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A Flavorful Mediterranean Bike Journey through Timeless Sicily

The largest island in the Mediterranean is arguably the most beautiful and certainly the most dense with history and humanity. Sicily's complex culture is matched only by its stunning natural beauty and the incredible, diverse landscape: rolling hills and valleys swathed in grapevines, miles of aquamarine coastline and a series of archipelagos that can be reached via a quick boat ride. We will pedal back in time to a colorful and enigmatic past that has never left the island.

With Tourissimo, you will see (and taste) the real Sicily. This seductive Mediterranean island has lured conquerors and visitors for centuries. Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, and Normans have all contributed to the many layers of its vibrant culture. We’ll steep ourselves in the sights, scents, and flavors of the western part of Sicily, an area less exploited by tourism. We’ll swim in pristine waters, sample the finest wines of the island at a local producer, and learn about the Greek heritage of Selinunte, a stunning waterfront village that is a UNESCO Archeological Site.

Sicily is a region renowned for its Baroque and Norman architecture, for its artistic importance (many poets, writers and intellectuals were born here), and of course, its excellent food! The cuisine in Sicily is different from the rest of Italy because of the various cultures it has been exposed to. In addition to its great wines, dinner in Sicily usually consists of vegetables (tomatoes, eggplants, artichokes), plenty of seafood, and yes, lots of pasta and olive oil. Its lemons, oranges, figs, almonds and apricots are among the best in the world.

In past decades Sicily has received attention for its organized crime, and the Mafia became a literary and Hollywood phenomenon. Unfortunately, for some that is all that Sicily is known for. True to the Tourissimo Experience brand promise, we will show you a different story. Without hiding the evidence of this history, we will learn the historical roots of it through the people who, with courage and pride, are winning the battle against organized crime.

Not sure if you can do it? Contact us to schedule a call about how demanding the rides are or about reserving an E-bike.

Highlights

• Palermo and its Arab-Norman architecture, a UNESCO World Heritage Site

• Corleone

• Selinunte ruins

• Take a swim in the blue Mediterranean waters

• Saline (salt farms) near Trapani

• The ghost towns of Gibellina and Poggioreale

• A lesser-traveled, bucolic Sicily

• Seafood and Slow Food dishes and specialties

• Cooking demonstration

• Sicilian wine production

• Overnight stay at a stunning countryside abbey

Dates:

Ask for custom dates

Prices:

 

Private room (single supplement) USD 695

Duration:

8 days (8 nights)

Level:

Active

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Customize this trip Sicily West
This was a WONDERFUL blend of cycling, food appreciation and cultural insight. Exceeded ALL expectations.

Don Kagey Sicily Cycling Tour

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Sicily ovest_Favignana

Sicily Selinunte Greek ruins Sicily_Favignana Palermo markets tuna Cannolo Siciliano Picnic Sicilian style in Montevago Riders regroup Cycling Sicily Tourissimo Sicily landscape with riders

Day by Day

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Palermo - Walking Tour

Palermo is the cultural center of Sicily and is known for its architecture, which has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site. This morning we’ve planned a “street food” tour through the Capo Market and the Vucciria Market. It doesn’t get more authentic than that! Besides giving an insight into the Sicilian cuisine, our guide provides historical information on the monuments and churches along the walk and shares with us the most intimate secrets of local habits. We will also go through our shopping list for our dinner.  After some free time in the lively city center we’ll take a short walk to dinner – a private event-  where our chef Dario is in charge of transforming the best ingredients and the freshest catch. Welcome to Sicily!

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Corleone - 20 or 40 mls - Hilly

Today we start our journey leaving Palermo and traveling into an unexpected, rural Sicily. Orange and olive trees are abundant in the fertile valleys as we transfer to Corleone.  If you’ve read The Godfather by Mario Puzo or seen the blockbuster film of the same name by Francis Ford Coppola, you’ve heard of Corleone. The young Vito Corleone flees to the New World to become the respected man of honor that the Italian immigrants called Padrino (Godfather). After the movie, Sicily became synonymous with the Mafia and omerta, the code of silence. Rolling, secondary roads take us to our accommodation near Sambuca di Sicilia in the middle of the Sicilian countryside, an area characterized by cultivated fields and Mediterranean scrub, and forest as we gain elevation. We are now in the Sicilian central mountain region. Abbazia Santa Maria del Bosco is a unique place. A visit of the premises will precede dinner.

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Santa Maria del Bosco - Menfi -  44 mls - Flat and Rolling

Today’s panoramic ride involves a gradual descent leaving the Sicani Mountains Regional Park and a short climb just after Lake Arancio, a slice of paradise between Sambuca di Sicilia and Menfi. After crossing several sleepy villages, we will reach the southern Sicily coast.  
We’ll stop here to swim in clear, blue water and enjoy lunch on the beach. The hotel is just a few miles away (you can ride or finish the ride here and take advantage of the van) and the rest of the day is open to enjoy the relaxed pace of the bucolic countryside.
Relais Casina Miregia offers great Sicilian hospitality in a beautiful setting. Relax by the swimming pool and enjoy the view before a dinner prepared by the local chef...with your help (optional). Some of the ingredients are grown within the property.

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Belice Valley loop - 35 or 49 mls - Hilly

Today’s loop ride takes us inland to the ghost town of Poggioreale. This town (and others) was destroyed and then abandoned in 1968 due to a violent earthquake. The ruins show a somehow sinister, yet fascinating pre-1968 Sicilian village. The lush, fertile Belice River Valley is home to shepherds who proudly carry on their cheese making traditions (Slow food presidia), unwilling to settle for the comfort and opportunities of the coastal towns. What better way to enjoy the day than a picnic with fresh vegetables, crispy bread, and cheese sampling! Our host is Stefano, a young winemaker who, with much pride and against all odds, has started an interesting wine production and is in the process of bringing back indigenous grapes such as Catarratto (white) and Perricone (red).
We will take a tour of the vineyard, which is next to the old village of Montevago, destroyed by the earthquake. The way back to Casina Miregia is a rolling ride with very little traffic and some gorgeous photo opportunities.

[fa icon="plus"] Day 5

Menfi - Marsala - 40 or 55 mls - Flat

After our breakfast "made in Sicily," following the Ciclovia of the Southern Coast we’ll arrive in Selinunte, one of the most impressive archeological sites of ancient Greece. In the 6th century it was a city with 100,000 inhabitants, and was one of the most powerful in the world. Today it impresses visitors with its striking waterfront setting. Leaving Selinunte we’ll pedal along golden, sandy beaches to reach Mazara del Vallo. It is not a touristy town, but a busy workaday port with the largest fishing fleet in Italy. We’ll have a picnic lunch here. There’s a strong north African influence in this town which can be seen in the labyrinth of streets called the Casbah. The eastern half of the island is almost completely flat and very easy to explore by bicycle. Continuing along the Southwest coast of Sicily we reach Marsala. Marsala is located at the westernmost part of Sicily and it is in the Italian history books for the docking of Garibaldi on May 11th 1860. Nowadays, Marsala is best known for its sweet dessert wines. We spend one night in Marsala, a town worth exploring and learning about.  

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Mozia - Nubia - 25 mls - Flat
 
Mozia, originally a colony of the Phoenicians, is a memorable archaeological, natural, and historical site just outside of Marsala. It covers an island situated in a striking location in a kind of shallow lagoon lined with the salt flats and windmills that are characteristic on this stretch of coastline. The island's terrain is flat and rural, and excavated stretches alternate with fields, woodland, and vineyard. The history of this part of Mediterranean is interesting: the Carthaginians were crucial in the ancient history of Sicily, building, conquering and losing settlements. A number of ancient shipwrecks have been found which were probably fleeing to the shelter of Lilybaeum (now Marsala) after the Romans defeat of the Carthaginians in naval Battle of the Egadi Islands in the first Punic war (241 BC). Back on the bikes, we ride the “Via del Sale” (salt way) to Nubia to admire the salt ponds and the characteristic wind mills. We spend two nights in the stunning Baglio Soria in the middle of the Trapani country side, yet another spectacular setting hand-picked by Tourissimo tour designers.
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Egadi Islands - No rides
 
We’ll sail to butterfly-shaped Favignana Island, the largest of the Egadi islands. We’ll learn about the Florio Museum, a former tuna processing plant, and the history of tuna fishing on the island, including the “mattanza,” the traditional ritual of trapping and killing tuna. After taking in the sights we’ll gather at the port and board a boat for a private tour. Around the coast, tufa quarries are carved out of the crystal-clear waters. We’ll stop at protected coves to swim in clear, blue water and enjoy lunch on the boat. The rest of the day is open to enjoying the relaxed pace of island life, taking a stroll through the piazzas and small streets, or maybe relaxing on the beach! We make our way back to the Sicilian coast in time to relax before the final celebratory dinner with dishes paired with Baglio Sorìa’s own wines.
 

This activity is dependent on sea conditions.

[fa icon="plus"] Day 8

After breakfast, you will be transferred to the Palermo airport according to your travel plans and flight schedule.

 

What's Included

Bianchi Intenso Ultegra-105

Bianchi Via Nirone SBianchi Via Nirone S

 • Two professional tour guides throughout the program


• All accommodations in 4 star hotels and one 3 star hotel

• All breakfasts, all lunches, and six dinners
 

• Wine and beer with meals, coffee, cappuccino, and gelato stops


• Tastings of wine and local specialties


• Ferry and boat rides


• Cooking demonstration with a local chef

• Logistical support during the tour and luggage transfer


• Guided tour of Palermo

• Shuttle at the beginning and at the end of the tour


• All activities mentioned in the day-by-day description

• Bianchi bike rental with GPS navigation

 

 

• Airfare
• Pre-tour hotel stays and post-tour hotel stays
• Personal expenses such as laundry and cell phone
• Guide gratuity

Hotels

Casina_Miregia_Menfi-web

RELAIS CASINA MIREGIA

Santa Maria del Bosco dinner-web

ABBAZIA SANTA MARIA DEL BOSCO

Baglio Soria Firriato

BAGLIO SORÌA

More Info

Food and Wine

Sicilian cuisine shows traces of all of the cultures which established themselves on the island over the last two millennia. Although its cuisine has a lot in common with mainland Italian cuisine, Sicilian food also has Greek, Spanish, French and Arab influences. The use of apricots, sugar, citrus, sweet melons, rice, saffron, raisins, nutmeg, clove, pepper, pine nuts, cinnamon (along with fried preparations) is a sign of Arab influences from the Arab domination of Sicily in the 10th and 11th centuries. Normans influences are also found, such as in the fondness for meat dishes. Later, the Spanish introduced numerous items from the New World, including cocoa, corn, peppers, and tomatoes. In Catania, on the east coast, initially settled by Greek colonists, fish, olives, broad beans, pistachio and fresh vegetables are preferred instead. Much of the island's cuisine encourages the use of fresh vegetables such as eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes, and fish such as tuna, cuttlefish, and swordfish. In Trapani, in the extreme western corner of the island, North African influences are clear in the use of couscous. Sicily is a wine-lover's paradise, such is the variety, complexity and abundance of Bacchus' unique gift! There are 23 DOC zones in Sicily: Alcamo,Contea di Sclafani, Contessa Entellina, Delia Nivolelli, Eloro, Erice, Etna, Faro, Malvasia delle Lipari, Mamertino di Milazzo, Marsala, Menfi, Monreale, Moscato di Noto, Moscato di Pantelleria, Passito di Pantelleria, Moscato di Siracusa, Riesi, Salaparuta, Sambuca di Sicilia, Santa Margherita di Belice, Sciacca and Vittoria. Many grape types are grown, used either in purezza (single grape variety wines), or blended. Some have been around for centuries while others are more recent imports. The following are some of the main varieties: red grapes - Nero D’Avola, Nerello Mascalese, Nerello Mantellato, Perricone, Frappato, Calabrese and the more recently introduced Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Franc and Shiraz (Syrah); white grapes - Cataratto, Grecanico, Grillo, Inzolia, Zibibbo, Damaschino, Trebbiano, Ausonica, Moscato Bianco, Carricante, Corinto Nero and the more recently introduced Chardonnay, Viognier and Fiano. Sicily has the most Slow Food Presidia (local projects) of all of the Italian regions. That means that the island has lots to offer in terms of gastronomical discoveries ranging from greens and vegetables to cheese and artisanal bread. Among a few that we will experience are Trapani Sea Salt, The Menfi Artichoke and the Belice Vastedda that is Italy’s only stretched-curd sheep’s milk cheese.

 

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