Going to Sicily - anyone been?
Discussion
Can't remember any truly stunning roads, but the Autostrada north of Taomina towards Messina is quite a feat of engineering. It's basically a series of tunnels and bridges through cliffs along the coast.
I also remember the main road from the interior towards Agrigento. It's essentially a single lane motorway and is very fast with lots of overtakes. I think I went past 2 coaches, a lorry and 5 cars in one move
I also remember the main road from the interior towards Agrigento. It's essentially a single lane motorway and is very fast with lots of overtakes. I think I went past 2 coaches, a lorry and 5 cars in one move
Could always retrace the route of the Targa Florio, was featured on Top Gear a few years ago with James May flying round some mountain roads in a Quattroporte. It's what I'd do if I was there with a good car. The start finish was in Palermo aparently, and there was several different routes over the years but I'm sure it would be fairly easy to find the circuit maps somewhere
Edited by norman156 on Monday 13th October 18:30
Be very careful once you get off the Autostrade. We went looking for the race track at Enna and ended up on a road that had been destroyed by a lava flow from the volcano. I seem to remember maps being completely useless as they didn't seem to have anything to do with any of the roads that actually existed.
Sicily is gorgeous. We stayed in Modica (nr Ragusa) and I'd would thoroughly recommend taking the time to explore that side of the island as it's completely different to the north side.
Sicily is gorgeous. We stayed in Modica (nr Ragusa) and I'd would thoroughly recommend taking the time to explore that side of the island as it's completely different to the north side.
hi, thanks for your replies been looking at the old race route, seems it was a fair old distance. Im also supprised at the size of the island as apparently to drive all round the edge of it, it is about 500+ miles!!! well been looking on google earth alot to see where i want to go, but i also have to contend with where Mrs T boy wants to go, so just trying to find nice routes to them as she doesn't appreciate good drives like the PH lot.
Matt
Matt
Sicily is the biggest island in the med, roughly the size of Wales! It's a lovely place though, I spent five days there earlier this year, starting off at a tonnara just below Erice, then inland a bit to Alia, followed by Cefalu, Lipari (one of the Aeolian islands just off the North eastern coast) and finally a quick drive through Taormina. All this in 5 days - it was a work trip visiting a load of our hotels/agritourismo's in the area so I was all over the Northern parts!
The roads in Sicily are very interesting, but the quality of the surface can be somewhat inconsistent so take care. The local wildlife can be interesting too! If you're a Godfather fan make sure you visit Corleone - it's a weird little place but truly is the centre of mafia country! It's not intimidating, they're used to tourists now, and there's this one bar at the top that is covered with Godfather posters and filled with pictures of Brando, Pacino et al. I was in there with my bosses, eating ice cream and halfway through the barman put on the Godfather theme tune! It was a really funny moment, they obviously realised we were foreign, despite my boss's near perfect Italian - I think the fact that I'm over 6ft and had a big SLR camera around my neck may have given the game away
.
As for the targa florio, I believe the original race was a lap of the whole island! The more recent races happened around the madonie national park, not far from Cefalu. The most recent circuit (i think) was the Piccolo Madonie (a look on google found this image http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/503822/picc...
The circuit goes along the old roads (there's a new autostrada to catania going through the heart of the triangle now), past Cerda to Caltavuturo before heading to Campofelice near the coast.
If you're in the area Cefalu is worth a visit, as is Castelbuono - a lovely little town which is very active in the slow food movement, so it has some great restaurants and a fantastic deli! Agrigento on the South coast has some amazing temples, and Palermo is meant to be great too. If you do visit Palermo, I'd recommend getting the train rather than driving as it's meant to be pretty horrendous in the city!
Nero D'Avolo is one of the wines you'll no doubt find, and tasty it is too! If you get a chance, see if you can try the "Arancini" - a traditional snack made of risotto with meat/sauce in the centre and covered in parmesan/breadcrumbs. A great snack for a lunch on the go!
Have a great time!
P.S. If you haven't been to Italy/Sicily before, bear in mind that everything shuts down for lunch (except restaurants and bars obviously) and doesn't open again until about 5, so if it's 3pm and you're thirsty you'll be waiting a while!
The roads in Sicily are very interesting, but the quality of the surface can be somewhat inconsistent so take care. The local wildlife can be interesting too! If you're a Godfather fan make sure you visit Corleone - it's a weird little place but truly is the centre of mafia country! It's not intimidating, they're used to tourists now, and there's this one bar at the top that is covered with Godfather posters and filled with pictures of Brando, Pacino et al. I was in there with my bosses, eating ice cream and halfway through the barman put on the Godfather theme tune! It was a really funny moment, they obviously realised we were foreign, despite my boss's near perfect Italian - I think the fact that I'm over 6ft and had a big SLR camera around my neck may have given the game away
.As for the targa florio, I believe the original race was a lap of the whole island! The more recent races happened around the madonie national park, not far from Cefalu. The most recent circuit (i think) was the Piccolo Madonie (a look on google found this image http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/503822/picc...
The circuit goes along the old roads (there's a new autostrada to catania going through the heart of the triangle now), past Cerda to Caltavuturo before heading to Campofelice near the coast.
If you're in the area Cefalu is worth a visit, as is Castelbuono - a lovely little town which is very active in the slow food movement, so it has some great restaurants and a fantastic deli! Agrigento on the South coast has some amazing temples, and Palermo is meant to be great too. If you do visit Palermo, I'd recommend getting the train rather than driving as it's meant to be pretty horrendous in the city!
Nero D'Avolo is one of the wines you'll no doubt find, and tasty it is too! If you get a chance, see if you can try the "Arancini" - a traditional snack made of risotto with meat/sauce in the centre and covered in parmesan/breadcrumbs. A great snack for a lunch on the go!
Have a great time!
P.S. If you haven't been to Italy/Sicily before, bear in mind that everything shuts down for lunch (except restaurants and bars obviously) and doesn't open again until about 5, so if it's 3pm and you're thirsty you'll be waiting a while!
Edited by mjp_001 on Monday 13th October 22:05
mjp_001 said:
Sicily is the biggest island in the med, roughly the size of Wales! It's a lovely place though, I spent five days there earlier this year, starting off at a tonnara just below Erice, then inland a bit to Alia, followed by Cefalu, Lipari (one of the Aeolian islands just off the North eastern coast) and finally a quick drive through Taormina. All this in 5 days - it was a work trip visiting a load of our hotels/agritourismo's in the area so I was all over the Northern parts!
The roads in Sicily are very interesting, but the quality of the surface can be somewhat inconsistent so take care. The local wildlife can be interesting too! If you're a Godfather fan make sure you visit Corleone - it's a weird little place but truly is the centre of mafia country! It's not intimidating, they're used to tourists now, and there's this one bar at the top that is covered with Godfather posters and filled with pictures of Brando, Pacino et al. I was in there with my bosses, eating ice cream and halfway through the barman put on the Godfather theme tune! It was a really funny moment, they obviously realised we were foreign, despite my boss's near perfect Italian - I think the fact that I'm over 6ft and had a big SLR camera around my neck may have given the game away .
As for the targa florio, I believe the original race was a lap of the whole island! The more recent races happened around the madonie national park, not far from Cefalu. The most recent circuit (i think) was the Piccolo Madonie (a look on google found this image http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/503822/picc...
The circuit goes along the old roads (there's a new autostrada to catania going through the heart of the triangle now), past Cerda to Caltavuturo before heading to Campofelice near the coast.
If you're in the area Cefalu is worth a visit, as is Castelbuono - a lovely little town which is very active in the slow food movement, so it has some great restaurants and a fantastic deli! Agrigento on the South coast has some amazing temples, and Palermo is meant to be great too. If you do visit Palermo, I'd recommend getting the train rather than driving as it's meant to be pretty horrendous in the city!
Nero D'Avolo is one of the wines you'll no doubt find, and tasty it is too! If you get a chance, see if you can try the "Arancini" - a traditional snack made of risotto with meat/sauce in the centre and covered in parmesan/breadcrumbs. A great snack for a lunch on the go!
Have a great time!
P.S. If you haven't been to Italy/Sicily before, bear in mind that everything shuts down for lunch (except restaurants and bars obviously) and doesn't open again until about 5, so if it's 3pm and you're thirsty you'll be waiting a while!
MJP thankyou very much for this info, very helpful, well im almost counting the hours, i cannot wait!!The roads in Sicily are very interesting, but the quality of the surface can be somewhat inconsistent so take care. The local wildlife can be interesting too! If you're a Godfather fan make sure you visit Corleone - it's a weird little place but truly is the centre of mafia country! It's not intimidating, they're used to tourists now, and there's this one bar at the top that is covered with Godfather posters and filled with pictures of Brando, Pacino et al. I was in there with my bosses, eating ice cream and halfway through the barman put on the Godfather theme tune! It was a really funny moment, they obviously realised we were foreign, despite my boss's near perfect Italian - I think the fact that I'm over 6ft and had a big SLR camera around my neck may have given the game away
.As for the targa florio, I believe the original race was a lap of the whole island! The more recent races happened around the madonie national park, not far from Cefalu. The most recent circuit (i think) was the Piccolo Madonie (a look on google found this image http://images.forum-auto.com/mesimages/503822/picc...
The circuit goes along the old roads (there's a new autostrada to catania going through the heart of the triangle now), past Cerda to Caltavuturo before heading to Campofelice near the coast.
If you're in the area Cefalu is worth a visit, as is Castelbuono - a lovely little town which is very active in the slow food movement, so it has some great restaurants and a fantastic deli! Agrigento on the South coast has some amazing temples, and Palermo is meant to be great too. If you do visit Palermo, I'd recommend getting the train rather than driving as it's meant to be pretty horrendous in the city!
Nero D'Avolo is one of the wines you'll no doubt find, and tasty it is too! If you get a chance, see if you can try the "Arancini" - a traditional snack made of risotto with meat/sauce in the centre and covered in parmesan/breadcrumbs. A great snack for a lunch on the go!
Have a great time!
P.S. If you haven't been to Italy/Sicily before, bear in mind that everything shuts down for lunch (except restaurants and bars obviously) and doesn't open again until about 5, so if it's 3pm and you're thirsty you'll be waiting a while!
Edited by mjp_001 on Monday 13th October 22:05
thanks again to everyone.
Matt
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