Your journey starts in Palermo. After arrival you are transferred to the centrally located hotel. First impressions are intense: baroque facades, market stalls scented with citrus and espresso, voices echoing through the narrow lanes. In the afternoon you discover the city on a guided walking tour, including access to the cathedral’s rooftop with its spectacular view over the old town and the sea. An aperitivo is the perfect moment to meet your fellow travelers. For the welcome dinner you stroll through Palermo’s lively streets to the restaurant “La Galleria” – an atmospheric introduction to Sicily and a fitting prelude to the driving days ahead.
After breakfast you head along the coast to Cefalù and onward to the Costa Verde Resort. Here you meet the Nostalgic fleet for the first time: classic Alfa Romeo Spiders, polished bodywork, interiors with patina – every detail carefully prepared. Following a thorough technical briefing and driver’s meeting, you set off on your first major loop on the historic Targa Florio routes in the Madonie mountains. The road winds through dense woods and open high plateaus, past small villages where time seems to move more slowly. Lunch is served at “Casale Drinzi”, where you enjoy generous Sicilian cuisine. In the afternoon you roll back toward the sea. A visit to the picturesque town of Cefalù with its cathedral, beach and tight medieval alleys makes for an ideal ending to this first, memorable driving day.
Today the route leads east along the north coast via Santo Stefano di Camastra, where brightly colored ceramics fill the shop windows. The road traces the shoreline again and again before climbing into the interior. Around each bend a new view opens up – deep blue bays, quiet valleys, distant ridgelines. Around midday you reach Relais Villa Muraglia and pause over regional specialties. In the afternoon the scenery shifts as you head toward Etna: the closer you come, the more the volcano shapes the landscape. Black lava fields, chestnut forests and vineyards create a striking backdrop. Your destination is the Picciolo Golf & Spa Resort – a green and tranquil retreat where you can unwind at the end of the day.
After breakfast you head up toward Rifugio Sapienza on the southern slope of Mount Etna. As you gain altitude, the landscape changes: lush vegetation gives way to lava fields and craters until you find yourself in an almost surreal volcanic world. You have time to take in the views and feel the unique atmosphere of this active volcano. Then you ease the Spider back down the mountain roads to Gambino Winery, where Etna wines, local cuisine, and sweeping panoramas combine into one of the highlights of the journey. After lunch and a tasting, you continue via Castiglione and Francavilla di Sicilia back to the hotel. In the evening, a gourmet dinner in Linguaglossa rounds off the day.
The morning drive takes you once more into the Sicilian hills to Savoca – an authentic mountain village with quiet lanes, stone houses and a small bar on the main square. An espresso with a view, a short stroll, a quick photo – these are the little moments that stay with you. After a final look across the hills you return the classic cars and drive back to Taormina. Some free time remains: perhaps a last walk through town, a lunch with sea view or a swim in the bay. At the Catania airport you set off on your individual journey home, carrying with you the quiet sense that Sicily has allowed you a little closer to its soul.
Sicily is the Mediterranean’s largest island and feels almost like a small continent of its own. In the northwest, Palermo sets the tone: a city where Arab-Norman arches, Baroque facades and lively markets overlap layer upon layer. Within a short drive, the streets give way to the Madonie mountains, where the Florio family once owned vast estates and carved the “Circuito delle Madonie” into the hillsides – later to become the legendary Targa Florio race course.
Following this diagonal across the island, the north coast unfolds in a sequence of bays, fishing towns and small places famous for their ceramics, until Etna begins to dominate the eastern skyline. Vineyards, chestnut woods and black lava fields wrap around the volcano, creating a landscape that is both dramatic and surprisingly cultivated. Further along, Taormina appears high above the Ionian Sea, with its ancient Greek theatre, elegant palazzi and small beaches tucked below the cliffs – an almost theatrical counterpoint to the rugged interior.
The Madonie Natural Park today is a protected area and hiking paradise, home to the majority of Sicily’s plant and animal species. For car enthusiasts it also holds a special appeal: many of its quiet country roads still follow the old Targa Florio route, winding through stone-built villages and high plateaus with far-reaching views.
In the southeast, around Taormina and the lower slopes of Etna, Sicily reveals its more graceful side. Here, sea and mountain are constantly in view: snowy summit against deep blue water, terraced vineyards above small harbors, hill villages such as Savoca with their quiet piazzas and timeless bars. On our route you experience this entire cross-section of the island as a continuous storyline – from Palermo and the Madonie to Etna and Taormina – making the full variety of Sicily tangible within just a few days behind the wheel.
Not included in the arrangement:
Meals, unless otherwise indicated, travel to Palermo (PMO) and from Catania (CTA)
Balanstraße 73 / 81541 München
Office: +49 (0)89 5454060
Fax: +49 (0)89 5454066
E-mail: info@nostalgic.de
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