Sicily
Sicily's volcanic soils and ancient varieties—Nero d'Avola, Nerello Mascalese, Grillo, Carricante—produce wines of remarkable complexity and singular character. From Mount Etna's high-altitude vineyards to coastal estates near Marsala, our relationships provide access to winemakers reviving indigenous traditions while crafting wines that rival anything produced on the mainland. Experience private tastings on Etna's lava slopes, discover producers working with pre-phylloxera vines, explore Greek temples in Agrigento, visit artisan ceramicists in Caltagirone, and discover a Mediterranean island where ancient winemaking meets contemporary innovation, Arab spice markets, and baroque architecture.
CULINARY ARTS
Walking through blood orange groves where the fruit glows against volcanic soil and the juice runs crimson, making arancini and cannoli alongside Sicilian grandmothers who guard their recipes like family secrets, watching the ancient tonnara tuna harvest — a tradition that predates written history along the western coast, Modica's chocolate still ground cold on stone the way the Aztecs taught the Spanish centuries ago, weaving through Palermo's Ballarò and Vucciria markets where street food vendors have shouted over each other for a thousand years, cooking with Michelin chefs in Taormina using the island's wild capers and seafood pulled from the Ionian that morning.
CULTURE & LEISURE
Walking the Valley of the Temples at sunrise before the crowds arrive, when the light turns the columns gold against the Mediterranean below, hiking Mount Etna's crater with volcanologists who read the mountain's moods like a language, settling into the ancient Greek amphitheater in Taormina as the sun drops behind Etna and a performance begins in a space that's held audiences for two thousand years, wandering Noto and Ragusa's baroque streetscapes — entire cities rebuilt in golden limestone after the earthquake of 1693, boat excursions through the Aeolian Islands where Stromboli erupts against the night sky from the deck, descending into Palermo's Capuchin Catacombs where eight thousand figures line the corridors in one of the most haunting spaces in Europe.
ARTISAN TRADITIONS
Painting ceramics alongside master artisans in Caltagirone where the craft climbs the famous 142-step staircase and every tile tells a story, watching puppeteers carve and string the pupi that have acted out tales of Charlemagne and the Moors in Sicilian theaters for centuries, coral jewelry shaped by hand in Sciacca's workshops from reefs harvested off the southern coast, traditional Sicilian cart painting — each panel a riot of color depicting saints and legends passed down through generations of artists, hand-milling soap from wild Sicilian herbs and botanicals grown in volcanic soil, raking sea salt by hand at Trapani's ancient salt pans where windmills still stand against pink-tinged waters at sunset.