Sicily --- Agrigento and Country Living

I liked Palermo's Il Mirto e La Rosa, which is not far from the tourist office downtown. It's not quite a "specusl occasion" restaurant, though.

We are also doing this tour in October so I am curious to see your responses.

Had a fantastic time (certainly ate the best ever) on this tour's off-season version, just this past mid April, 2 days behind tour RS was on and blogs about; good pics, video clips to check out. I enjoyed cena or dinner al fresco (outside) at A'nica Ristorante & Pizza Gourmet in Palermo, Via Alloro, 135. Newer restaurant, clean/modern/white vibe (viewed from outside) and it appears locals as well as visitors are patrons. Pasta was delicious and excellent fresh fish, not a huge menu. Had terrific seafood and pasta at a Trapani ristorante on Via Garibaldi (one of many, lots of enticing spots to choose from) that I goofed not getting biz card/lost receipt; we liked the look of the wood bench/table dining set up (again, outside dining, not in restaurant) and the menu had moderate prices. If you are in Ragusa for the free day, I loved service and a delicious pranzo or lunch at La Piazzetta, Piazza Duomo, 14 Ragusa Ibla (old town). Refined with table linens/cloth napkins and elegant, professional servers, young and old alike. All of my mentions are places I greatly enjoyed because I was outside in these old, charming, fascinating, picturesque places, side streets or piazzas. Fruits and vegetables seasonally available on the island are outstanding. Combined with the available fresh seafood, shellfish, crustaceans plus plenty of nicely raised animal protein in beef, pork, poultry and more, it is practically guaranteed everything you eat in Sicily will be top notch. The cheese, nuts, cous cous, bread, olives all make me swoon and I haven't even gotten to dolci. Sicilians do such wonderful things for sweets, treats and desserts. Just having an apertivo like a Campari spritz gets you tasty nibbles. The really good news is, with all the footsteps you'll take on this tour, your caloric expenditure will still be greater than your intake. Score!! Uno grande canolo, per favore.

I took the off-season Sicily tour in February. My favorite meal on my own in Palermo was at Trattoria il Maestro del Brodo, just off Corso Vittorio Emanuele near Via Roma and the Vucciria market. It specializes in seafood but also has excellent non-seafood dishes. It's open for lunch Tuesday through Sunday, but they only serve dinner on Friday and Saturday. In Trapani, I ate in 2 restaurants recommended by our guide, one a popular pizzeria and the other a restaurant/pizzeria. I don't recall the names, but they were ones the guide pointed out during our orientation walk. Both were very good. You might not have as much free time in Agrigento as you think. I looked at the off-season and in-season itineraries for that day and the only difference is that the off-season tour includes a 1.25 hour visit to the museum. It was about a 3 hour drive from Trapani to Agrigento, so you probably won't arrive until later in the morning. By the time you tour the site (2 hours) and eat lunch, you might not arrive at your country lodgings until midafternoon. Our transportation to the big dinner that night left at 19:00, and the 2.5 hours we had to relax at the hotel went fast. Sounds like the in-season tour has more free time that afternoon and may stay closer to beaches than we did, but I doubt you'll have the entire afternoon free.