Amidst natural scenery, ancient ruins and aristocratic palazzi, the visitor will find the atmosphere of memorable films, some of which have contributed to spreading the intense image of Sicily and its panoramas all over the world. Action!
Day 1
Catania and Zeffirelli
Arrival in Catania and check-in at the hotel. The city is the setting for Zeffirelli’s Story of a Blackcap, from Verga’s novel. The visit includes a walk along Piazza dell’Università and Via dei Crociferi, which bear witness to the Baroque Age
arrangement made by Vaccarini; we will also see San Noccolò, with the adjoining Benedictine monastery, in which the film is set.
2
The Goddess of Love at Taormina and Moretti’s Islands
After lunch, departure for Taormina, whose splendid Greco-Roman theatre was the set for the choral inserts in Woody Allen’s film Mighty Aphrodite. In the afternoon, departure for the Aeolian Islands: the Islands episode of Nanni Moretti’s Dear Diary tells of a trip to this splendid archipelago. Dinner and overnight stay at Lipari.
3
Aeolian Islands
After breakfast, we start the tour of the islands. At Stromboli Rossellini made his masterpiece, of the same name, with Ingrid Bergman, in which the hostile and savage nature of the volcano symbolized the protagonist’s drama. The film Vulcano, with Anna Magnani, was produced at Vulcano and featured extraordinary underwater shots for that time (1949). Return to Lipari.
4
Divorce Italian Style 
After breakfast, departure for Milazzo, and continuation on to Palermo. Stop at S. Stefano di Camastra, a Sicilian ceramics
centre, and at Cefalù, where Pietro Germi’s Divorce Italian Style was set, a grotesque and ironic fresco of the Sicilian
reality of the 1960s. Arrival in Palermo for dinner and overnight stay.
5
In the Footsteps of the Prince of Salina
After breakfast, tour of the city, the streets in which some sequences of Roberto Benigni’s Johnny Stecchino were shot. In
Piazza della Croce dei Vespri, we will visit Palazzo Gangi, whose rooms, richly frescoed and decorated, were the set for
the memorable dance scenes of Visconti’s The Leopard.
6
Musical Notes From the Vucciria and Settings in Bagheria
After breakfast we will go to the famous Vucciria market, where the musical To Die For Tano is set, inspired by the true
story of Tano Guarrasi, killed in his butcher’s shop in 1988. We continue on to Bagheria, where we will see Villa Valguarnera, the set for both The Leopard and Roberto Faenza’s film Marianna Ucrìa, taken from a novel by Dacia Maraini.
7
Monreale
After breakfast, departure for Monreale. We will visit the Cathedral, with precious 12thcentury mosaics, and the cloister of the Benedictine monastery, with its Moorish architecture. In the afternoon, departure for Palermo airport.
