We will pick you up at Palermo’s Falcone-Borsellino airport and accompany you to the vibrant heart of the capital. After check-in at your hotel, we will introduce you to our Alfa Romeos and off you drive on a first lap of journey towards Mondello, and back. Later on the day, we will be heading towards Piazza Verdi to see the official opening ceremony of Targa Florio, a great moment for gear heads to meet with cars and drivers alike. After that, we will host a welcome dinner in a traditional restaurant downtown.
Getting up early today will pay off. The first part of our itinerary follows the coast north-west past Castellamare before arriving in Erice. This peculiar village, perched high above a hill, counts a number of cultural legacies of the different centuries, from Phoenicians to Greeks, from Romans to Saracens. There will be plenty of leisure time for a stroll through the picturesque alleys, before driving on to a meeting point with the Targa Florio cars near Segesta, whose ancient temple is worth a photo stop as well. Tonight, after returning to our hotel in Palermo, we will enjoy an extensive guided visit there.
After check-out and luggage service, our drive will follow the official Targa Florio route to the east, into the Madonie mountains. Prior to that, we will pay a visit to Monreale cathedral just outside Palermo. First leg of journey will follow a beautiful coast road past Capo Zafferano, before arriving in Campofelice. From here, countless bends wind up into the mountains up to 2,000 mts elevation. Several of these roads had once been owned by the Florio family and were part of the original Targa Florio’s ‘Circuito delle Madonie’. Lunch break will be in Castelbuono with its narrow old town and numerous chapels, churches, and monasteries. It is here where we are supposed to meet the Targa Florio rally cars driving through. Later in the afternoon, we will make it to Cefalú, Palermo’s favorite beach location. The beaches here are considered among the nicest all over the island, and the Tyrrhenean Sea should still allow for bathing temperatures.
On our last driving day, we will again engage in the beauty of the wild, rugged Madonie Natural park mountains and gorges. The sharp uphill curves are the natural environment for light sports cars such as the Alfa Romeo Giulia Spider. After getting to Petralia Soprana, the area’s highest village, we will be returning to Cefalú during the early afternoon, in time for the airport transfer to Palermo, or, why not, your individual tour extension on this mysterious and beautiful island.
* sharing a double room/ sharing a car.
**If you would like to book as an individual guest, just speak to us.
The Targa Florio is the oldest endurance race in the world, even older than the Indianapolis 500, the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Mille Miglia. In the 1920s, the Targa Florio was the most prestigious race in the world.
At the turn of the last century, the largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily, was home to an extremely influential and wealthy family of entrepreneurs who maintained close ties with the royal houses and the moneyed aristocracy of Europe. In their homeland, the Florio family owned extensive estates - and there was one scion who was crazy about automobiles.
Vincenzo Florio had a great passion for car racing and took part in various races in Italy and France. In 1906, he organised a race himself for the first time, the winner of which was awarded a plaque - 'targa' in Italian: the 'Targa Florio' was born, in the Madonia Mountains, some 200 km east of the capital Palermo. The extremely demanding 140 km circuit very soon became a fixed meeting place for the European racing driver elite. While Alfa Romeo, Bugatti and Maserati still dominated in the beginning, Ferrari and Porsche contested the victories in the post-war period. With 11 overall victories, the Stuttgart-based sports car manufacturer remained the most successful overall winner of the Targa Florio. The 911 model with the removable coupé roof was subsequently named after the race.
Palermo, the capital of Sicily, lies in the northwest of the island and is the largest and most important city with more than 600,000 inhabitants. Palermo has a large number of outstanding sights (7 buildings alone belong to the UNESCO World Heritage Site) which were built by the Arabs, the Normans but above all by the Staufers. King Frederick II turned Palermo into a splendid residence; during his reign, the Norman Palace, the Palatine Chapel and the Cathedral, where Frederick II and Henry VI are buried, were built. When sulphur became important as a raw material for the production of firearms, Sicily achieved further economic prosperity, which made neoclassical buildings such as the Teatro Massimo, one of the largest opera houses in Europe, possible.
The Madonie Nature Park is located in the north of Sicily and is the highest mountain massif on the island after Mount Etna, with elevations of up to almost 2,000 metres. The Florio family owned extensive land and forests here, and had their own road built here, which later formed the "Circuito delle Madonie" and was the main part of the Targa Florio. Today, the nature reserve is a hiker's paradise and home to over 60% of all species of flora and fauna native to Sicily.
Not included in the tour price:
Meals, unless otherwise indicated, travel to Palermo (PMO)
Balanstraße 73 Geb. 24, 2. OG 81541 München Fon: +49 (0)89 5454060 Fax: +49 (0)89 5454066 E-Mail: info@nostalgic.de
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Jutta Löffler –
Gute Organisation, sehr gute Reiseleitung. Le Calette 5 war eine Bereicherung, gute Wahl. Schön war es, dass wir zwischen den Autos der Targa Florio fahren konnten und überall freundlich empfangen wurden.
Jutta L.
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Brigitte Milde –
Ich kam sehr gut mit dem von Ihnen zusammen gestellten Roadbook sowie auch als langjährige Auto- und Cabrio-Fahrerin gut mit den von Ihnen gestellten "kleinen Italienern" zurecht. Die Route war mehr als interessant und sehenswert und die Begegnungen auf den Strecken mit den Teilnehmern der Targa Florio schon auch ein Erlebnis. Die Zuschauer haben unserer kleinen Gruppe beim Vorbeifahren fast genau so begeistert zugewunken. Das Programm von Ihnen und die Aufenthalte insgesamt waren bestens und die Teilnehmer unserer Gruppe sehr angenehm.
Ihre beiden Reisebegleiter, Leo und Chris, haben einen wirklich Super Service geleistet - aber das wissen Sie sicher auch selbst. Sie waren immer pünktlich, die Autos standen immer perfekt startklar bereit, die Betreuung war bestens und Sie waren immer sofort verfügbar, wenn man sie mal brauchte oder Fragen hatte. Die beiden haben ein wirklich gutes Team gebildet und dafür gebührt ihnen auch unsere Anerkennung!!
Auch Ihnen und dem Nostalgic-Team sagen wir nochmal Danke und vielleicht "Auf ein nächstes Mal".
Wie immer beste Grüße nach München,
Brigitte Milde und Herward Hill
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