Southern Italy: Naples, Matera, Calabria and Sicily

1. Day 1: Arrive in Naples

   Naples International Airport or Napoli Centrale to your hotel in the historic centre

   • Drive about 30 min
   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Naples
   Day 1 details

   Fly into Naples International Airport (NAP), about 7 km from the centre, or arrive by train at Napoli Centrale; a driver meets you at either and takes you to your hotel in the historic centre. Plan to arrive by about 5 pm. At 6 pm your See Sight Tours guide meets the group for a short briefing on the twelve days ahead: how the drives are split, what to pack for Etna, and which evenings are yours. Then we walk out together along Spaccanapoli, the long straight street that still follows the grid of the Greek city, past the church of Santa Chiara and into Piazza San Domenico Maggiore, as the shops reopen after the afternoon break and the lanes fill. The historic centre of Naples is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and this first walk is about its everyday life: washing strung over the alleys, shrines on street corners, an espresso standing at the bar. We finish at a local trattoria with a welcome dinner of Neapolitan dishes.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Naples International Airport (NAP) or Napoli Centrale
   • Welcome briefing with your guide
   • Evening walk along Spaccanapoli
   • Welcome dinner

   Free time: Free until the 6 pm briefing

2. Day 2: Herculaneum at opening and a pizza lesson

   Naples to Herculaneum and back

   • Drive about 1 h
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Naples
   Day 2 details

   We leave at 8 am for the short drive around the bay to Herculaneum, about 25 minutes, so we are at the gate when it opens and its narrow streets are still quiet. The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79 buried this small Roman seaside town under a deep layer of volcanic material that set hard, so it kept what Pompeii lost: upper floors, carbonised wooden beams and doors, and colour on the walls. With a licensed local guide you walk its streets to the House of Neptune and Amphitrite, with its glass-paste wall mosaic, the Suburban Baths and the old shoreline, where the remains of some 300 people who sheltered in the boat sheds were found. Herculaneum is far smaller than Pompeii, so two to three hours is enough without rushing. We are back in Naples for a sit-down lunch, and the afternoon is free. In the evening a pizzaiolo shows us how a Neapolitan pizza is made, from the dough to the wood-fired oven, and then we eat what we have made.

   Included

   • Herculaneum at opening with a licensed local guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Naples
   • Hands-on pizza lesson with a pizzaiolo, with dinner

   Optional experiences

   • The National Archaeological Museum of Naples, where many of the finds from Herculaneum and Pompeii are kept (closed on Tuesdays)

   Free time: Afternoon free in Naples

   Activity: About 2 to 3 hours on foot at Herculaneum on Roman paving, with some ramps and steps.

3. Day 3: The Veiled Christ, then east to Matera

   Naples to Matera through Campania and Basilicata

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Matera
   Day 3 details

   A slower morning in Naples. At about 9 am we visit the Sansevero Chapel, whose centrepiece is the Veiled Christ, carved from a single block of marble by Giuseppe Sanmartino in 1753, the veil so fine it looks like damp cloth over the body. Then we load the van and drive east, about three hours and 260 km, out of Campania and into Basilicata, through the hills past Potenza and down towards the Basento valley. We reach Matera for a late sit-down lunch of Lucanian cooking: sweet peppers dried in the sun, fresh orecchiette and the town's thick-crusted durum wheat bread. After lunch there is time to settle in and rest. Before sunset your guide walks you to a viewpoint on the edge of the old town for your first look down into the Sassi, two hollows of cave houses, rock churches and stairways cut into the side of a ravine. They turn gold in the evening light and glitter once the lamps come on.

   Included

   • The Sansevero Chapel and the Veiled Christ
   • Drive from Naples to Matera with your guide
   • Sit-down lunch in Matera
   • Sunset walk to a viewpoint over the Sassi

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Matera

4. Day 4: The Sassi of Matera

   A day on foot in Matera

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Matera
   Day 4 details

   This morning belongs to the Sassi, walked with a licensed local guide before most day groups arrive. Matera has been lived in since prehistory, and until the 1950s thousands of families still lived in these caves, often sharing them with their animals, before the Italian government moved them to new districts on the plateau. Today the Sassi are a UNESCO World Heritage Site, listed in 1993. We go down through the Sasso Barisano and the Sasso Caveoso, into a furnished cave house that shows how a family lived, and into rock churches with medieval frescoes, among them Santa Maria de Idris on its outcrop of rock. Under Piazza Vittorio Veneto we visit the Palombaro Lungo, a huge cistern cut to hold the rain this dry town depended on. Lunch is at a local restaurant, and the afternoon is free: rest out of the heat, visit a museum, or cross the ravine for the view back at the town. In the evening the Sassi are lit and the lanes are quiet again.

   Included

   • Guided walk in the Sassi with a licensed local guide
   • A furnished cave house and rock churches, including Santa Maria de Idris
   • The Palombaro Lungo cistern
   • Sit-down lunch in Matera

   Easier option: Skip the lower lanes of the Sasso Caveoso and wait for the group at a café on the upper town's piazza.

   More active option: In the afternoon, cross the Gravina ravine on foot and climb to the rock churches and viewpoints of the Murgia park opposite the town, about 2 to 3 hours with a steep path.

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: The Sassi are all stairways and uneven stone; about 3 hours on foot in the morning.

   

5. Day 5: Civita and the drive to Tropea

   Matera to Civita in the Pollino National Park, then south to Tropea

   • Drive about 5 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Tropea
   Day 5 details

   Today is the long drive of the trip, about 390 km and five hours on the road, over our 4 hour cap, because Matera and the Calabrian coast sit on opposite sides of the toe of Italy, and the only alternative is an extra one-night stop. We break it in the middle. We leave at 8:30 am and drive about two and a quarter hours down to the Ionian coast and along the Gulf of Taranto to Civita, a village on a ledge inside the Pollino National Park, the largest national park in Italy. Civita was settled in the fifteenth century by Albanian families, the Arbëreshë, whose language and Byzantine-rite church still survive here. Walk through the lanes with your guide to the edge of the Raganello gorge and the Devil's Bridge, a stone arch over the river far below. We stop for a long sit-down lunch of local dishes, then drive about two and three-quarter hours south on the A2 motorway, past Cosenza and Lamezia, to Tropea, in time for an evening stroll to the balconies above the sea.

   Included

   • Drive from Matera to Tropea with your guide
   • Civita village walk to the Raganello gorge and the Devil's Bridge
   • Sit-down lunch in Civita

   Easier option: Stay in the village square in Civita instead of walking down towards the bridge.

   Free time: Evening free in Tropea

   Activity: The longest drive of the trip and the one day over our 4 hour cap: about 2.25 hours, then a 2.5 hour stop in Civita, then about 2.75 hours. Comfort stops on both halves.

6. Day 6: Tropea and a free afternoon by the sea

   A day in Tropea

   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Tropea
   Day 6 details

   A day by the sea, with one guided walk. In the cool of the morning your guide takes you through Tropea's old town, built on a sandstone cliff above the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the Norman cathedral, which holds the icon of the Madonna of Romania, the town's patron, and out to the balconies at the ends of the lanes, where the coast curves away towards Capo Vaticano and, on clear days, the cone of Stromboli shows on the horizon. Below the cliff, a stairway climbs to the church of Santa Maria dell'Isola on its own rock above the beach. Lunch is a sit-down meal of Calabrian cooking, with Tropea's sweet red onions and spicy 'nduja from nearby Spilinga. The afternoon is yours: swim from the beach below the town, sleep, or walk the shore. From late spring to early autumn, boats leave Tropea in the afternoon for Stromboli and return after dark past the Sciara del Fuoco, the volcano's lava slope, an optional trip we can book for you.

   Included

   • Tropea old town walk with your guide: the cathedral and the balconies over the sea
   • Santa Maria dell'Isola
   • Sit-down lunch of Calabrian cooking

   Optional experiences

   • Boat trip to Stromboli, returning after dark past the Sciara del Fuoco (seasonal, weather and volcanic activity permitting; price shown at booking)

   Free time: Afternoon and evening free

   Activity: Steps down to the beach and up to Santa Maria dell'Isola; the rest is level.

   

7. Day 7: Scilla and the ferry to Sicily

   Tropea to Scilla, the ferry from Villa San Giovanni to Messina, then Taormina

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Taormina
   Day 7 details

   We leave Tropea at 9 am and drive about an hour and a half south to Scilla, where the mountains drop straight into the Strait of Messina. In Greek myth this was the rock of Scylla, the monster that faced the whirlpool Charybdis across the water. Walk down through Chianalea, the old fishing quarter whose houses stand with their feet in the sea, below the Ruffo castle on its headland, and sit down for a lunch of local fish. Then it is ten minutes to Villa San Giovanni and the car ferry across the strait, about twenty minutes on deck with Sicily filling the view ahead. Our minivan crosses with us, so there is no luggage to carry. From Messina we follow the coast south for about fifty minutes to Taormina, our base for two nights, on a terrace high above the Ionian Sea. In the early evening walk with your guide along Corso Umberto to Piazza IX Aprile, where the view opens over the bay and, when the sky is clear, to Etna.

   Included

   • Scilla and the Chianalea fishing quarter
   • Sit-down lunch in Scilla
   • Car ferry across the Strait of Messina
   • Evening walk on Corso Umberto in Taormina

   Easier option: In Taormina, ride the van to the Porta Messina end of Corso Umberto and walk only the level stretch to Piazza IX Aprile.

   Free time: Evening free in Taormina

   

8. Day 8: Mount Etna and a winery lunch

   Taormina to Etna's south side, a winery on the lower slopes, and back

   • Drive about 3 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Taormina
   Day 8 details

   We leave Taormina at 8 am, because cloud often gathers on Etna's summit by early afternoon. The day's three hours on the road come in short legs: about an hour and a half up to the Rifugio Sapienza on the south side, at about 1,900 m. Etna is Europe's highest active volcano and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2013, and its slopes change shape with each eruption. The cable car lifts us to about 2,500 m, and off-road vehicles climb to about 2,900 m, where an authorised volcano guide walks you across fresh lava and ash towards the summit area, as far as the rules on the day allow. Back down near the refuge, walk the rim of the Silvestri craters, formed in an eruption in 1892. Lunch is at a family winery on the lower slopes, with a tasting of wines grown in volcanic soil. The drive back to Taormina is about an hour, so we are back by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is free for the town's lanes, the public gardens or the beach at Isola Bella, below the town.

   Included

   • Etna cable car and off-road vehicles to about 2,900 m with an authorised volcano guide
   • The Silvestri craters
   • Winery visit with lunch and a wine tasting

   Easier option: Stay at about 1,900 m and walk the Silvestri craters while the group goes up, then meet for the drive to lunch.

   Free time: Late afternoon and evening free in Taormina

   Activity: About 2 hours on foot at altitude on loose lava and ash; it is cold and windy up high, even in June.

   

9. Day 9: Taormina's theatre, Catania's market, on to Syracuse

   Taormina to Catania, then Syracuse

   • Drive about 2 h
   • Breakfast and lunch
   • Stay in Syracuse
   Day 9 details

   We are at Taormina's Greek theatre when it opens at 9 am, before the cruise and coach groups. Built by the Greeks and rebuilt by the Romans, it is cut into the hillside so that the stage frames the coast and, on clear mornings, the cone of Etna. With a licensed local guide we walk the upper rows, then leave at about 10:30 for the hour's drive south to Catania. The city was rebuilt in black lava stone after the earthquake of 1693, and its fish market behind Piazza del Duomo is loud and busy until early afternoon. Your guide walks you through the stalls, past the lava-stone elephant fountain that is the city's emblem and up Via Etnea, and we stop for lunch and a granita. About an hour more on the road brings us to Syracuse in the late afternoon. Our hotel is on Ortigia, the island that holds the old town, and the evening is free to walk its seafront and lanes.

   Included

   • Taormina's Greek theatre at opening with a licensed local guide
   • Catania: the fish market, Piazza del Duomo and Via Etnea
   • Sit-down lunch and granita in Catania

   Easier option: Watch from the lower rows of the Greek theatre instead of climbing to the top tiers, and skip the climb up Via Etnea in Catania for a café on Piazza del Duomo.

   Free time: Evening free on Ortigia

10. Day 10: Ortigia and the Neapolis theatre

    Ortigia in the morning, the Neapolis Archaeological Park in the late afternoon

    • Drive about 15 min
    • Breakfast and lunch
    • Stay in Syracuse
    Day 10 details

    We start early on Ortigia, where the morning market fills the street beside the ruins of the Temple of Apollo with fish, citrus, capers and cheese. Your guide walks you through the stalls for tastings that become lunch, then on to Piazza Duomo, where the cathedral was built into a Greek temple to Athena of the 5th century BC, and its Doric columns still stand in the walls and the nave. A few minutes away is the Fountain of Arethusa, a freshwater spring at the edge of the sea with papyrus growing in it. After a long midday break, we drive a few minutes to the Neapolis Archaeological Park in the late afternoon, when the stone has cooled and most groups have gone. With a licensed local guide you see the Greek theatre, cut into the hillside in the 5th century BC, the quarry cave called the Ear of Dionysius, and the Roman amphitheatre. Syracuse and the rock tombs of Pantalica were listed by UNESCO in 2005.

    Included

    • Ortigia market walk with a tasting lunch
    • The Temple of Apollo, the cathedral and the Fountain of Arethusa
    • The Neapolis Archaeological Park with a licensed local guide: the Greek theatre, the Ear of Dionysius and the Roman amphitheatre

    Optional experiences

    • Boat trip around Ortigia and into the sea caves (price shown at booking)

    Free time: Midday free on Ortigia

    Activity: About 3 hours on foot in total, mostly level.

11. Day 11: Baroque Noto and a free afternoon

    Syracuse to Noto and back

    • Drive about 1.5 h
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Syracuse
    Day 11 details

    A short morning trip and a free afternoon. Noto is about 40 minutes south-west of Syracuse. After the earthquake of 1693 destroyed the old town, it was rebuilt on a new site in the 18th century in honey-coloured local stone, and it is one of the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto, listed by UNESCO in 2002. Walk with your guide up Corso Vittorio Emanuele, past churches and palaces whose carved balconies rest on lions, horses and grotesque faces, to the cathedral of San Nicolò, whose dome collapsed in 1996 and reopened, rebuilt, in 2007. Stop for granita and brioche at a café on the Corso. We are back on Ortigia by early afternoon: swim from the rocks along the town's seafront in the warmer months, take the optional boat trip around the island, or rest. In the evening we sit down together for a farewell dinner on Ortigia, with Sicilian fish and wine, and a last walk along the water afterwards.

    Included

    • Noto with your guide: Corso Vittorio Emanuele and the cathedral of San Nicolò
    • Granita and brioche in Noto
    • Farewell dinner on Ortigia

    Optional experiences

    • Boat trip around Ortigia and into the sea caves (price shown at booking)

    Free time: Afternoon free on Ortigia

12. Day 12: Syracuse to Catania Airport

    Syracuse to Catania Fontanarossa Airport (CTA)

    • Drive about 1 h
    • Breakfast
    Day 12 details

    A last breakfast on Ortigia and, if there is time, a last walk along the seafront while the town wakes up. The group transfer to Catania Fontanarossa Airport (CTA) leaves Syracuse at about 10 am and takes about an hour, so book a flight leaving after about 1 pm. Catania has direct flights to Rome, Milan and many European hubs for connections home. If your flight leaves earlier than the group transfer allows, tell us when you book and we arrange a private transfer, priced by our desk. If you are staying on in Sicily, your guide can help you with trains and buses from Syracuse, and our Sicily trip covers Palermo, Agrigento and Ragusa, which this route leaves out. Your guide rides with the group to the airport and checks your flight before saying goodbye at the terminal doors.

    Included

    • Group transfer to Catania Fontanarossa Airport (CTA)

    Optional experiences

    • Private transfer for an earlier flight (price shown at booking)

    Activity: Book a flight leaving after about 1 pm.

Wildlife and weather: Spring and autumn are warm and quieter, and the sea at Tropea and Ortigia is usually warm enough to swim from late May to early October. We do not run in July and August, when inland heat can pass 40 C and the southern coasts are at their busiest. Etna is cold and windy at altitude in every month.

• Naples2 nights
• Matera2 nights
• Tropea2 nights
• Taormina2 nights
• Syracuse3 nights