Top 5 Reasons to Go

Top 5 Reasons to Go

A walk on Siracusa's Ortygia Island: Classical ruins rub elbows with faded seaside palaces and fish markets in Sicily's most beautiful port city, whose Duomo is literally built upon the columns of an ancient Greek temple.

The palaces, churches, and crypts of Palermo: Virtually every great European empire once ruled Sicily's strategically positioned capital, and it shows through most of all in the diverse architecture, from Roman to Byzantine to Arab-Norman.

The Valley of the Temples, Agrigento: This stunning set of ruins is proudly perched above the sea in a grove full of almond trees; not even in Athens will you find Greek temples this finely preserved.

Taormina's Teatro Greco: Watch a Greek tragedy in the very amphitheater where it was performed two millennia ago -- -in the shadow of smoking Mount Etna.

Sicilian cuisine: The quickest way to absorb Sicily's character is through a meal of pasta with sardines and raisins, a simply grilled whole fish, ricotta-stuffed cannoli, and a glass of deliciously sweet passito.