Sicily Food & Wine

My wife and I had a great time on the trip. Our tour leader, Alessio, did a fantastic job and really made our daily adventures both fun and educational. 5 Stars for him!! We usually do not travel with group tours, but in a place like Sicily it made the daily travel arrangements and transportation much easier and seamless. Everything was wonderful, except for a few of the hotel accommodations which were a bit uncomfortable. Some of the highlights for us were the cooking class, temples in Agrigento, the Villa Romana, street food tour in Palermo, Mt. Etna hike and the wine tasting at Gambino Winery.

We’d do it again! Loved the group we travelled with. They made it a great trip along with our group leader Francesco. Sicily is beautiful!!!

An insightful view of the food influences, inspired by the Arabs and Normans. The island itself is incredibly fertile, enjoying an ideal climate for the cultivation of produce, such as olives, oranges, lemons, aubergines, tomatoes, pistachios and almonds, not to mention the fresh seafood caught right off the coast. A visit to the renowned wine cellar on Mount Etna, to enjoy a wine tasting and lunch, followed by a walk around the most active volcano in Europe.

An amazing trip exploring so much of Sicilian history and typical foods the Island. Our tour leader Tiziano went above and beyond his role to show us as possibile throughout the trip. We saw so much in 1 week.

The tour introduced us to Sicilian food and we experienced making pasta, drinking Marsala wine, tasting mozzarella and warm ricotta straight from the buffalo cows, and visited an organic olive farm. This was in addition to eating loads of delicious street food, and exploring fish and vegetable markets. And then we visited beautiful historical towns of Ragusta and Nota - and learned about the ancient history of Sicily in the Valley of Temples in Agrigento. I also walked around a crater on Mount Etna. What a week ! Full of fun and learning.

It's incredible the amount of activities and experiences that this trip packs in. It's pretty full on. But extremely interesting and rewarding, in terms of the amount you learn about Sicily... especially its food and culture.

An incredible week exploring Sicily! We toured food markets, made pasta from scratch, did an olive oil tasting at a local farm, saw fresh burrata being made at a buffalo farm then sampled cheese products, went to a beautiful winery on Mt Etna, then did a hike to the Volcanos craters. We learned so much about Sicily's history, and culture, and of course, had lots of delicious food and wine!! I am already planning my next trip to Sicily!

This is a fantastic tour if you’re interested in both the food and the history of Sicily, as the tour combines both of them very well. The trip manages to pack so much in, every day there is something new to see, a new place to visit and a new tasting experience. The tour hops from hotel to hotel, using 5 different establishments, everything from small boutique style, to a holiday village with dome shaped bungalows and a 2 night stay in a large hotel complex on the outskirts of Catania. My week was full of a few unexpected things! Lost luggage between Milan & Palmero airports, absolute torrential rain on day 1 while in Palmero, an abandoned walk on Etna due to more extreme weather and to top it off an eruption of Etna on my departure day which coated Catania & the airport in a layer of black volcanic ash! This resulted in the airport being closed, several flight changes and finally getting home 2 days later than planned! It’s a packed itinerary, some early morning starts and a lot of distance covered in the bus. A good guide book together with the trip notes will help you no end.

A thoroughly enjoyable, varied holiday. Plenty of interesting visits, no shortage of excellent local food and wine.

Really enjoyed this trip, we got to see most of the island of Sicily whilst being able to taste some traditional dishes and wines.

We first booked this trip to travel in April 2020, and had postponed it 3 times before we heard it would happen - and with fewer restrictions/requirements as the departure date approached, for which we were most grateful.

As we'd first booked to travel in April 2020, this was a much-anticipated break, and our first one travelling abroad, and it really went well. It was the first post-Covid trip, so we weren't sure that everything would happen as expected, but it was well organised, and all eventualities catered for. We were impressed by the range of food tasting opportunities (too many to mention), particularly the chance to visit small producers who are obviously diversifying from their original production - and the street food in Palermo was a revelation! We also enjoyed the cultural visits, but would have liked to visit Siracusa (on the itinerary when we originally booked).

This was my first holiday outside the UK since the first covid lockdown and it was excellent. The group remained covid-free for the entire week - a bonus! Rosario was enthusiastic and energetic throughout. As his first group in 2 years, he was determined to ensure we enjoyed ourselves!

Great way to spend a week in Sicily. The trip is pretty busy, moving on most days, packing in the main sights and a lot of food! I enjoyed the mix of history (valley of the temples and the roman villa) with the food and culture aspect, particularly the visits to the local producers and food market trips.

We booked this trip to go in 2020 and finally made it in 2022. It was well worth the wait. It was everything we'd hoped for and more. Bustling local markets, stunning Greek/Roman temples, fascinating architecture (the baroque balconies), a chance to walk on Mount Etna and of course all the amazing food and wine. There were certainly plenty of opportunities to sample the delights of Sicilian food and wine with our superb guide, Rosario.

Our week in Sicily was the highlight of 2 months in Europe. The places we visited, and stayed, and the food experiences we enjoyed were well planned to make for a varied tour: a mixture of popular tourist sites and low-key personal off the beaten track ventures all designed to keep a group of 6 well-travelled 70s year olds stimulated but not over taxed. Guide Rosario was a wonderfullyorganised yet relaxed companion who who treated us as friends not customers (and driver Giuseppe was great to be with as well. Thoroughly recommended.

With 6 in our group and with our guide Rosario and our driver we did a one week tour of Sicily. It was magic. We saw wonderful sights, were taken into old medieval homes, learned how to make pasta, climbed Mt Etna, saw great cathedrals, learned of the Mafia and ate wonderful food. Our guide and driver were wonderful and we had such fun together. All our needs were attended to and we became good friends. I can heartily recommend this tour.

If you idea of a Mediterranean holiday involves languorous lie-ins & bobbing about on a Lilo with a spritzer, forget it! We were an international group of 16. We were very busy. We visited places we could not have found independently, and discovered the secrets of wine, olive & cheese production. We sampled lots of lovely Sicilian foods, visited food markets, feasted on caponata & pesto made by ourselves, tried street food ("what IS that?" - "Cow spleen-its very popular...."). The trip was quite hectic, Rosario our excellent guide had us whipped into shape from the start- NO lie-ins, no matter how much we consumed the night before. We were on the coach by 8 or 9 am, ready to face what the day presented. It was also full of contrasts, from busy markets to gentle countryside, from chi-chi resorts to the blackened slopes of Mount Etna, we got a real flavour of Sicily, including even a bit of Inspector Montalbarno. Rosario joined in with us and was both helpful and caring of our various needs, and Guiseppe our driver was just brilliant. A kind, friendly, helpful, careful driver who lugged our suitcases as well as driving and looking after us. The relatively small coach easily negotiated roads that would have been tricky for a bigger bus. Most of the hotels were perfect for our needs, and mostly very well located.

This is a busy week with a lot crammed in to a short space of time. As you would expect, a lot of the scheduled activities are food and drink related but there's also some sightseeing. After two nights in Palermo, you transfer to a different hotel every night so there's little in the way of down time but you certainly get a flavour of Sicilian life and culture - and, of course, food! The hotels were a bit of a mixed bag - some better than others but all of them were adequate for one night - we particularly liked the Hotel Carmine in Marsala.

We chose the trip after seeing an advert in the Guardian and decided that it sounded fun - mixing food and drink experiences with archaeology, history and geography. We weren't disappointed. Though we don't normally go for group holidays, this trip worked well. The opportunity to share food and drink tastings with the group added a dimension that would have been missing if we had been on our own. Rosario, our guide, and Maurizio, our driver, both worked dilgently to ensure we really enjoyed the trip - getting us to everywhere we needed to be without fuss or bother, and handling queries and minor problems with unfailing patience and good humour. In a relatively short time, we saw a good cross-section of the island, and came back with happy memories and a much stronger 'mental image' of Sicily. Thanks to all concerned who made this work.

Our first experience of Sicily so chose this holiday. It gave us a mixture of culture, Greek, Roman as well as modern. A variety of food and drink experiences as well as exploration of the countryside. The small group and an excellent leader made for very good holiday travel.

A great balance of food and culture - all of the highlights covered, and no food specialities left untasted. The itinerary was a perfect blend of food and culture, and the itinerary itself was perfect - nothing could really be improved upon.

I travelled with my husband and we have both enjoyed our trip. our guide Titsiana was excellent, being informative, friendly, accommodating and anxious to ensure we all enjoyed our trip. Timings of all pick ups and activities was perfect. Activities including wine tasting, cheese making, cookery and olive oil tastings were all enjoyable and very well organised.

This trip was an excellent experience blending history and tourist sites with food experiences. The itinerary is well done. We were a small group of 7, and got along well, and our guide Tiziano was energetic and good natured, and attentive to everyone's needs. He was very organized and everything went off as planned. He was also personally helpful to me on 2 occasions, with forgotten eyeglasses and arranging individual transport to the airport. I really enjoyed all the tasting/eating experiences, including olive oil, cheese farm, wine tastings, cooking class, street food tour in Palermo, and group dinners. We moved a lot, staying one night in most places, but that was enough to see everything, and get a feel for the towns. The travelling distances were not very long between towns, so we had plenty of walk around time. My only criticism would be of the choice of the Siracusa hotel, which could be greatly improved, even if it meant charging a bit more for the trip. The rest of the hotels ranged from decent to lovely. Would definitely travel with Exodus again. Great value.

The Sicily group tour was excellent. Very well planned and organised.

The tour was well organised and interesting. The group dynamics worked well and we were given the opportunity to experience many aspects of Sicily including the delicious food, fascinating history, fantastic archaeology and beautiful scenery.

This trip is a wonderful mixture of food and culture, with Etna thrown in for good measure! From sampling spleen sandwiches (yes, really) on the Palermo street food tour to a Marsala wine tasting and eating ricotta, still warm, that we had watched being made just minutes before, all the gastronomic experiences were enjoyable and delicious (even the spleen wasn't that horrendous). The cultural highlights for me were the amazing mosaics at the Villa del Casale and the Duomo and cloisters at Monreale, whilst experiencing Etna in the snow was simply stunning. Our guide, Rosario, was brilliant, and our group, made up of mostly couples and with around 30 years from oldest to youngest, bonded really well - as one of the three singles, and one of the youngest, I never felt isolated.

Lovley holiday. Great overview of many different towns visiting lots of cultural sites. Amazing food and wine, with great tours and tastings. You'll never be hungry or thirsty ;) on this trip.

A gastronomic delight!. From the hands on cookery class and wine tasting tasting to sampling Sicilian delicacies in the historical Capo market. Plus a big thank you to the team for arranging gluten free alternatives throughout the tour, from fusilli pasta to wheat free desserts, it truly exceeded all my expectations.

Really enjoyed the trip. A fascinating island, great food, wonderful history. My only criticism is that we tried to cover too much, which at times led to us only reaching our hotel at 19.00.