Guide

A salami that is Sicily's only IGP, a Slow Food Presidium cheese, and the lemon that built this town's wealth. Between coast and mountain everything changes within half an hour's drive: what to look for, and in which season.

Thirty-three barefoot hooded penitents carrying a crucifix, two giants dancing through a village square, devotees running bare-chested in January. In the Nebrodi they celebrate twelve months a year: the full calendar, and the four not to miss.

Two airports, one motorway, a railway station right in the centre. Which to choose depending on where you're coming from, how long it really takes, and why a car helps here — except in one case.

On the coast they celebrate bluefish and granita; up in the mountains, mushrooms, hazelnuts and chestnuts. The real sagre of this area, month by month — and nearly all of them fall once prices have already dropped.

Not the usual ten names copied from a portal: the criteria locals use to spot a good place, the right areas for each moment of the day, and the warning signs of tourist traps.

Concerts in the square, open-air cinema, food festivals and author nights: from July to September the town's official programme — the Estate Orlandina — turns Capo d'Orlando into an open-air stage. The full calendar.

The Aeolians are the reason many people choose this coast. Day trips work — provided you pick the right island and the right timetable.

86,000 hectares of beech forest, lakes and pastures, with mountain roads that climb from sea level to 1,300 metres in an hour. It's the other half of the holiday, and almost nobody uses it.

Two nights are enough for a real taste of the archipelago — if you pick one base and don't chase everything.