II WORLD WAR IN SICILY

1st day: PALERMO

Arrive in Palermo. Meet your driver and transfer to our hotel in the city centre. After some time at leisure, enjoy dinner. Overnight

2^nd day: PALERMO – MARSALA

Breakfast at hotel. We begin our day with a tour of Palermo. See how the cultures that surround it and the forces that once invaded its shores have influenced this city. The target of heavy air raids during the war many neighbourhoods of Palermo were nearly levelled. In the afternoon, depart to Marsala, the city where, on 10 July 1943, the allied troops arrived in Sicily. There is no monument that remembers that event. No monument that recalls the so-called “Husky operation” (this is the name of the landing in Sicily), an operation that saw in action the largest fleet that had ever involved the Mediterranean Sea.

Our tour escort will give all the explanations. Enjoy a wine tasting at a local cellar in Marsala and then a delicious dinner. Overnight

3rd day: MARSALA – ERICE – AGRIGENTO

Breakfast at hotel. Depart to the medieval village of Erice. Suggestions and charm, traditions and stories from the past, beauty, and wonder. You can feel all this while walking through the streets of Erice, a village among the most beautiful in Italy. Its history is enhanced by the poet Virgil, who cites Erice in his most famous work, the Aeneid, making it a stop in the Trojan hero Aeneas’s journey; the hero is also the mythical founder of Rome.

Continue to Agrigento. Lunch by your own. In the afternoon visit to the Valley of Temples, a UNSECO World Heritage Site, has one of the best collections of Greek ruins in all of Sicily. Dinner and overnight.

4th day: AGRIGENTO – GELA – PACHINO – MODICA

Breakfast at hotel. Depart to Gela where the American forces landed and then Pachino were the Canadian 1^st Infantry Division landed on July 9 and 10, 1944. In the afternoon, we arrive in Modica. Enjoy a chocolate tasting at a local chocolate producer. The chocolate in Modica is made with a very old recipe, none other than from the Aztecs. If you are wondering what the Aztecs have to do with Sicily, think about the Spanish conquistadors in South America and you will see that the same Spanish have dominated this island for a couple of centuries

Dinner and overnight.

5th day: MODICA – SYRACUSE

Breakfast at hotel. Depart to Syracuse (UNESCO World Heritage) and it’s War Cemetery, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission burial ground for the dead of World War II.  We will first have a visit to the archaeological area and then on to Ortigia, the historical center. In the centrally located Piazza Duomo, besides to visit the Cathedral we will be able to enter the anti-aircraft shelter.

Lunch by your own. In the afternoon visit to the “English cemetery”. The site of the cemetery was selected in 1943 at an early stage in the operations for the capture of Sicily. In this cemetery most of the graves are those of men who lost their lives in the landings in Sicily on 10 July 1943, as part of the early stages of the campaign to capture the island (Operation Husky).

They include those of a considerable number who belonged to the airborne force that was landed immediately west of the town during the night 9-10 July. Graves were brought into Syracuse War Cemetery from Lentini. There is one grave for a casualty from World War I, a merchant seaman who was originally buried in the Marsala British Cemetery. In addition, three special memorials commemorate men known to have been originally buried in other cemeteries in the region, but whose graves could not be found on concentration. Dinner. Accommodation at hotel.

6th day: SYRACUSE – GERBINI AREA – CATANIA

Breakfast at hotel. Depart to Catania area. In the south of Catania, we shall find the Ponte Primo Sole. Here you follow the traces of 51^st Highland Division during the Gerbini Battle, that moved towards Paternò where stand the Norman Castle. Then continue to Catania. Day dedicated to the visit to the second biggest city in Sicily but also to the places of the memory as per the British Cemetery. On 10 July 1943, following the successful conclusion of the north African campaign in mid-May, a combined allied force of 160,000 Commonwealth and American troops invaded Sicily as a prelude to the assault on mainland Italy. The Italians, who would shortly make peace with the Allies and re-enter the war on their side, offered little determined resistance but German opposition was vigorous and stubborn. The campaign in Sicily came to an end on 17 August when the two allied forces came together at Messina but failed to cut off the retreating Axis lines.

Catania War Cemetery contains burials from the later stages of the campaign, from Lentini northwards. Many died in the heavy fighting just short of Catania (the town was taken on 5 August) and in the battle for the Simeto river bridgehead. Catania War Cemetery contains 2,135 Commonwealth burials of the Second World War, 113 of them unidentified. Then travel to Catania and visit the Historical Museum of the Landing in 1943.

7th day: CATANIA – AGIRA – TAORMINA – CATANIA

Breakfast at hotel. In the morning depart to Agira to visit the Canadian War cemetery (Agira was part of the “Etna line “area of battle of the 8th British Army (Adrano, Centuripe, Regalbuto, Assoro). Then arrive on Mount Etna for a wine tasting and lunch in a farmhouse at the mount footsteps. Then continue to Taormina.

Visit to the famous Greek theatre. The ancient Greeks loved to construct their buildings in beautiful scenic locations Here they found the pairing of Etna and the bay of Naxos, with a wonderful view that when the air is clear can reach the coast of Calabria.

It is, surely, the main monument of the city, not only for its intrinsic artistic value, but also for the scenic location in which it is placed. The view enjoyed from up there is even defined as the view par excellence. The one that is not to be missed when in Sicily.

Back to Catania. Dinner and overnight

8th day: CATANIA

Breakfast at hotel. Transfer to Catania airport. ARRIVEDERCI SICILIA!