Southern Italy and Sicily with optional extension to Malta
​Core trip 12 days, 11 nights  April 14-25, 2026
Optional extension to Malta  April 25-28
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​See the "other" Italy, without the crowds of Florence, Rome and Venice! Amazing sights like the cave-dwelling town of Matera, the "beehive" houses of Alberobello, and the incredible Greek origins of Sicily. We start and end with volcanoes: Vesuvius near Naples and Etna near Taormina. From Campania to Puglia, volcanic wine caves carved from tufa cradle elegant bottles of white wine and intense, beautiful reds. Then we reach Sicily: partly Italian and partly a phenomenon of its own, with beautiful mountains and an incredible collection of ancient Greek ruins to explore. Along the way we'll taste amazing wines unique to Italy that are rapidly growing in fame. After Sicily we offer an optional three-day extension to the tiny independent island nation of Malta, just off the Sicily coast. Here we find a unique language spoken nowhere else and get to know a culture formed from centuries in the center of Mediterranean trade and conflict. Malta has some of the oldest stone burial structures on earth - older than the pyramids! Malta is living history.
As on all our journeys, we enjoy luxury hotels, gourmet as well as local meals, and private winery visits in a small group of like-minded travelers who love wine and food. The trip is half about wine, half about history, scenery, art, and local culture. 
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