Friend and I are signed up for the Sicily tour in February 2025, which ends in Catania. Flight connections from Catania are not great, and we have time stay longer, so we are planning to return to Palermo. We'd love recommendations for one or more places to spend some time on our way back to Palermo from Catania. Enna is on the bus route, and a cursory search makes it sound interesting, but is not covered in the RS Sicily guide book. For reference, we stopped in Orvieto on our way back to Rome after the Heart of Italy tour, and loved it.
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
I spent a few hours walking around Enna in 2015. I think it's worth a stop, but I'd caution you about two things:
I don't think it is remotely as interesting as Orvieto (but then it is much less touristy, which is a good thing).
During my summer-afternoon stop there, the town was dead, because I hit the siesta period. The timing should be very different in February; maybe the town doesn't shut down at mid-day at all in the winter. Still, if there are sights you want to see, check to be sure they'll be open when you need for them to be. There might even be an issue with things being closed some days at that time of year.
If I were taking that tour, my priority for extra time in Sicily would be the Baroque towns in the southeast--Ragusa, Noto, Modica and Scicli. As far as I can tell from a quick glance at the itinerary, they are not on the tour. They aren't on the direct route from Catania to Palermo, but to me they're worth extra driving time.
I do like the idea of seeing some towns in the less-visited part of the interior like Enna, Caltagirone, etc.--and there are lightly-visited Greek ruins at Morgantina to consider as well--but if I had to choose, I'd go with the Baroque towns.
Posted by
OP
Germantown, MD, USA
11 posts
Thanks, acraven, for your insight on Enna. We'll look into the baroque towns you suggest.
Posted by
2816 posts
We were going to visit Enna but didn’t make it there. We have friends who did. They went there for some of the processions during Easter. Still I agree the Baroque town are better use of your time. We stayed in Ragusa which can be reached by train. There is as I recall a bus that goes from Ragusa to Palermo. We stayed in the old town which is not where the train station is. Modica is a short train ride away (actually before Ragusa traveling from the East.) We really enjoyed a tour showcasing how chocolate was made.
Posted by
OP
Germantown, MD, USA
11 posts
Thanks, Beth, for more options to look into!