'To have seen Italy without having seen Sicily is not having seen Italy at all, for Sicily is the key to everything.' So said Goethe. Catania apartments. Tuscany might want a look in, and Rome might beg to differ, but Sicily, with a history of foreign occupation across the centuries, is certainly fascinating, with a real pot-pourri of culture, cuisine and architecture. Plus the odd volcano. Agritourism in Egadi Islands 

Catania apartments Heavily bombed during World War Two, shaken again in 1968 by another earthquake, ravaged in recent decades by organized crime, Sicily remains what it has always been. Calendar of events in Egadi Islands A spectacular land of rugged mountains, golden wheat fields and rocky coasts inhabited by a fiercely independent people who bring passion to everything they do, be it a religious celebration or a holiday dinner. Flats in Giardini Naxos

Palermo was founded by Phoenicians who sailed there from their native Carthage. Ustica Accommodation The Greeks colonized the whole island, leaving some of the most beautiful and best-preserved temples they ever built at Agrigento, Selinunte and Segesta. Catania apartments. Around those glorious sites they planted Sicily's first olive trees and grape vines. Camping and Caravan sites in Segesta Traces of the Roman period in Sicily can be found in the amphitheatres at Taormina and Siracusa, as well as in that city's Christian catacombs. But perhaps Rome's most lasting (and infamous) contribution to the island came in fostering the great land ownerships which eventually impoverished the peasantry and led, many centuries later, to the founding of secret societies aimed at destroying the fabulously wealthy landlords. Catania apartments. In Palermo, these groups were known as mafia. Siracusa Syracuse Villa Rentals

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