PDF - Akorn Destination Management

Golfing Sicily
Duration: 14 days
Highlights: Taormina, Mount Etna, Ragusa, Modica, Donnafugata, Agrigento, Sciacca, Palermo, Cefalu
The mild Mediterranean climate and development of new courses over recent years has made Sicily into Europe’s hottest new golf destination for the casual or serious
player. Why not savour the very best of traditional Sicily with golf on some of Europe’s most unique and challenging courses – all year round!
Itinerary
Day 1 - Arrive Taormina
Private transfer to Taormina from Catania Airport.
Overnight: Grand Hotel Timeo
Day 2 - Taormina and Mount Etna
Today you will enjoy a full day (8 hours) excursion with your English-speaking driver-guide and private vehicle to include Mount Etna and Taormina. This morning, while the
skies are at their clearest, head into the fertile lava flow country of Europe’s largest active volcano, ascending to 6000 feet by road and admiring the stunning views as you go
up. From here, take a cable car up to the next level where the landscape appears to be more and more lunar-like.
Finish your day back in Taormina, with a visit to the Greek Theater that was originally built by the Greeks and later rebuilt by the Romans. The amphitheatre overlooks the
surrounding countryside and offers splendid views of Mount Etna. For even better views, your guide will take you to the hilltop village of Castelmola, where you may wish to
enjoy some delicious Almond wine.
Overnight: Grand Hotel Timeo
Meal Plan: B
Day 3 - Golfing on the Lava Plains of Mount Etna
Il Picciolo is the oldest course in Sicily (1989) and has played host to a number of international tournaments. The proximity to Etna and its regular eruptions provides the
unusual hazard of lava flows on many of the holes and, with trees and vineyards also constantly in play, there is a premium on accurate driving. The course has been built
on a former hazelnut farm.
Overnight: Grand Hotel Timeo
Meal Plan: B
Day 4 - Taormina to Ragusa via Syracuse
Today you will depart Taormina by private vehicle, with an English-speaking driver-guide, south to Ragusa. En route you will enjoy sightseeing in Syracuse. Syracuse was
one of the most important cities of the western world for over a thousand years. This is the city that overcame Athens in the Peloponnesian War and put an end to her
imperial dream. Enjoy sightseeing which will include the 5th-century BC Temple of Athena and the archaeological site, which features the Greek Theatre, Roman
Amphitheatre and Latomia del Paradiso.
Also, visit the charming neighbourhood of Syracuse known as Ortygia. This little island connected to the main city of Syracuse is a listed UNESCO World heritage site and
has always been a strong focal point of the city as its history dates back to the 6th-century BC.
Your day ends at your hotel close to Ragusa, the new gastronomic capital of Sicily.
Overnight: Donnafugata Golf Resort & Spa
Meal Plan: B
Day 5 - Ragusa, Noto and Modica
Exploring south-western Sicily, today you are below the level of the North African coast and the influences are clear to see. The entire Val di Noto is a UNESCO listed area
consisting of 7 towns touched by Greeks, Arabs, Byzantines, Romans, Normans and Spanish. A truly authentic experience of Sicily can be found in the city of Ragusa,
destroyed by earthquake in 1693, the ‘new’ city is an explosion of Sicilian Baroque architecture.
This special corner of Sicily is famous for its unique and excellent fresh produce making it a gourmet’s delight. It was made famous in recent years by the experimental fine
dining establishments which have opened, offering excellent cuisine at very acceptable prices.
The village of Modica is famous around the world for its chocolate, similar to Aztec chocolate from Mexico, the recipe was brought to Sicily by the Spanish. Enjoy a private
demonstration, and tasting of this uniquely grainy product in the laboratory of an artisan chocolate maker.
Overnight: Donnafugata Golf Resort & Spa
Meal Plan: B
Day 6 - Donnafugata Golf
Sicily’s newest golfing destination, Donnafugata offers its players a coastal links course and a PGA standard parkland course designed by Gary Player. Off hole 6 there is
even a Greek neocropolis from the 6th-century BC. The golf courses are managed by the Spanish golf experts, Sottogrande.
Overnight: Donnafugata Golf Resort & Spa
Meal Plan: B
Day 7 - Ragusa to Agrigento via Piazza Armerina
Travel inland with your driver-guide today, stopping en route at Piazza Armerina, a graceful old town set in forested countryside. Tour the site of Villa Romana del Casale,
originally home to Maximianus Herculeus, Diocletians co-emperor, and his son Maxentius. While little remains of the building’s structure, the mosaics are unparalleled and
depict scenes of mythology, hunting and domestic life in beautiful detail.
Continue to Agrigento from here, where your 19th-century villa hotel has enviable views of the Temple of Concordia.
Overnight: Hotel Villa Athena
Day 8 - Agrigento and Montallegro
Enjoy an excursion with driver-guide and private vehicle to explore in and around Agrigento and the South western coast of Sicily. Visit Agrigento’s fascinating Valley of the
Temples. The Doric Temples date from the 5th-century and were destroyed in part by Carthaginian attack in 406BC. The Temples were attacked by pious Christians who
believed them to be pagan and, later, by earthquakes. You will also visit the Archaeological Museum with its display of objects ranging from prehistoric times to the early
Christian period. Continue on with your driver-guide to the delightful tiny village of Montallegro, where locals live off the land and agriculture. Here you will enjoy a good lunch
with an English-speaking chef who has worked in Michelin starred restaurants all over the world and combines traditional Sicilian dishes with international flair. Return to
Agrigento where the remainder of your day will be at leisure.
Overnight: Hotel Villa Athena
Meal Plan: B
Day 9 - Neolithic Sciacca and Golfing at the Verdura
Spend the morning with your driver-guide in Sciacca, built on rocky heights overlooking the splendid beaches of the Southern coast. Archeological evidence suggests that a
settlement here was inhabited in prehistoric times as early as the Neolithic Era.
Spend the afternoon at Sicily’s first major golf resort, the Verdura. The Verdura offers players two championship 18 hole courses; the West being more coastal and the East
more undulating. Sea breezes add an element of unpredictability to your play, neither course is heavily bunkered so the player can hopefully enjoy a wide variety of
approach shots to the holes. The golfing is backed up by the professional service levels that you would expect from one of Europe’s foremost hoteliers.
Overnight: Hotel Villa Athena
Meal Plan: B
Day 10 - Agrigento to Palermo via Selinunte
This morning, depart Agrigento early and transfer to Palermo, with your driver-guide. En route you will enjoy sightseeing in Castelvetrano and Selinunte. Your
English-speaking driver-guide will accompany you through the splendours of the Selinunte temples, one of the greatest colonies of ancient Greece dating back to the 6thand 5th-centuries BC. Explore the fusion of Phoenician and Greek culture in the scattered ruins on the bluff overlooking the sea.
Overnight: Hilton Villa Igiea
Meal Plan: B
Day 11 - Sicily’s West Coast
Today you will enjoy a full day sightseeing tour to the west of Sicily with your local English-speaking driver-guide. Your tour will include a visit to Segesta, one of the finest
surviving Greek temples in Sicily, and the theatre which offers fine views over the hills and sea.
You will also visit the beautiful village of Erice that seems to hang over the sea, where you can enjoy an almond sweet making demonstration from Maria Grammatico who
was immortalised in Mary Taylor Simeti’s biography Bitter Almonds, the story of Maria’s life growing up in a convent in Erice and learning all the Nuns secret recipes for
almond sweets (it was the nuns who used to make the sweets in Sicily). Erice, itself, is a preserved, medieval town encircled by walls.
Finally today, visit the wine producing region of Marsala with a stop at one of the historic Cellars, along with a wine tasting of the famous local wine, before returning to your
hotel in Palermo.
Overnight: Hilton Villa Igiea
Meal Plan: B
Day 12 - Palermo
Today, your full day sightseeing tour of Palermo will include all the main sights such us the Duomo and Palazzo dei Normanni that was the seat of the Kings of Sicily. The
palace contains the Cappella Palatina, by far the best example of the so-called Arab-Norman-Byzantine style that prevailed in 12th-century Sicily. The wonderful mosaics, the
wooden roof, elaborately fretted and painted, and the marble incrustation of the lower part of the walls and the floor are very fine. Continue on to the Palazzo Abatellis,
designed in the 15th-century and home to the regional art gallery housing numerous fines works, many of which were acquired when several religious orders were
suppressed in 1866.
Overnight: Hilton Villa Igiea
Meal Plan: B
Day 13 - Cefalu and Golf at Le Madonie
Spend the morning with your driver-guide in Cefalu, the medieval Norman town located on the scenic coast. Explore the narrow streets of the city centre, the old fisherman’s
quarter and see the magnificent Cathedral and the Rocca, ancient fortifications upon which the ruins of a 12th-century castle are situated.
The final golf experience in Sicily will be at Le Madonie. Opened in 2004, Le Madonie was the first course on the island to host a PGA championship. The 18 hole, par 72
course looks out over the Gulf of Cefalu, the rough being made up of olive and orange trees!
Overnight: Hilton Villa Igiea
Meal Plan: B
Day 14 - Departure
Private transfer to Palermo Airport.
Meal Plan: B