Wildflowers in Sicily

We went in May of 2019 and circled Sicily in a rental car. There were wildflowers everywhere we went. Don't think you need a tour, just go out in the countryside.

i recall Segesta as a good spot.

I'm sure it varies from year to year. I was in Sicily in 2014 for the last week in April, first in May. The wildflowers in the west were spectacular, I saw hillsides blanketed with them from the main road south from Palermo. Segesta and Selinunte's archaeological sites were covered with them. As I drove east from Agrigento to Siracusa, they were sparser. I don't know if that was due to topography or timing.

A few years back I was in western Sicily in mid April. As others have said, the wildflowers all around Segesta were beautiful.

This is good news about the wildflowers.
I hope to be in Sicily the first two weeks of May and was hoping the wildflowers would be in bloom.

I looked at pictures from our trip and in addition to Segesta and Selinunte as mentioned by others I had some beautiful wildflower shots from Zingaro and Vendicari.

We were there the first week of May, 2019 and the carpet of wildflowers we encountered at Selinunte was a highlight of our trip; absolutely glorious yellow flowers (not sure what they were) + a sprinkling of red poppies. More crowds and fewer flowers at Agrigento. We much preferred Selinunte. If you go & have a car, try to stop at the famous Panificio Rizzo bakery in Castelvetrano for some of their famous black bread (another highlight of our trip, it goes great with caponata). We also encountered entire hillsides of pink wildflowers on our drive across the island, specifically, the stretch around Enna (if I recall correctly). Also encountered entire orange groves in full bloom. We drove with the windows rolled down and pulled over several times just the inhale the fragrance. If you've never smelled an orange blossom, you're in for a real treat (and if you have, you know what I'm talking about). Enjoy.

Now you all have me dreaming of an April/May trip to SicIly . . .

Hmmmm...would there be wildflowers in Sicily in March?

The odds of seeing wild flowers in Sicily are best from March to May; by late May, they're finished in Sicily, but should be blooming in Tuscany.

Wildflower hot spots include the island of Marettimo off Sicily's west coast, the island of Salina off Sicily's north coast, and the Zingaro Reserve not far from Palermo. Zingaro's 6.5 mile "Path of the Orchids" loop hike is the most accessible, but all three locations feature Mediterranean plants that thrive in rocky, windswept landscapes.

Here's a link to the Zingaro hike: https://www.alltrails.com/trail/italy/sicily/sentiero-delle-orchidee?u=i

These two trip reports have photos that'll give you an idea of what to expect:
https://hunterphotos.co.uk/photography/sunny-spring-in-sicily-a-floral-wonderland/
https://latitude65.ca/the-wildflowers-of-lo-zingaro/

Another way to get an idea of what's blooming where and when, is to look at the guided botanical tours offered by Greentours & Naturetrek - both which are based in the UK.
https://www.naturetrek.co.uk/tours/wild-flowers-of-sicily
http://www.greentours.co.uk/Europe/SICILY-234/

Greentours "Wildlife at Leisure" in the Hyblaean Mountains (north of Ragusa) runs March 31 - April 7, 2022 and focuses on orchids, anemones, irises & birds.

Naturetrek's "Wild Flowers of Sicily" tour in late April/ early May visits the Madonie Mountains, Etna & the Fiumefreddo Reserve, and focuses on orchids, the unique flora of the Etna & birds. This year's tour is full (April 27 - May 4, 2022), but the April 26 - May 3, 2023 departure still has spaces available.

Naturetrek posts excellent trip reports (with links to 2015 - 2019) with photos & descriptions of the weather. It's an excellent resource.

The May 1-8, 2019 report notes "Spring came late this year" and "carpets of early spring flowers" like Irises, Crocus and Orchids. Other sightings include Sweet Peas, Borage, Field Gladiolus, Cerinthe/Honeywort, Pink Anemone, Grape Hyacinth/Muscari, Rockrose and even Peonies!

Here's a link to help you identify various wild flowers: http://fioridisicilia.altervista.org/index.html

Please remember to leave no trace of your visit, pack out your trash and never pick the flowers.

Hope this helps.

Hello Carolyn...many, many thanks for the thorough info on Sicilan wildflowers! After several glitches, we hope to travel there in 2023..your info will really help trip planning.

Susan, I'm so glad you found my notes helpful.

Here are my observations from our most recent trip to Sicily: April 12 - 24, 2022. Our original plan was to spend a month on the island, but we cut our visit short due to excessive heat & wind. Our time in Sicily was as follows: Palermo (4 nights), then picked up rental car at PMO and drove to Scopello (6 nights). Used Scopello as a base to visit Zingaro, Segesta, Erice, Castelvetrano, Selinunte & Mazara del Vallo as day trips. Drove to Trapani & Nubia (2 nights) and visited the salt flats. From there we headed back to PMO to drop off the rental car and flew back to Rome and drove to southern Tuscany & the Val d'Orcia for more wildflowers and gardens.

My observations:
Scopello & Segesta in mid-April 2022 were lovely! Green fields with gorgeous scarlet sulla, blue borage, orange calendula, and white/yellow camomile in full bloom! A few red poppies here and there. Lots of yellow invasive flowers as well, crown daisy I think. Rockrose was pretty too. Zingaro was HOT! Take plenty of water if you go and be prepared for zero shade. Lots of large blooming euphorbias and a carpet of tiny cammomile flowers. Didn't get very far as the heat was brutal (but the water was lovely). Selinunte was unbearably hot this year & such a disappointment! We were utterly shocked to see Selinunte's fields burnt to a crisp and mowed down with few to zero flowers on April 23, 2022 vs. green un-mowed fields bursting with flowers on May 1st & 2nd, 2019.

While in Trapani, we had hoped to take a ferry to the island of Levanzo to visit the Neolithic cave paintings & look for more wildflowers, but the ferries weren't running due to strong wind storms. We had wind blown sand get in our eyes which was rather painful; thank goodness we had our mini first aid kit with individual vials of lubricating eye drops! At that point, the heat & wind were more than we could stand (I'm very fair skinned and heat sensitive) so rather than continue around the island, we decided to fly back to Rome (April 24 - 29), then drove around southern Tuscany and the Val d'Orcia (April 30 to May 4, 2022) to see what was blooming further north. As it turned out, the lilacs in Tuscany were at their peak, the newly sprouted wheat fields were the most lovely shade of green, and the red poppies were just getting started! We had a brief afternoon rain shower in Pienza which was rather dramatic. Fresh poppies bloomed the following day and the air was so clean! At La Foce (Iris & Antonio Origo's gardens, designed by Cecil Pinsent), the wisteria, tulips, peonies & lilacs were all in full bloom on May 1st - it was truly lovely! Purple and white irises were blooming in Pienza as well. All in all, heading north from Sicily was a wise move as it allowed us to continue enjoying flowers. Regarding temperatures: SW Sicily was much hotter during the last half of April 2022, compared to our previous visit the first week of May, 2019; Spring arrived earlier this year.

One request for anyone hoping to see wildflowers: please PLEASE please, do NOT trample or pick the flowers! We saw several "Instagrammers" posing for pictures and shooting videos of themselves as they lay, ran and pranced in the flowers and wheat fields. Their behavior was selfish and rude. Please respect private property and stay out of the fields. Always remember to "Leave NO Trace" of your visit. Leave the flowers for others to enjoy after you have gone.

And to all travelers: please do not litter. If trash cans are full, take your rubbish with you and dispose of it properly. Be a good example to those around you and help make the world a better place.

Lastly, please remember: wildflowers, and all plants in general, are weather dependent; there are absolutely no guarantees that specific flowers will be blooming during a certain window of time. It's all just luck, so plan your trip, hope for the best, and be a good person = LEAVE NO TRACE of your visit.