche tourism." What they are actually describing is a way to experience sights, places and activities that mainstream tours and sightseers usually ignore. At least in part, it's a question of a new market --and new marketing. Let's take a closer look at some of the more popular proposals.

Winery tours are nothing new. Just ask any northern Californian. But in Sicily not many of these tours were promoted internationally until the 1990s. It wasn't for lack of vineyards. The fact is that Sicily, which in some years produces more wine than any other region of Italy, is not Chianti or Piedmont, and until recently only a few of Sicily's better wines could compete head-to-head with the wines of these other regions. That usually translated into less interest in the wineries themselves. The winery tours are viewed as much as a promotional tool as a tourist attraction.

Cooking seminars are a related area that has been exploited by several Sicilian chefs --not all of them professionals. This raises an interesting question about the whole concept of niche tourism. What's the quality like? Truth be told, most of these tours are not intended for experts. The idea is that you learn something from your experience and have fun doing so. In any field, the best professionals are not always the best teachers. It's the leisurely learning that counts.

Everybody's idea of leisure is different. Hiking, biking and sailing are increasing in popularity as group activities for foreign visitors to Sicily. These things have only been promoted in a serious way in the last few years, and they could not be said to be very well organised. Just try finding a competent, qualified company that offers these sporting activities. The problem was that few Sicilians have an interest in biking or hiking. You'll see few bicyclists in Catania or Palermo, where even children prefer mopeds and scooters to bicycles, a situation that contrasts sharply with that of cities in the northern regions of Piedmont, Veneto and South Tirol.

Archeological tours are another evolving area. Representing a longtime staple of the Sicilian tourism industry, such tours have improved considerably in recent years, with museums, foundations and universities developing some exceptional programmes, sometimes in collaboration with local tour companies.

Agritourism (visits to working farms) has also developed greatly in the last decade. Northern and central Italy still attract the lion's share of attention, but some Sicilian farms are exceptional occasions for a visitor to experience rural life.

We've only touched the tip of niche tourism's Mediterranean iceberg, whose refreshing influence is making Sicilian culture felt in the world.

Small Wonders

Himera, San Cipirello, Morgantina, Akrai, Sabucina, Solunto, Gela, Aidone, Castelluccio, Megara Iblea, Naxos, Eraclea Minoa, Mozia, Tindari. These and other less famous archaeological sites of Sicily offer a glimpse of "small town" life of two thousand years ago. Sometimes remote and isolated, these lesser known locations boast some of the best preserved Sicanian, Sicel and Greek vestiges of ancient Sicily, often coexisting with Carthaginian or Roman elements. They're not as "grandiose" as better known sites like Agrigento, Selinunte, Segesta, Taormina and Piazza Armerina, but to the serious archeology afficionado they are every bit as interesting. Indeed, some of the lesser known sites are actually more important historically than the more popular ones. What can you expect from these sites?

If they seem less magnificent, these jewels are less visited, and that means fewer crowds. That's certainly true of Himera (shown here).

A few of the minor sites have surprisingly fine museums. This reflects a recent trend. Today, smaller communities attempt to keep their finds, everything from statuary to coins, near home to encourage people to visit. The experiment has had mixed results, but there's something to commend the preservation and display of local artefacts in the places that gave them birth. It does, however, make seeing these same treasures slightly inconvenient compared to a visit to Palermo, Catania or Agrigento, where the museum may be a few steps from your hotel.

In most localities, infrastructure remains a serious problem, despite what local promoters would have you believe. By "serious" we mean that their schedules can be fickle, and their personnel equally so. In other words, you arrive only to find the site closed to the public. Whatever their shortcomings in terms of scheduling, the larger sites at least make some attempt to publish their open hours, which vary with the season. Segesta may be closed Sundays, but in 2001 San Cipirello's archeological site was closed for months due to the usual administrative squabbles. It seems ridiculous to promote an attraction that is often inaccessible, but that's another discussion. Obviously, it would be unpleasant to venture into the Sicilian interior only to find the gates closed, with nobody (and no explanation) in sight.

Some interesting sites are actually quite near, or within, larger cities or towns, and are overliiked for precisely that reason. The Roman site in Palermo's Piazza Vittoria is a good example. It's not exactly Pompei, but people ignore it because there's so much to see in the surrounding neightbourhood.

At most minor sites, you should expect to explore at ground level. The upper sections of most structures were destroyed long ago. Amphitheatres have survived precisely because they were built into the ground, with little superstructure to collapse. It is the standing structures, particularly the temples, that make Selinunte, Segesta (shown here) and Agrigento so appealing to the eye, even at a distance.

The hours at the minor sites vary so wildly that listing schedules would be an exercise in futility. Those indicated in better published guides may not be current. Telephoning in advance presupposes that you can converse in Italian, as the person who responds usually does not speak English. (Remember what we said about infrastructure.) Getting around these annoyances is not always a simple matter. Here's a survival guide:

1. If time is important, concentrate on sites close to places that offer other attractions so that you'll have a "backup" plan. Solunto and Himera are close to Termini Imerese and both are convenient to Cefalù and Palermo. Naxos is near Taormina. Tindari is along the route between Messina and Palermo, making it a convenient stop instead of a lengthy excursion.

2. Most sites are open most weekday mornings. Get there early, around 9 AM. This way, you'll still have plenty of time to continue your trek to more inviting places if the archeological site is closed.

3. If possible, ensure that literature about a site that interests you is of recent vintage. This increases the chances of an accurate (current) schedule and up-to-date information on recent finds and developments. Unfortunately, few of the sites have English-language websites. (The infrastructure thing, again.)

4. Study a very detailed map before venturing off by car. Don't rely on a brochure or written instructions.

5. Remember Sundays and Italian holidays for possible closings, and remember that the Summer months are torrid in Sicily, making travel less pleasant.

6. Don't forget that many "local" finds have been incorporated into larger collections of museums in Syracuse, Catania and Palermo.

7. Read as much as possible about the site before arriving. This leaves more time to enjoy the details. A knowledge of more general history helps, too, especially for Greek and Roman sites, because it helps place these into a proper historical context.

8. Expect some sites to provide you with an escort or guide. This may be obligatory for security reasons. The guides don't always speak much English, but tipping of €3.00 is traditional, more for a longer visit.

9. Don't overlook other local sites and sights of interest. This means things like castles, churches, agriculture and landscapes.

10. If there's a visitors' survey, fill it out with your comments. In some small way, this may help the administrators to make needed changes.

While the appeal of Sicily's minor archeological sites should not be overstated, it shouldn't be underestimated, either. The journey into the past can be a fascinating one.