Sublime Sicily

Stages of your Tour

1. Welcome ride marzamemi

   45km | 280m elevation

   After meeting at Catania–Fontanarossa Airport, we head south along the Ionian Sea, once ploughed by merchant ships from the Byzantine Empire. On the way we pass the town of Noto, a UNESCO World Heritage Site thanks to the magic of its architecture. Our destination is the gorgeous Zahir Country House Hotel, with its spa, pool and nearby beach. After the bike build and fitting session, we stretch our legs with a coffee ride to the tiny fishing port of Marzamemi, built in the years when the Spanish ruled the island.

   Zahir Country House Noto

2. south coast loop

   66km | 740m elevation

   Today’s flat ride takes us to Modica, the second UNESCO World Heritage Site of the trip (and it’s only day two)! Set on a vast plateau furrowed by fast-flowing rivers into deep canyons, Modica is celebrated for its Baroque architecture but also for a performance-enhancing substance dear to everyone who has ever ridden a bike: chocolate! It has been prepared here the way the Aztecs taught the Spanish in the 16th century, when the Spanish ruled Sicily. The locals show it off in an annual international chocolate trade show, Choco Barocco.

   Zahir Country House Noto

3. barocco medieval ride

   39km | 950m elevation

   Today’s rolling ride sends us tumbling through space-time the way only Sicily can. The walled town of Nono Antica was built by the Greeks, fortified by the Romans and elaborated by the Arabs before the 1693 earthquake paradoxically preserved it for future generations. From Nono Antica we ride over to the town of Palazzolo Acreide, mentioned in Thucydides’ ‘History of the Peloponnesian War,’ written 400 years BC. Surrounded by breath-taking archaeology, Palazzolo’s 18th century Basilicas are inscribed in UNESCO’s World Heritage list. We dine as the sun sets over magical Siracusa.

   Zahir Country House Noto

4. taormina discovery ride

   40km | 750m elevation

   We change hotels to the Capotaormina in Taormina, then set off on a hilly ride to magical Isola Bella, a storybook island that is now a nature reserve, and then tiny Castelmola, one of Italy’s most beautiful villages, atop a rocky hilltop above the Ionian Sea. Castelmola rubs shoulders with the big attraction of the day, unforgettable Taormina, a magnet for artists and writers and a staple of the nineteenth-century Grand Tour, set on a hillside with the sea to the east and awe-inspiring Etna to the west.

   UNAHOTELS Capotaormina

5. mount etna loop

   40km | 1,800m elevation

   It’s the big one, 65km of climbing on one of world cycling’s most surprising settings. Seven times a stage finish in the Giro d’Italia, Mount Etna is Italy’s tallest peak south of the Alps, although its altitude is subject to change (in 2021, it was so active that it grew by 30m). We ride out of Taormina to Lignuaglossa, founded in 1566 on a lava stream on the northern side of Etna. Then we ride to the top, if the gods and monsters said to inhabit the volcano let us! E-bike friendly day!

   UNAHOTELS Capotaormina

6. The GODFATHER RIDE

   57km | 1110m elevation

   If you have seen Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, you already know some of today’s 50km hilly ride. The fictional village of Corleone was actually a composite of several of today’s destinations, Forza d’Agro and astonishing Savoca, which is listed as one of Italy’s most beautiful villages but is really a collection of about 100 tiny hamlets, set on rocky hillside. The bar where Michael Corleone first spoke to Mr Vitelli, Apollonia's father, is really Savoca’s 18th-century Palazzo Trimarchi. You can’t come to Sicily and not pay it a visit!

   UNAHOTELS Capotaormina

7. ARRIVEDERCI

   Like all good things, our Sicilian adventure has come to an end. It’s time to make sure we have each other’s numbers (friendships formed in the saddle have a habit of lasting a lifetime) and head for back to Catania–Fontanarossa Airport, where it all began what seems like a lifetime ago, to say our farewells. Assimilating a week in one of the great cultural crossroads of the world will take longer. There’s every chance you’ll still be working it out on your next Italy Bike Tours holiday!

The perfect cycling holiday requires pedalling on the perfect bike. So should you not wish to bring your own bike with you we have a number of beautiful bikes that you can hire at very reasonable prices. If you are not sure what is the perfect bike for you then fire as a mail and we will be delighted give you some expert advice. You can find more information about our bikes below. And yes you can buy our bikes if you fall in love with them!