1279 Advice for holiday in sicily?

Hi,
My wife Paula and I have been visiting Italy for three years now, (yes I know, relative newbies), but never been any further south than Positano, however in a couple of weeks we will be visiting Sicily. We will be staying at Baglio Onetto above Marsala for the first week, (which looks fanTAStic on the website), and in the second week we are going self catering in a small place on the South East coast called Punta Secca, which is not far from Marina Ragusa.

I just wondered if anybody could kindly recommend good places to eat, whilst I can find plenty of information about Marsala and the surrounding area, I can find very little about Punta Secca!

Thanks for your help with this.

Justin

Category
Travel & Holiday Advice

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 09/10/2005 - 02:03

While I can't suggest any restaurants/trattorie around Punta Secca, if it's like most small towns in Sicily you'll find that food from pizzerias, trattorias will generally be great and cheap - local and Italian dishes, fresh seafood, etc.

There's a beautiful and quiet beach not too far from you at Vendicari (south of Noto) with a ruined Spanish tower overlooking perfect blue sea that's definitely worth a visit. It's a nature reserve though, so no facilities to speak of, but that's part of the charm!

En route from W to SE, Agrigento's Valley of the Temples and the ruins at Segesta are very impressive, and Ericlea Minoa is also a nice place for a short visit (another nice beach, too).

Taormina, a couple of hour's drive up the coast (past Catania), is a beautiful town with lots of character and a wide choice of restaurants and shopping; Siracusa is another pretty town that's a bit closer to where you are staying - try the waterfront restaurants on Ortigia island for eating out, most won't disappoint.

Enjoy your holiday! :)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 09/10/2005 - 10:06

Thanks for this, reassuring to know that there are likely to be good eating places around the area. We are flying into Palermo at about 10.30, so hopefully will have time to see Segesta on the way to the hotel. I've read a few scare stories about driving in Sicily, is it really any worse than the rest of Italy? I drove from Rome, past Naples to Positano, and all over the amalfi coast and the peninsula around Sorrento. Is Sicily worse than that?

Thanks for your help

Justin

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 09/10/2005 - 12:03

Hi, cannot recommend places to eat, but urge you to read take some of Andrea Camilleri's 'Inspector montalbano' novels with you to read. They are hilarious, fantastically well translated by Stephen Sartorelli, totally convey the atmosphere, and are apure delight...So far only 5 have been tanslated into English, believe the next one is coming in november - cannot recommend them highly enogh!
Very Bsst Regards,
Sharon

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Sat, 09/10/2005 - 13:12

Thanks sharon, i'm looking for some new books to take, so will have a look on amazon.

cheers
justin