Private Tours in Italy

Sightseeing in Sicily

Private tours from Cruise Port Messina

Some ideas but not limited to! Please advice your interests: Nature, cooking, archeology, history.....and we will give you itinerary and quote

Sicily Factories and Mount Etna

Morning. At your arrival in Messina port, you will be welcomed by your tour guide/driver and depart for  an excursion to Sicily's factories and Mount Etna. Your first stop will be in a honey factory on the slopes of Mount Etna . Here you’ll taste a variety of Etna Honey: pistachio, strawberry, hazelnut, honey and orange. We will travel through the many varied vegetable and fruit areas on the slopes of mount Etna, arriving at an altitude of 2,500 feet, we will be above the tree line. we will have a perfect view of the three silvestri craters and the river of lava (a remnant of the 1983-1985 eruption ).  We will  have time to walk around the crater.

Lunch on your own, afternoon we descent to come back to the port but we’ll stop to a Jewelry factory. Receive a very warm welcome and cocktail from the staff. Tour the small workshop and see the jewelry makers at work. Watch as they create their individual masterpieces of fine Italian gold and unique jewelry pieces. Learn how some are made with Sicilian amber and shells with lava from Mt Etna. See their unique collection within their exhibition room, with an option to buy.

Price includes : Private transportation, English speaking driver/guide, full day tour. Visit of the honey factory and taste /  visit of jewelry factory

Cooking Class and Ceramics

Morning. At your arrival in Messina port, you will be welcomed by your tour guide/driver and depart for Castroreale for cooking class at a nice manor house.
A small manor immersed in greenery, in the heart of Sicily, far from the frenetic city life. The Manor is a charming, ancient ochre-walled building consisting of 10 comfortable rooms, each with different decorative features and furniture, provided with a private bathroom, and small balcony with a view over the hills, the swimming-pool or the garden.

Participate at cooking class. Your instructor, Chef Mrs Jannelli  will teach you to prepare the family recipes passed down to her by her grandmother. You will learn how the marriage of three kitchens: Sicilian, French and Dutch has created a cuisine as intriguing and complex as Sicily’s own baroque heritage.
The cooking class will be followed by a Lunch. After lunch, proceed to Santo Stefano di Camastra, a town-museum with old, modern and architectural works, as well as paintings and sculptures. The city offers some public decorations characterized by a monumental structure. Here an indissoluble bond between urban culture and arts of ceramics is to be found. Have a ceramic demonstration.

Price includes : Private transportation, English speaking driver/guide, full day tour, cooking class, lunch and ceramics demonstration.

Giardini Naxos - Taormina and Castelmola

Morning. At your arrival in Messina port, you will be welcomed by your tour guide/driver and depart for Giardini Naxos, considered Sicily's oldest Greek city. It is located just a few kilometres from Taormina (in the locality known as Giardini-Naxos) near Cape Schisò. Little remains here except for structural foundations and the pavement stones of ancient streets, but Naxos was once a flourishing city much larger than ancient Taormina. It was founded by the Chalcidensians as Sicily's first Greek colony in 735 BC.

Lunch on your own.

Depart for Taormina. Walk through the historical centre of this beautiful town, famous for its Greek-Roman Amphitheatre and its enchanting view of the Ionic Sea and Mt. Etna. Taormina has been an exclusive Sicilian hotspot, since the beginning of the 19th century, and is where many noble and rich families of Northern Europe spent winter due to its mild climate. Nowadays, Taormina is famous for its "dolce vita" life style. This town also known as “the Queen of Sicily” has been an exclusive Sicilian hotspot, since the beginning of the 19th century.

After a walking tour,  visit the Greek-Roman Amphitheatre and  enjoy the views of the Ionic Sea and Mt. Etna. Free time for shopping .

Afterwards, we continue the exploration to Castelmola, this village occupying a strategic position up behind Taormina, centers  around the picturesque little Piazzetta del Duomo. In one of the bars in the main square we will have the chance to taste the famous "almond wine".    

Price includes : Private transportation, English speaking driver/guide, full day tour.  
Optional: Depending on timing, Possible to add stop at winery Linguaglossa on Mount Etna, or Canola for renown deli shop , delicious Arancini tasting, or stop for a capuccino.

Winery of Etna and Taormina

Pick up at Messina Port by private  MINIVAN and English speaking driver. Leaving for Taormina.

Arrival in Taormina, this town is 200 meters above sea level and looks down onto the Ionian Sea like a terrace, the prettiest you have ever seen. Over the centuries, this place has fascinated wretched poets and writers and restless painters who decided to put down roots here.

You will visit the Greek-Roman Theatre, this unbelievable work by mankind that stands on the mountain and from where one’s gaze drops down to the deep blue sea and to Etna, an unsettling presence that manages to stay in harmony with the landscape. Relax and shopping in historical centre and particularly at Corso Umberto I with its luxury shops.

Then leaving for Mount Etna and arrive at the Murgo Winery at the Tenuta San Michele, an ancient estate located on the slopes of the volcano Etna. The farm, which belongs to the noble family of the Baron Scammacca del Murgo, is surrounded by extensive vineyards and has a panoramic view of both Mt. Etna and the sea. You will visit the winery and taste their best wines as Etna Rosso, Etna Bianco and the extraordinary Murgo Brut during the lunch.

After lunch you will admire the most active volcano in Europe and one of the oldest recorded active volcano in the world. Here you can explore the Crateri Silvestri or go and visit the crater of 2001-2002 by cable-car (not included).

Return to Messina.

Price includes : Private transportation, English speaking driver, lunch, wine tasting and visit at Murgo winery
Optional:  you can add a local guide in Taormina, local guide at Etna, and entrance fees at Greek Theater

The Godfather Tour: Savoca - Taormina

Morning. At your arrival in Messina port, you will be welcomed by your tour guide/driver and depart for an Excursion to Savoca, the filming location for the Corleone scenes in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather II movie. Visit the Bar Vitelli, where the character Michael asked the padrone for his daughter's hand in marriage.  Enjoy a short stop where you will be offered a local refreshment drink made of crushed ice called a ‘granita’ . After viewing the square continue on to Taormina. Lunch on your own. Guided visit through the historical center of this beautiful town, famous for its Greek-Roman Amphitheatre and its enchanting view of the Ionic Sea and Mt. Etna. Taormina has been an exclusive Sicilian hotspot, since the beginning of the 19th century, and is where many noble and rich families of Northern Europe spent winter due to its mild climate. Nowadays, Taormina is famous for its "dolce vita" life style . After a walking tour,  visit the Greek-Roman Amphitheatre and  enjoy the views of the Ionic Sea and Mt. Etna. Free time for shopping or beach.

Price includes : Private transportation, English speaking driver/guide, full day tour.  

Pizza cooking class and Taormina 

Morning. At your arrival in Messina port, you will be welcomed by your tour guide/driver and depart for a typical  Pizzeria. The “pizzaiolo chef” is waiting for you to give your the class how to prepare a good pizza. You will be divided in teams to create your own pizza and at the end you’ll be judged by chef! This cooking class offers the group  the opportunity to participate in a unique hands-on cooking lesson to learn to make the pizza.

After lunch, continue  to Taormina for a guided visit through the historical center of this beautiful town, famous for its Greek-Roman Amphitheatre and its enchanting view of the Ionic Sea and Mt. Etna. Taormina has been an exclusive Sicilian hotspot, since the beginning of the 19th century, and is where many noble and rich families of Northern Europe spent winter due to its mild climate. Nowadays, Taormina is famous for its "dolce vita" lifestyle. After a walking tour,  visit the Greek-Roman Amphitheatre and  enjoy the views of the Ionic Sea and Mt. Etna. Free time for shopping. 

Price includes : Private transportation, English speaking driver/guide, full day tour, pizza cooking class and lunch

Tindari and Messina

Morning: At your arrival in Messina you will be welcomed by your tour guide/driver and departure forTindari which was founded as the Greek colony of Tyndaris in 396 BC, and was located on the high ground overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea  in the Gulf of Patti.

The Battle of Tyndaris took place off the  coast in 257 BC. It has a famous sanctuary and is also famous for the poem Vento a Tindari, written by Salvatore Quasimodo.  Local legend tells that the lagoon was created after a pilgrim who came to see the Madonna and refused to pray to the Madonna. The woman accidentally dropped her baby into the ocean and the Madonna  made the land rise to save the baby. The sands of Marinello have taken shape of the profile of the Madonna. 

Lunch on your own. Back to Messina for a visit.

Messina is the third largest city of Sicily and the capital of the province which bears its name, founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, it was originally called Zancle (scythe) because of the shape of its natural harbor. You will visit Piazza Municipio, Via Garibaldi, Piazza Cairoli (heart of the town), Via Cannizzaro (University and Law Court) and Corso Cavour in your city drive. A stop will be made at Cathedral Square. The Cathedral’s bell tower houses an unusual astronomical clock that moves through a 15-minute cycle of evangelical scenes at mid-day. Enjoy an inside visit to this Norman-style Cathedral with a façade featuring one-light windows and a small rose window at the center. 

Price includes : Private transportation, English speaking driver/guide, full day tour.

Email for prices - include your dates, number of people and preferred time and place of pickup (name of hotel, cruise ship, airport, train station)

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