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Sicily & The Aeolian Islands - 2024

Treat yourself to Sicily’s rich cultural heritage while exploring the best of its cities, villages, and islands: Palermo, Salina Island, Syracuse/Ortigia, and Taormina.

8 nights, 9 days

Limited to 14 guests.

Small groups and beautiful itineraries, all handled for you.
Have connections the minute you step off the plane.
For people who want fun, easy, insider travel — elevated.

Sicily is the most exotic place in Italy, infused with the most richly preserved cultural heritage. You can expect a lot from Sicily — she’s very generous. One minute you feel like you could be on a Greek Island, the next, you might as well be at the market in Marrakech. Sicily has lived many past lives, and we at Italian Fix have carefully replicated our favorite moments in her cities, towns, and islands, to stitch together a beyond gorgeous itinerary.

You’ll experience the diversity of the Sicilian lifestyle with Italian Fix. One evening you’ll be eating with your new friends on a rooftop terrace overlooking a Baroque piazza. Another night you’ll find yourself gazing out over an endless pink sky over the sea, with no less than a smoking volcano as your backdrop. You’ll dive into deals at the market while our team expertly guides you through the warren of vendors and relax in thermal waters at the spa. Italian Fix tours are the perfect balance between staying busy and indulging in the art of il dolce far niente. When you’re in Italy with Italian Fix, you can have it all.

 

You’ll fly into the city of Palermo where your 9-day and 8-night Italian Fix experience begins. Next are the beautiful Aeolian islands — what we like to call the “Hawaii of Italy” — and Ortigia and Taormina, the most “popular” of the stops on this Sicily experience. Along the way you’ll enjoy artfully curated visits to vineyards, friends’ homes, and gorgeous landscapes that have inspired kings, queens, artists, and designers, all who have not only fallen for Italy, but Sicily specifically. 

The trip was designed by Bianca, the founder of Italian Fix, and a close Sicilian friend who has been hosting tours here for three decades. Because of our connections, you’ll have access to experiences you can’t get on your own, as well as premium reservations to the very best dining and activities. We consider this a “best of Sicily” tour that we would (and do!) recommend to our closest friends. We can help any guests who want to extend their time in Italy tack on more days at the beginning or end of their tour, or both. We’ll help you get exactly what you want out of this experience.

Sicily - 2024

8 nights, 9 days

Investment is $7,795.00 USD

Rates are per person (double occupancy)

Traveling solo & prefer your own room?

Add $1,500.00

Book your space with a $795.00 deposit.

*Payment plans available. Contact us for details.

What's Included

Included on every Sicily tour:

A unique itinerary with guided day trips to the most beautiful towns, islands and villages of Sicily.

8 nights in boutique hotels. We spend 1 night in Palermo, 3 nights on the Aeolian Islands, 2 nights in Syracuse/Ortigia, and 1 night in Taormina.

Airport-to-hotel transfer on arrival day. Hotel-to-airport transfer on departure day.

Wine tasting at an iconic Sicilian winery on the slopes of Mount Etna.

A private boat charter for Salina Island sunset cruise.


A private boat charter for Taormina harbor cruise, with lunch.


An exclusive reservation at a contessa’s private country estate, with lunch.


All breakfasts as well as four (4) lunches and four (4) dinners, including local wine and alternatives.


A Choose Your Own Adventure Day. This is a free day for you to do whatever you like.


 

All ground transportation, including private drivers, private coaches, taxis and hydrofoil to the Aeolian Islands.


Entrance fees, taxes, all tips for drivers and restaurants and guides.


2024 Tour Dates

Highlights

Sicily - 2024

8 nights, 9 days

Investment is $7,795.00 USD

Rates are per person (double occupancy)

Traveling solo & prefer your own room?

Add $1,500.00

Book your space with a $795.00 deposit.

*Payment plans available. Contact us for details.

Itinerary Overview

Our driver will collect you from Palermo airport and bring you to your hotel. You’ll be set to “vacation mode” the instant you’re in our car because we have all the details handled. The only thing you need to do is sink into the Dolce Zone — that special carefree state of mind that only Italian Fix clients get to experience. Tonight we’ll celebrate with drinks and dinner in buzzy Palermo.

Today we’ll depart Palermo and head to the glorious Aeolian Islands — one of 54 Unesco World Heritage Sites in Italy. We’ll take the hydrofoil, and you’ll feel like you could be jetting off to a Greek Island, because it’s got a similar look. Our island hotel overlooks the smoking volcano of Stromboli. You’ll love the gorgeous pool among the lemon trees, the spa, and hammam. Tonight, we’ll dine at a restaurant headed up by the youngest female Italian chef to win a Michelin star.

Lounge poolside with a book and a cappuccino. Or go to the spa and relax with a treatment. In the evening, we channel our inner Sicilian and hop aboard our boat for a sunset cruise. We’ll drop the anchor and soak up the Mediterranean vibes. You’re officially in the Dolce Zone, and it feels sooo good!

The most important decisions to make today are these: should I walk down to the beach or stay at the pool? And should I have just one granita, or three? You’ll have time to ponder these questions before an afternoon trip to visit the villages that dot this tiny island, then off to a local farm for a tour and tasting. Our private driver will take us to do some shopping in the main town after which we’ll head to the location where the film Il Postino was shot.

We’re heading to Ortigia, the most ancient part of the city of Syracuse. We’ll stay right inside the historical city center where you’ll experience another one of Italy’s Unesco World Heritage Sites for two nights. Did we mention that on the way to Ortigia we stop for a gorgeous wine tasting on the slopes of Mount Etna? Salute!

Today you’ll have a “choose your own adventure” day with some free time. Explore the markets and shops of one of Italy’s most beautiful towns — Dolce & Gabbana chose its main piazza for their 2022 Alta Moda fashion show. Our guide will host a historical walking tour of the most important monuments and landmarks in this city, ruled by everyone from the Byzantines, Bourbons, and Arabs to the Normans and Aragonese.

Depart Syracuse and head to another coastal wonder. We’ll get you oriented with a walking tour of Taormina’s highlights — you won’t want to waste a moment getting to know the incredible location you’ll be living in for the next two nights. People come here for the ancient Greek theater, the mountains, and the sea. We’ll experience all of that. And the tiramisu.

This is our last day in Italy together so let’s make it splendida. We’ll gather for a private boat cruise of the bay with lunch on board. At night we’ll gather to clink glasses for a special celebratory meal in our fave Taormina restaurant so you can enjoy our own Ultima Cena with your Italian Fix famiglia.

This is your departure and check-out day. We’ll bring you to Catania airport for your flight. Some guests decide to extend their stay, and we recommend Taormina for a few extra nights — trust us, you won’t want to leave! You can also view the calendar to see if you can combine this trip with another.

Arrival Details:

Arrival Airport: Palermo

First-Day Activity: Dinner at 7pm

Departure Details:

Departure Airport: Catania

Last-Day Activity: Breakfast

Why Travel with Us?

Our process for curating local experiences, tastes, sights, and sounds is unrivaled. Thanks to our genuine relationships with ethical, family-owned businesses, we expertly arrange a beautifully balanced and magical week of Italian living. Our goal is to create unique moments that set the stage for living your best dolce vita.

When you travel with Italian Fix, you make lasting connections that bridge cultures, continents, and backgrounds, inspiring you to welcome new friends, new ways of thinking, and a renewed sense of being, doing, and exploring. 

Our guests instantly benefit from our exclusive network of travel and logistics experts who use their decades of experience, passion for travel and culture, and love of people and adventure to provide an effortless and elevated travel experience under our care. 

We believe in providing seamless experiences for our guests where everything — and anything — is handled confidently by our compassionate and knowledgeable team who care about the guest experience and their safety and wellbeing. 

So, what are you waiting for? Andiamo!

How We Compare

When booking with any travel company, it’s important to know how long they have been in business, whether their itinerary is proven, whether the meals will be good, whether they offer unlimited pre-travel support, and essentially, what the quality of the experience they provide is. We prioritize quality over quantity, offering only tours in small groups on proven routes in Italy.

Italian Fix
Do-It-Yourself
Standard Tours

No expertise of Italy required.

No time spent researching and wondering if you’re “doing it right.”

Package rate: you know what all trip costs will be (including tips) before you travel.

Sometimes

Unlimited expert advice about Italy to help prepare you for your trip.

Excellent meals at restaurants, markets and private homes included in your trip fee.

Easy-to-book pre-/post-tour accommodations and fun add-ons.

Sometimes

Vetted, proven and refined itineraries.

Sometimes

Small groups under 16 people.

Operating for over a decade.

Sometimes

How It All Works - How to Travel With Us

Find a trip you like

We have six itineraries (view them here). Can’t decide? We’re available to chat and help pinpoint the perfect tour for you.

Book your spot

Confirm with just a deposit.

Start dreaming

Before your trip, get unlimited personalized service from Italy experts, who will help ensure your entire getaway is exceptional.

Travel with confidence

Before your flight, you’ll know exactly what's going to happen and you have friends on the ground on the other side. You’ll get support if there’s a hiccup like a missed transfer or a lost bag.

Get taken care of

We’ll collect you from the airport (or the train station, depending on the tour you choose). While you’re with us — relax — we have everything handled.

Live a richer life

The beauty of travel is also in how it changes you. Our guests leave us having acquired some Italian, learned local etiquette, picked up travel hacks, and created new friendships, among many other life upgrades.

Sicily - 2024

8 nights, 9 days

Investment is $7,795.00 USD

Rates are per person (double occupancy)

Traveling solo & prefer your own room?

Add $1,500.00

Book your space with a $795.00 deposit.

*Payment plans available. Contact us for details.

A Word From Our Founder

After years of enjoying Sicily as my personal vacation spot, and having some of my most cherished memories here, I was inspired to immerse others in the beauty of this magical place. Sicily is where the Italians go on holidays. After hearing so many of my Italian friends rave about Sicily, I knew I needed to get there myself. I’m not a Sicily expert… but my friend Tommaso is. He’s Sicilian and has been hosting foreign travelers there for three decades. When we collaborated to design the most beautiful experience in Sicily, we rooted it in what we would create for our closest friends.

This is not one of those Sicily tours with historians taking you to endless churches and monuments.This tour is about living the Italian lifestyle, which is a lighter and more diverse experience traveling Sicily than you get with most other companies. You’ll travel with someone who speaks Sicilian and has endless connections, fun, and nuances to share. This is a week of “let my hair down” fun, as we take part in daily life pleasures rooted in the Sicilian lifestyle. This tour has been running for years, which is great for you — it means it’s been aged to perfection. And I encourage you to read some of the reviews to see what our past guests think about this trip. Spoiler alert: they love it.

With love + limoncello,

Bianca

What You'll Experience with Us

What They Say...

96% of our 2023 guests have left us a 10/10 review post-trip. 100% of our guests love our customer service.

FAQ

We’re a boutique travel company, not a luxury travel company. Although we do think of ourselves as fancy (we even train our hosts with some of the same service tenets as the Ritz), we want to do things differently. 

We want our trips to be more inclusive and open to a more diverse set of travelers than a typical luxury tour operator that just serves the 1%. We like to think of our experiences as a beautiful balance of high and low. We might offer a stunning multi-course meal with wine pairings at an award-winning restaurant one evening, and the next day, we’ll be eating a panino at a plastic table at the market. Because, let’s be honest. You didn’t come to Italy to have a Disneyland-esque type of experience. You’re here to experience it all, not just the touristy stuff. We love to offer our guests the kind of beautifully layered and nuanced experience that our Italian friends would plan for themselves. 

Our travel and logistics experts are geniuses at crafting the perfect combination of local experiences, tastes, sights, and sounds. Many of our Italian Fix hosts live in the areas we visit or have lived there before. So, we know people

We’re intentional in our decisions about where we stay, where we eat, and where we visit. It’s important to us that we support the ethical, family-owned businesses we know and love. No chain hotels are on our roster. We purposefully and artfully select the smaller, family-run places that offer next-level experiences and unique boutique-style service. We aim for 10/10 reviews — without the $12K price tag for access.

We have a combination of solo travelers, people traveling with friends, and people traveling with partners/spouses on all of our tours. We also have a mix of “co-ed” and “women only” dates.

First off, we speak Italian! We also understand the context, the customs, and the community of every location we visit. In Italy, it’s not what you know — it’s who you know. And we know people.

Coming with us is like having a backstage pass or an insider’s tour, and you need that in Italy because it’s way too busy and too easy to get caught up in the fray. If you travel on your own, you’re just one in a million foreigners waiting in lines and trying to get service. No connections or language fluency makes that so much more frustrating! 

Our travel style allows you to be among friends and have access to things you couldn’t find on your own. We’re into slow — and sustainable — travel. We support family-run businesses and local producers. And we’re picky! No big-box concept of tourism around here. At Italian Fix, we’re mindful about keeping traditions alive and supporting local economies. 

One of the most beautiful things about our trips is that they attract a lot of different kinds of people — and we’re proud of that. Our fun, safe, and let-your-hair-down energy draws the right kind of guests from around the world with different backgrounds — because wanting to live your dolce vita is something that transcends any zip code or age range. 

We have guests who return to Italian Fix year after year. From the person who enjoys traveling solo to the besties who want to take one more trip of a lifetime, they all want to live the Italian lifestyle in a carefree, fun-filled, and relaxing week. They trust Italian Fix to confidently handle all the details so the only thing they’re responsible for is embracing the art of living — Italian style.

Our carefully crafted itineraries have been perfected over years of hosting successful trips, so they play out like a symphony — with cadence, timing and rhythm. All of our trips have up-time and down-time. The introverts who need quiet to recharge can get it, and the extroverts who derive energy from new connections can thrive too. One of our mottos is “Hey, it’s your holiday — opt out of any days you like.” We have lots to see, eat, do and explore whenever you wish to join in. Just put on your comfy shoes and andiamo!

We’re a really small company that serves just a few hundred people per year. You can read more about us here. By comparison, most tour operators are really, really big — some of them serve about 30,000 people per year! That’s not who we are — we’re female-owned and mostly female-run, and getting to know each of our travelers by name is super important to us! We truly want to get to know you.  

We employ incredibly smart, organized, and hard-working individuals (mostly women) who are passionate about travel, culture, adventure, and people. We also work in our comfy pants and have a sane work schedule where we can pick up our kids from school and enjoy our lives too. We do what we do so that you can live your dolce vita.

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