Antiquities in Sicily
February 19 – 27, 2005

sponsored by Theatre Development Fund




The Antiquities highlight this 7 day 7 night tour of Sicily. The trip includes: round trip transatlantic airfare on Alitalia, 7 nights in four-star accommodations, continental breakfast daily, two dinners, three lunches, performance of Sicilian Marionettes, folk dancing performance at Ditirammu Theatre, sightseeing and guided tours as indicated, tour of the ancient theatre at Taormina, English speaking local guide throughout tour, all local taxes and service charges and transfers.  
 
Trip price: $2499 per person (double occupancy), details below.  



Escape to Sicily for a Mediterranean Spring, over President’s weekend, when the dramatic landscapes of this beautiful ancient land are verdant and flowers are in profusion.  Enjoy the rich natural beauty of the island's rugged mountains and coastline along with its distinctive, delicious cuisine, warm people and its myriad ancient sites.  The visible influences of East and West remain etched in stone in the baroque churches, Norman castles, Spanish Palaces, Moorish domes and arches, and the spectacular Greek and Roman temples and amphitheaters that include the best preserved Hellenic sites outside of Greece.  We stay in four-star accommodations in the heart of the cities and we visit Palermo, Agrigento, Piazza Armerina, Taormina, and Mt. Etna before the crowds arrive.  






1.  Saturday, February 19     Depart New York
Depart Newark Liberty Airport on Alitalia flight in the late afternoon.  Dinner is served aloft.



2.  Sunday , February 20     Arrive Palermo
Welcome to Italy!  This morning we arrive in Rome, transfer to our nonstop flight  
to Palermo, arriving at 10:00am.  Our local guide greets us and will accompany us through the tour of Sicily. Today we embark on a guided tour of  this magnificently diverse city.  Palermo is a typically Sicilian in the eclectic multi-cultural fusion of its art, architecture, culture and lifestyle.  In the narrow streets of Palermo's old town, elegant Baroque and Norman monuments exist cheek-by-jowl with Arabic cupolas, Byzantine street-markets consume the medieval warrens, and the latest Milanese fashions sit in shops squeezed between Renaissance churches and Spanish Palazzo.  This evening savor a welcome dinner in Palermo and a folklore performance at Ditirammu Theatre. We spend two nights at the Grand Hotel et Des Palmes, a 4 star hotel, located in the center of the city, this traditional belle époque hotel has all modern comforts.    



3.  Monday, February 21     Monreale/Palermo
After our daily breakfast we visit Monreale, a small hill town southwest of Palermo, which commands unsurpassed views down the Conca D'Oro valley. Norman Lewis called the valley, "the greatest and most glorious orchard and market garden in the world."  Enjoy the panorama from the "royal mountain," a mighty Norman cathedral hidden further in among the houses, and the distinguished beautiful Cloisters.  After the cloisters we return to Palermo for lunch (included) and a tour of the Teatro Massimo, Palermo’s elegant recently restored Opera House, and a visit to the Marionette Museum and performance of the world-famous Sicilian marionettes.  



4.  Tuesday, February 22     Palermo/Agrigento
After breakfast, we depart by private motor coach for Agrigento for an overnight stay at the four-star Grand Hotel dei Templi.  This afternoon our sightseeing takes you first to the spectacular ruins of the Valley of the Temples, where the city architects erected their sacred buildings during the fifth century B.C.  The temples were - and are - stunning in their effect, reflecting the wealth and luxury of ancient Agrigento: "Athens with  
improvements," as Henry Adams put it in 1899. The gently rolling hills that surround the spectacular Greek temples at Agrigento wear a white mantle of blossoms gleaming on hundreds of almond trees, filling the air with the sweet perfume that heralds the arrival of spring The panoramic view over the Valley of the Temples is truly awesome.  Marvel at some of the most impressive Greek ruins of the Mediterranean.  The Tempio de Concordia, dated to around 430 BC, is perfectly preserved and beautifully situated, with fine views to the city and the sea, the tawny stone lending the structure warmth and strength.  
 
After lunch (included) we follow the path along the line of the ancient city walls, which hug the ridge to the Tempio di Giunone (Temple of Juno, or Hera in Greek), an engaging structure, half in ruins, standing at the very edge of the spur on which the temples were built.  From here we proceed up through slopes of wild fennel and marigolds to a small theatre on a higher hill beyond.  The view from the top is justly lauded, across green slopes and the plain to the sea, the deep blue of the bay a lovely contrast to the theatre's white stone.  We complete the day with a visit to the home  
of Italian playwright, Luigi Pirandello.  The house displays photographs, Pirandello's first editions, and the playbills of his works.  Dinner tonight is on your own.    
 



5.  Wednesday, February 23     Piazza Armerina/Taormina
After breakfast, we depart by private motor coach for Taormina, via the magnificent ruins of Piazza Armerina, an Imperial Roman villa, in the southern interior.  Excavations in 1950 in the rugged countryside at Casale slowly revealed the rich villa, an Imperial Roman hunting lodge and summer home which had been hidden and preserved under mud for 700 years. Beautifully presented, the villa is decorated with dazzling multicolored mosaic floors, unique throughout the Roman world in their quality and  
extent, dating back to the third and fourth centuries.   Lunch is included in Piazza Armerina. Next, we travel to Taormina.  Standing high on Monte Tauro and dominating the two grand, sweeping bays below, Taormina is Sicily's best-known resort and it is a  
strong contender for the title of most beautiful place on earth!  Taormina forms a balcony overlooking the sea, facing Mount Etna.  This climactic resort of worldwide repute has a peaceful atmosphere and beautiful monuments, views and gardens.  The coast below Taormina is fascinating.  As Goethe said, "we enjoyed the view of this beautiful shore, under the loveliest of skies, looking at the roses and listening to the nightingales."  
Our hotel is the four-star Hotel Paradiso, with spectacular views overlooking the Ionian Sea and Mt. Etna, and just a few minutes walk from the historic center of town.      



6.  Thursday, February 24     Taormina
In the morning our walking tour of Taormina includes Via Piazza Vittorio  
Emanuele, which is on the site of the Roman Forum, the Palazzo Corvala and  
the recently unearthed remains of an imperial Roman bath, and the Teatro Greco where you can see Taormina to the right, Mt.  Etna straight ahead and the Ionian Sea, the Sicilian coast and Calabria to the left, all in one spectacular sweeping view.  The gate of the Torre dell' Orologio leads to the medieval part of the town, where many houses still preserve their ancient portals and Roman-Gothic windows.  On the Piazza del Duomo is the 13th century Norman cathedral, the Duomo, with splendid triptychs by painters of the Messina school.  The afternoon is free.  



7.  Friday, February 25     Siracusa
Today we offer an optional tour of Siracusa, founded by the Greeks from Corinth, and once the most important city in the Western World.  The city reached its zenith in the 5th century BC when it ruled all of Sicily.  Its impressive ruins include a magnificent Greek Theatre situated next to a Roman Coliseum and an ancient quarry possessing remarkable acoustics that Caravaggio dubbed "Orecchio de Dionisio" and which was once a prison for 7000 Athenian prisoners of war.  We have free time to explore the beautiful island of Ortygia. Here, amid the artistic vestiges of over 2500 years of history, we walk  
streets once trod by Pindar, Aeschylus, Plato, Cicero and Archimedes.  You visit the Piazza Archimede, the legendary fountain of Arethusa, and Siracusa's historically unique Duomo, a building that has been a Greek Temple, a Moslem mosque and Christian church at various times in its long history which is clearly visible in the architecture of the building.  



8.  Saturday, February 26     Etna
This morning we drive along the coastline, renowned for its beautiful scenery, stopping to ascend the slopes of Mt. Etna, Italy's loftiest volcano.  Etna dominates the life and landscape of eastern Sicily.  Some villages and roads are built from lava and the flows have cut great swaths through the valley.  The views are impressive ascending the snow-capped mountain.  The temperature drops, and you might experience the occasional  
snow flurry.  On a previous tdf trip, the Sicilians, with characteristic nonchalance, were skiing within 500 meters of a major lava flow.  Following lunch on own on Mt. Etna  we return to Taormina for a leisurely afternoon.    



9.  Sunday, February 26     Depart Catania
After breakfast depart by private motor coach to Catania airport for your Alitalia flight to Milan, connecting to Newark airport.  





This engaging experience includes:

  • Round trip transatlantic airfare on Alitalia
  • 2 nights at Grand Hotel et Des Palmes in Palermo
  • 1 night at Grand Hotel de Templi in Agrigento
  • 4 nights at Hotel Paradiso in Taormina
  • Continental breakfast daily
  • 2 dinners
  • 3 lunches
  • Performance of Sicilian Marionettes
  • Folk dancing performance at Ditirammu Theatre
  • Sightseeing and guided tours as indicated on itinerary
  • Tour of the ancient theatre at Taormina
  • English speaking local guide throughout tour
  • All local taxes and service charges and transfers
PROGRAM PRICES  
Per person (double occupancy) from New York:$2499  
Single Supplement:$475  
Estimated Air Taxes:$110  
Optional Siracusa Tour:$55.00