I've been around the mainland of Italy, but since I have a lot of unvisited countries on my bucket list, I thought it would be awhile before I ever did a Sicily trip. When unexpectedly spending a couple of weeks in Malta though, a 40 minute flight to Catania is hard to pass up.
Greek Theatre in Taormina
I'd read up on Catania and it didn't seem like most people's top choice for a Sicily destination, but I ended up liking the city a lot. I'd heard it compared to Naples, which I did not enjoy, but this had nowhere near that kind of big city gritty feel. It was lively, clean, and easily walkable.
We only visited for three days, landing early morning on a Friday and departing late night on a Sunday, but that was a perfect amount of time to both experience Catania as a city, do a wine tasting near Mt. Etna, and make a day trip to Taormina.
We stayed in this absolutely gorgeous Italian villa I booked through Air BnB. It was off-season, but I still couldn't believe that we only paid $280 total for two nights (four guests) in this incredible home.
It was also hidden right in the middle of the city on Via Caronda. You'd never guess from the steel door on the street that there was a secret garden behind it.
Our villa was a few blocks down on the right.
Three bedrooms, high ceilings, a billiards room, cute kitchen, bathroom with both tub and shower, sitting room with complimentary bottle of wine, and lush back garden with patio furniture and swings. Still not over it. I want this to be my real life.
Catania felt very safe. We spent most of our time on the main pedestrian shopping strip, Via Etnea, but we did walk across the city from the train station the last night as well without issues. It felt like we were surrounded by more locals than tourists, so if you're looking for an authentic Sicilian city experience, this might be the spot.
We visited the Villa Bellini gardens where we applauded their dedication to updating the lawn calendar daily...
...shopped at the Christmas markets on Via Etnea and in the University Plaza...
...passed by the Roman ampitheatre ruins...
...and visited Cattedrale di Sant'Agata in the main plaza where the elephant statue is. Love the grey exterior of this church but Sicilian churches in general were not very impressive. The interior of this cathedral and every other church I stepped into were pretty simplistic which is enough to convince me that mainland Italians and Sicilians are different breeds. Like if you want sensory overload, step into any church in Rome. Sicilian churches are minimalist in comparison.
But points for housing the dessicated body of a saint.
I highly recommend Pasticceria Savia, a busy and popular cafe down the street from our villa. Everything we tried there was great, but the arancini in Sicily blew me away. After an excellent eggplant arancini from this cafe and an equally amazing spinach arancini in Taormina, I tried ordering it three times at various places in Malta and it never compared.
Arancini wins flavor but ricotta pastry wins photo placement.
And try an aperol spritz! I noticed everyone drinking these bright orange cocktails outside a wine bar and had to have one. Apparently it is like THE cocktail of Sicily. I'm sold.
We went wine tasting below Mt Etna the first afternoon, and I greatly endorse Biondi Winery. I had emailed around that morning to get price quotes, and one of the more famous ones, Benanti, was trying to charge 80 euro per person for a group tour. Biondi offered us a tour at 40 euro per person, and they exclusively do private tours.
Something to note is that we didn't realize Uber (which is very expensive in Sicily as they only offer Uber Black) would take us out there but nobody would come all that way to pick us up, so it's best if you have a rental car or prearranged transport. Thankfully, our host Stephanie called around and found us a taxi to pick us up.
Biondi was great. They have four gigantic mastiffs who hung out with us the whole time. The mom Elsa was my fave, and not just because one of the boys knocked us off our feet and another one kept trying to "playfully" bite us as if he didn't realize his jaw could break my arm in half.
Stephanie's husband, Ciro, showed us around the vineyard and let us taste the grapes off the vine. Then we sat inside (summer tours do outdoor tastings) and sampled five different wines along with a charcuterie board, breads, and homemade oil. It felt very intimate, like we were just welcomed into a Sicilian home, and Mat's mom and sister said it was the highlight of their trip.
Although, looking back on our very tipsy taxi ride back to Catania, maybe you don't want to rent a car after all.
On our final day in Sicily, we took a day trip to Taormina. I'd heard good things about the town, and it was beautiful. There were a lot of tourists here, but it seems most of them come in on daytime tours and clear out around mid-afternoon. We had planned for a long day, but I think 4-5 hours is more than enough. We ended up switching onto an earlier train because we felt we'd gotten all we could out of the town in that time, and that included us sitting down for lunch and dinner. Maybe if you're there in summer, you can visit a beach, but we were satisfied with our trip.
We did have a slight train mishap where we tried to get off too late in Taormina, and since we were on an express train to Rome, the next stop wasn't for another hour until we hit Messina. It cost us a fortune to taxi back down, but it was either that or wait three hours for a return train. Big oops.
Great Mt Etna train views though.
Once we finally arrived, we had a really nice and warm day wandering Corso Umberto, the main pedestrian strip. There's a wide variety of shops whether you're looking for expensive jewelry, candy, wine, or creepy wooden puppets.
I think this shop has featured in my nightmares. I loved it.
Also, more austere churches!
Like, paint your ceiling or something. Where is the drama?
It's a beautiful town, and my only complaint was that I was too sick (for the third damn time in a month) to be able to drink out on the sunny patios dotting the whole length of the street. At one cafe, Mat and I ordered a juice and a soda and the waiter looked like he wanted to charge us a penalty fee for sobriety.
The highlight of Taormina was definitely the Greek Theatre. It's a BC-era ruin of an ampitheater that reminded me of the sights in Rome, except significantly less crowded and touristy and with gorgeous mountain and ocean views in the backdrop.
I'm glad to have had a short Sicilian experience and hope this helps in planning what should be a longer stay for others. Any time in Italy is a good time!
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