Mt Etna, the largest volcano in Europe and one of the most active in the world, lies south of Taormina. Houses to rent in Sant Agata Militello You are permitted to climb up to 2900m. Tourist Information office centre Siracusa Syracuse. A rope marks the spot where the volcano’s unpredictability makes it unsafe to go any further. Further south, the town of Syracuse was once a very powerful Greek city. Discount cheap lodging Taormina Check out the medieval buildings on the island of Ortigia which lies in the centre of town. Don’t miss the 5th century Teatro Greco – a masterpiece hewn out of rock with a seating capacity for 16,000 people. Lampedusa villas The five Doric temples in the town of Agrigento are also well worth a visit. They are the most well preserved of Sicily’s Greek ruins and are truly spectacular.  

Palermo was founded by Phoenicians who sailed there from their native Carthage. Cheap Giardini Naxos Hotels The Greeks colonized the whole island, leaving some of the most beautiful and best-preserved temples they ever built at Agrigento, Selinunte and Segesta. Tourist Information office centre Siracusa Syracuse. Around those glorious sites they planted Sicily's first olive trees and grape vines. Places of interest in Giardini Naxos 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. Tourist Information office centre Siracusa Syracuse. In Palermo, these groups were known as mafia. Cheap flats in Segesta

Sicily is a mountainous island — an extension of the Apennine Mountains separated from the mainland by the Straits of Messina. Tourist Information office centre Siracusa Syracuse There are many reasons to visit Sicily: water sports, beaches of rock and sand (including black sand), natural beauty, good food and friendly people. Cheap hostels in Caltanissetta

Tourist Information office centre Siracusa Syracuse