Culture and Gastronomy – East-central Sicily tour itinerary

Meeting with the local guide in the morning. Leave for Bronte to visit the
Castello Maniace which belonged to the Nelson family.
Tasting of local pistachio-based products which are very typical of the area.
Lunch at a farmhouse and visit the town of Randazzo, the museum of Natural Science and the civic museum to see a considerable collection of archaeological finds related to the old settlements and a spectacular sicilian puppet show.
Tasting of the local "oro verde" ice cream, internationally award winning.
Visit Gole dell’Alcantara to see a volcanic rock canyon and its river.
Drive to the hotel. Check into accommodation. Dinner and overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel and leave for Ragusa. Arrive at the local Dairy Research Consortium and welcoming by the experts.
Visit the farm which is responsible for production and quality control of sicilian cheese.
The visitors will see the milk manufacturing process and they can try to make a real caciotta (a type of sicilian cheese) with their own hands.
Leave for Ragusa Ibla and walk along the striking roads of the town. Stopover at the portal of the medieval Church of San Giorgio, the only thing left after the earthquake.
Visit piazza Duomo, the neoclassical Circolo di Conversazione, the Palazzo Arezzi, the facade of the Church of San Giorgio and the Palazzo Cosentini.
Arrive at a dairy farm, which is a buffalo milk producer and enjoy lunch including products made from buffalo milk.
Walking tour of Modica, quick look to the Baroque church of San Giorgio and the church of San Pietro.
Free time down to via Umberto and stopover to one of the oldest patisseries of Modica to taste the local chocolate, an extraordinary and unique product. The visitors will see the production of chocolate.

Breakfast at the hotel and leave for Marzamemi.
Visit an important fish processing company to see the production of canned fish and its preserving process.
Visit an old tonnara, a tuna fishing little port with ancient and fascinating buildings. Leave for Noto and lunch at a beautiful Villa from the nineteenth-century.
Walk along corso Vittorio Emanuele, through Porta Reale.
Visit the most beautiful baroque churches, Piazza Municipio where you can find Palazzo Ducezio and Sala degli Specchi; the Cathedral, Palazzo Nicolaci di Villadorata, and the Theatre.
Tasting of local almond biscuits. Visit Villa romana del Tellaro. Back to the hotel. Dinner and overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel and leave for Nicolosi up to Rifugio Sapienza (South Etna).
Possibility to walk up the side of Silvestri Craters to see a tremendous lunar landscape where you can find old and recent lava walls.
Continue to Zafferana (North Etna) and stop at a local farm to taste honey products and learn about beekeeping and the honey extracting process from the beehive. Visit the small wine cellar inside the farm to learn about local wine making.
Lunch at a local restaurant.
Continue to Milo, walk along the forest to see the largest and oldest known chestnut tree in the world called il Castagno dei Cento Cavalli (the Hundred Horse Chestnut), surrounded by a legend and generally believed to be 4,000 years old ,tasting of local hazelnuts biscuits.
Leave Milo through the mareneve, which is an old passage used by the local population for transfers.
Arrive at Acitrezza to walk along the seafront and see three tall, column-shaped stacks surrounded by the legend of the Cyclops. Back to the hotel.Dinner and overnight stay.

Breakfast at the hotel. Hand over the keys.
Tour central Catania to see the most striking roads of the town, discovering the old buildings, monuments and baroque churches.
Farewell granita tasting, which is a semi-frozen dessert very typical of the area.