Sicily: From the Greeks to the Baroque - Temples, churches and palazzi: three thousand years of history

Fly at c. 7.00am from London Gatwick to Catania (British Airways). Drive to Taormina, an extremely pretty hillside town, where four nights are spent. A smart resort since the 19th century, our hotel has shaded gardens which spill down a series of terraces.

Drive along the coast to Messina. The city was one of Caravaggio’s Sicilian refuges, and in the art gallery there are two paintings by him and the best-surviving work by the 15th-century painter Antonello da Messina. Cross the Straits of Messina by hydrofoil to Reggio di Calabria on mainland Italy to see the Riace Bronzes, over-life-size male nudes associated with Phidias and Polyclitus, among the finest Greek sculpture to survive.  

Sicily’s second city, Catania was largely rebuilt after the earthquake of 1693 with long straight streets lined with Baroque palaces. Special arrangements to see a magnificent private palazzo and a Byzantine chapel, and visits to the Roman theatre and Normano-Baroque Cathedral. 

A leisurely day to visit the town’s buildings which span five centuries. The Teatro Greco (actually largely Roman) is incomparably sited with far-reaching views encompassing Mount Etna, the Ionian sea and the Calabrian coast of mainland Italy. 

Leave Taormina and drive through the hilly interior of Sicily. At Piazza Armerina are the remains of one of the finest villas of the late Roman Empire, whose floor mosaics comprise the most vital and colourful manifestation of Roman figurative art in Europe. Continue to Palermo, where the remaining five nights are spent.

The largest and by far the most interesting city on the island, Palermo has been capital of Sicily since the period of Saracenic occupation in the ninth century. It reached a peak under the Normans and again during the Age of Baroque. A morning walk through the old centre includes visits to the Palazzo Abatellis and outstanding Norman buildings including La Martorana with fine mosaics. Lunch is at a private palace, by special arrangement. In the afternoon see the remarkable Greek sculpture in the Archaeological Museum. In the evening there is an out-of-hours visit to the Palatine Chapel in the palace of the Norman kings. Entirely encrusted with Byzantine mosaics, this is perhaps the finest assembly of Byzantine art to survive anywhere.

The small town of Monreale dominates a verdant valley southwest of Palermo. Its cathedral is one of the finest Norman churches on the island and possesses the largest scheme of Byzantine mosaic decoration in existence. Cefalù, a charming coastal town, has another massive Norman cathedral.

The remains of the Greek colony of Akragas at modern-day Agrigento constitute one of the greatest sites bequeathed by the ancient world. A relatively late foundation (580 bc), it rose rapidly to riches and constructed eight peripteral temples, the most numerous group in the Greek world. That dedicated to Olympian Zeus was the largest of all Doric temples before being felled by Carthaginians and earthquakes, while the Temple ‘of Concord’ is the best preserved.

Set in an unspoilt hilly landscape, the almost complete but fascinatingly unfinished fifth-century temple at Segesta was built by indigenous, if thoroughly Hellenised, Sicilians. On an adjacent hill is a spectacularly sited theatre with views to the
sea. Return to Palermo to visit the cathedral, a building of many periods (though largely medieval), with grand royal and imperial tombs, and Il Gesù, grandest of Palermo’s Baroque interiors. 

Fly from Palermo, arriving London Heathrow at c. 2.15pm (British Airways). 

Please note flights depart from London Gatwick and return to London Heathrow Airport.