La Turista

Though I cannot pretend to know everything about tourism in Italy, I have had some amazing adventures that deserve sharing and which will, hopefully, help others who plan on visiting Sicily in particular.

General Tips
Though guide books usually mention the more obvious cultural differences and provide generic warnings about health and safety, their main objective is to share information about housing, eating, and site seeing. This means that all the little things that make up daily life get crammed into a short chapter at the beginning of the book, leaving out details and completely skipping some subjects. After a few years of learning as I go, these are just some of the things I feel it would have been helpful to know earlier.

Sightseeing
When I first arrived in Sicily, I didn't have a clue what to do or see. My first impression was that everything of interest had already been destroyed by centuries of invading empires. Though much has been lost to these invasions, not to mention the unfortunate combination of earthquakes and lava flows provided by Etna, there is still much more too see and do than I had initially assumed upon my arrival. The following list (sorted by provincia) is limited to my own personal travels, thus the concentration on mostly Sicilian sites, but I hope it can provide would-be-travelers with at least a place to start.

NOTE: As you can see fleshing it out is a work in progress. I'm getting to it.

Sicily

Messina
Taormina
Fiume Freddo/Alcantara
Oliveri

Catania
Etna
Fondachello
Bronte
Caltagirone

Siracusa/Ortigia
Noto

Ragusa
Modica
EnnaPiazza Armerina
 
Caltanissetta
Sutera

AgrigentoSan Leone
Valle dei templi

Palermo
Cefalu

Trapani
Erice
Marsala (Salt mills)