The best places to visit in Sicily

‘In Sicily it doesn’t matter whether things are done well or done badly; the sin which we Sicilians never forgive is simply that of “doing” at all.’
― Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, ‘The Leopard’

Lampedusa’s words in his 1958 novel, chronicling the decline of a noble Sicilian family during the Risorgimento, neatly sums up the state of being we were hankering after when planning this road trip in Italy. In just two weeks, we explore Lampedusa’s old noble city, Palermo, pick up the keys to a Fiat 500 and drive west to Trapani’s Scopello beach. From here, we journey through Sicily’s rural heart to the ancient columns of Agrigento, the south-east’s baroque marvels, and up the east coast via Taormina to the north-eastern tip of Sicily. We leave our little car in the port town of Milazzo and jump on a boat, bound for the sleepy Aeolian Islands.