Sicily

Sicily feels a world apart from the Italian mainland. Its culture, influenced by just about every Mediterranean power of the last 2000 years, is a unique hybrid, owing as much to the Arab world as to Europe. Its towns and villages are an amazing mix of styles and ages, rising out of a landscape that is predominantly mountainous and wild. Full of practical information, this guide details the streetlife of Palermo and Catania, and tours the preserved Greek temples, ranges through the foothills of Etna and out to the volcanic islands offshore and it takes in the best of the beaches, whether in cosmopolitan resorts like Taormina or along the isolated south-west coast.