Description
Discovery of the Sicilian spirit and culture after the
layers left by millenniums of conquests, conflicts, fusions and social
exclusions which moulded, along the histories, the communities, the artistic
expressions, the taste and the way of living. From Palermo to Gibellina, Erice,
Marsala, Selinunte, Agrigento. Beyond these famous destinations, you will be
hosted in the Centers of Local Culture (CLC):
Buseto Palizzolo and Menfi, where you will be welcomed and will meet the
community, take part to their life,
exchange your experience with them, share some of their most interesting moments of
life and will live days and mainly evenings live and unforgettable.
Characteristics
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Region: Western Sicily
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Type of travel: Transported
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Duration : 7 days, 6 nights
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Period: All year, customized to the tourists needs
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Participation: Minimum 6
participants
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Treatment: Half board. Good 3
stars hotels. All with free of charge wifi
Description of the trip
1st day. Arrival to Palermo
The participants arrive to the Palermo airport. Night stay in Palermo.
And tomorrow the tour will start.
2nd day. Start of the
travel. Visit of Palermo.
Meeting with the guide and start of the visit of
Palermo, capital of Sicily, which shows an artistic and architectonic travel 25
centuries long, where the Punic enclosing walls join the liberty style villas,
the roman archaeological finds, the neo-classic theatres, the residences
Arab-Norman style, the Byzantine mosaics, the baroque churches.
Take the breath away
the harmonic crossing of styles of the very rich palace of Normans, the
equilibrium of the square of Quattro Canti, the many stylistic influences
present in the Cathedral and of the churches around. A stop near the “L’Antica Focacceria S. Francesco” (a producer of the local
excellent traditional “focaccia”) let you discover the most genuine tastes of
the Sicilian “street food” which inherit centuries of Sicilian, Greek, Arabic,
Spanish, French food traditions. The
“Focacceria” is also one of the founders of the anti-racket Association “Libero
Futuro” and purchases many of the raw materials from the Cooperatives “Libera terra”, which work on the lands seized to the Mafia. The
tasting will be also the opportunità to under stand where and why Mafia was
born and the war that the State and the Civil Society are waging against it. In
the afternoon, after a not to be missed experience in the famous market “Vucciria”
(in siciliano: fuss) there will be free time to catch up savours, perfumes and
colours of the life in Palermo. Overnight stay in hotel.
day. Palermo – Monreale – CLC Buseto Palizzolo
Breakfast in hotel. The tour of Palermo goes on towards the
famous fountain Pretoriana, also called “Fountain of the Shame” for its naked
statues and the church Saint Cataldo of the Order of the Knights of Malta (XII
secolo). Are crossed the narrow streets of the historical centre, reserved to
the Corporation of the Craftsmen till the Church of St Francis from Assisi. From here one can discover the richest and
boldest centuries of the Sicilian history stressed out by the stuccoes by
Serpotta in the Oratory of Saint Lorenz and by th scenery of the famous film
“The Gattopardo”, shot among the antique furniture, the collections and the rooms
of Mirto Palace.
Both these visits stress out the definite loss of power by the antique
aristocracy, set apart by the new economical and political order introduced by
the Piedmontese Government with the birth of Italian State and by the growing
secret criminal power of the Mafia.
Under the shadow of the old Ficus Magnolides of Marina Square you can
discover the traces of Inquisition and you will introduced into the
consequences of the overlapping of the supposed divine law over the criminal
law of the civil society.
The walk finishes in the old port of La Cala where you will taste the
traditional cannolos (Sicilian pastry roll with sweet filling) and Sicilian ice
creams.
In the afternoon, transfer to Monreale, one of the most beautiful
jewels of Sicily. Here you will detect the influences of the many different
cultural universes (Arabic, Norman, Byzantine, Romanic)
in the surprising artistic melting pot of the Cathedral with its
mosaics, in the cloister, in the Collegiate church. The vault saves the very
rich treasure of William the 2nd: it includes a very precious thorn
from the Christ crown, saved in a golden and silver reliquary.
The technique of the byzantine antique mosaic is practiced by the
students and teachers of the professional school, who will explain their
processes.
In the evening is planned a meeting with the old and modern Sicilian
spirit through the tales of the
story-tellers and a show of the famous Sicilian “pupi”.
Departure towards the CLC Buseto Palizzolo, where the guests are
welcomed by the local Community and will be invited to have dinner together and
during and after the meal will be trained and take part to a local dance.
Overnight stay in an agri-tourism of Buseto Palizzolo.
4
day: Gibellina – Erice - CLC Buseto Palizzolo
Breakfast in hotel and leaving for Gibellina (some 80 km from Palermo),
a curious “new town with memories without traditions”. Gibellina was wholly
rebuilt after the disastrous earthquake in 1968, 20 km from the original site and combines the criticalities of the cities
deprive of a past with the advantages of the rationality of the design of
settlement enriched by an incredible number of architectonic, sculptural and
pictorial works of modern art and of squares which characterize it as a real
museum on open air.
The destroyed town is covered by a concrete shroud (the “Cretto” by
the modern artist Burri) to save the
memories of the past in the new reaity and which every summer changes into the
stage of the international festival of Orestiadi. The visit ends in the Museum
of the Mediterranean Plots that reveal the analogies of signs and forms of the
artistic heritage of all the Mediterranean, revealing the same cultural roots.
In the afternoon, departure for Erice, medieval city which
preserves an important heritage of antique cultures. The entangled labyrinth of
the alleys with the beautiful squared pavement, offers unexpected views over
the churches and the monasteries and sudden meetings with workshops of
craftsmen who create products of the local heritage. You cannot avoid to taste
the specialties of the historic confectioner’s shop of Maria Grammatico which
proposes the old recipes of the Ancient Convent: sweets with almonds, candied
with lemons, “ugly and good”.
In Erice you will not only meet the past but also the future: in the “International
Centre of Scientific Culture Ettore Majorana” you will understand the evolution
of the new Sicily and its integration with the Italian and international
culture and economy.
Return to Buseto Palizzolo where the tourists will take part to an
educational experience in a evolved farm.
5 day – Marsala -
Mothia - Menfi
Breakfast in hotel. Departure for Marsala which offer the immersion into
a center which reflects the Renaissance architectural equilibrium (XIV-XV
secolo) interrupted by a characteristic fish market. The downtown is grouped
around the elegant Repubblica square enriched by the Senators Palace and by the
Cathedral and near the sixteenth-century Spanish District, now seat of the
Municipality. The historical centre converges into the Archaeological park and
into the Baglio museum which saves the evidences of the various conquerors who
for seven times destroyed the city which always have new birth.
The testimonies of the past finish with the remember of the last event:
the landing of Garibaldi who left from here to unify the whole South of Italy
to the Savoy kingdom unifying Italy and ... creating problems of economic and
social integration which do not stop leading to contrasts not only ideological.
The gourmets will be led to visit the old Florio cellars and taste the famous liqueur-like
wine Marsala.
In the afternoon, departure for Mothia. From the 1st millenium b.c. the
wealth of resources, the fertility of its lands and the geographical position
convinced the Phoenicians, earlier and the Carthaginians later to concentrate
their commercial traffics on the little isle of Mothia, founded in the
VII century, which grew up beautiful and rich, as witnessed by its important
finds. In the small building Whitaker you will find the famous Greek marble
statue of the so called “young man of Mozia”.
When was at the top of its power,
the isle was stormed by Dioniso the Old, tyrant of Syracuse, during his
campaign to throw away the Carthaginians from Sicily.
Returning from the isle, you land in the idle of fantastic colours of
the saltworks painted purple at the sunset, on the background of the old
windmills.
Re-starting to the South and arrive to the Centre of Local Culture of
Menfi where you will warmly welcomed
by the community and dine with them in a typical restaurant: the couscous with
fish will let you dream, when in the same time the group of dance will train us
and jump with us the steps of a local dance.
Overnight in hotel in Menfi.
6 day – Menfi-
Selinunte – Menfi
It is the day of a
fantastic parade of the immersion into the civilization of Selinunte,
the old colony of the Magna Grecia, with its Doric temples, the acropolis, the defensive
works, the houses, the necropolis. Selinunte invites not
only to know the antique civilization created by the political refugees who
founded the Magna Grecia, but also to understand the key principles of the
democracy, developed through the centuries in spite of the invasions, the
oppression by the ruling classes, the marginalization of the farming by the
town culture. The successive tour through wineries and farms, with tasting of
the local specialties will let us know why this part of the Sicily is so named
even abroad for the excellence of its wines and food.
In the evening, the
group slow food of the Centre of Local Culture of Menfi will welcome the
guests with a participated lesson of a recipe of the tradition, that you will
later eat with our hosts. Will be the opportunity for an exchange of ideas,
opinions and experiences and for going deeper into the many themes touched
during the travel.
Overnight in hotel in Menfi.
7 day: Agrigento -
Palermo
Breakfast and departure to Agrigento. Visit to the Temples
Valley, UNESCO world heritage with the widest archaeological park iin the world
(1.300 hectares approx.). It gather ten Doric temples, three sanctuaries, some
necropolis and a museum of extreme interest. The visit of the hill is
impressing. The tour crossed so far times, cultures, peoples and met places of cult
of periods very far from each other. They represent a religious sensibility
transversal to different social classes, peoples, races, times, levels of power
and wealth. In front of the Temples Valley and the sea behind, is the right
time to understand also this side of the Sicilian soul.
In the end of the
morning: departure for the airport and end of the services.
RATE PER PERSON (min 6 participants) €850
Single room supplement € 180
Rate includes:
- private
20 seats High Class bus with driver for all the duration of the journey
- private
courier (Italian born, English speaking),
- accommodation
in 3 stars hotels,
- half
board basis (included meals will take place in hotels or restaurants as
explicitly pointed out),
- entry
fee for all the monuments according to the program, official guides
- 1
wine tasting + light lunch,
- the Lapilli Viaggi 24h assistance.
Rate does not includes: Anything that is not present in
"Rate includes".
Limitations in accessibility: wheelchair-bound
people must inform the Tour Operator during the registration, to take care of.
Documents
and information
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Passport: for European travellers:
passport or identity card. For not European travellers: visa according to the
reciprocation laws with the Italian Government
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Sanitary precautions: none
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Climate: according to the period
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Things to buy: original handicrafts, food specialties, mainly in
the CLCs Centres of Local Culture,
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You can combine this cultural trail with… in spring, summer, autumn, a relax
period on the beaches of Menfi, courses of transformation and preservation of
agricultural products in Buseto Palizzolo
