Mount Etna Food and Wine Tour

Your journey to the highest volcano in Europe has begun. Your tour guide will meet you at the hotel Santoro Country House in the early evening, where you will be introduced to Giovanni and your fellow travellers over an aperitif, and come into contact with lava for the first time. Afterwards, you'll go to the hotel's restaurant Ruvé for a welcome dinner, where your tour guide will tell you some interesting stories about the people who live on volcanoes.

Relax and enjoy every experience, knowing that our tour guide will assist you at every moment.

Begin the day with a trip to the east side of the volcano, where you’ll meet Giuseppe and his brothers. Giuseppe studied engineering, but after decided to follow his passion for viticulture. He loves the volcano and knows how sensitive it is, which is why he bases his viticulture on a traditional mixed economy, including fruit trees, wild herbs, vegetables, flowers, and many insects. The most important element is the endangered black Sicilian bee (ape nera sicula), an essential indicator of whether nature is doing well. In the morning, Giuseppe will show you the laboratory where the honey is made and will be able to tell you many interesting stories about bee society. He will show you how to set up a bee box and explain how the bee works and why you can respectfully “take away” some of the bee’s honey.

Afterwards, go a few hundred metres higher to Giuseppe's vineyard, where you’ll enjoy a small snack of the typical Sicilian tavola calda. Tavola calda means “warm table” and stands for hearty delicacies such as small pizzas, arancini, and calzoni. After you have fortified yourself, Giuseppe will show you his more than 80-year-old vines and explain the difference between the different sides of Etna and the typical grape varieties. Of course, there will be a tasting after the tour, and you are welcome to ask any questions you have.

When producing his wines, Giuseppe follows the lunar calendar and the natural temperature differences of the seasons and does not use any additives such as yeasts or sulfites. On the way back to your accommodation, you make a short coffee stop in a pasticceria, with some delicacies you just shouldn't pass up. After this eventful day, take a short rest before heading to dinner close to your accommodation.

Today, your naturalist guide Fabio will take you on a short hike to the origin of the granita Siciliana, in one of the many lava tubes created by volcanic eruptions. Real granita is only found in the Catania area, where snow was stored in the caves of Etna in the winter, transformed by rain and moisture into ice, and then preserved year-round by a layer of volcanic sand. The people of Catania had the idea of mixing ice cream with honey and lemon juice, creating the first granita.

Fabio will tell you a lot about the spectacular nature of Etna and why these soils are so nutrient-rich and special. He will also show you spontaneous herbs and explain their benefits. Etna is an island within an island, as the volcano has created its very own ecosystem. It is always active, as you will see by the hydrogen cloud at the main crater. If you pay close attention, you will also hear it rumbling peacefully. During a picnic lunch, you’ll feel for yourself how warm the ground is beneath you.

In the afternoon, get to know another specialty of the area, ricotta salata, an aged ricotta cheese that is a must in the kitchen and that you will never want to be without again.

After a short break in your accommodation, feel free to explore and dine wherever you'd like.

Today, go to the west side of Etna to Bronte, the capital of “green gold”. On the drive, pay attention to how nature changes and hardwood plants suddenly appear everywhere—pistachio trees. Andrea, the owner of a pistachio farm, will take you on a walk through the rustic landscape of his plantation and explain why Bronte pistachios are not comparable to other pistachios. Remembering what Fabio told you about the special soils of Etna, you will see here a practical example. In Andrea's rustic ambience, enjoy a lunchtime snack of green tavola calda from Bronte, as pistachios are used in both sweet and savory dishes in Sicily.

In the afternoon, head to Randazzo to see Giovanna, the daughter of the town's most famous pasticcere. Giovanna will introduce you to the art of making granita and also show you how the typical brioche col tuppo is made. During the lesson, Giovanna will tell you about the people and challenges of the area, because no one knows more stories than the people who work in a bar in the piazza. After the work is done, everything can be tasted, and you might be left by the question of how Sicilians can be so slim despite all these delicacies.

After so much feasting, take a short walk to Castiglione di Sicilia for dinner. The place seems a bit forgotten as it is not directly on the main road, but this only adds to the charm of the place.

Take the Circumetnea train directly from your accommodation around Mount Etna to Catania. It's exciting to watch how nature changes on the journey and how the population increases before you suddenly arrive in the beautiful city of Catania.

From the train station, your guide will take you on an amazing street food tour of Catania, because long before the term “street food” became trendy, the South of Italy has always had a rich culture of street food. In addition to pointing out cultural highlights of Catania, your tour guide will have you taste and understand the origins of the many small things you can eat left and right walking through Catania, including granita, torrone, herbs, various pastries, meat balls, fried fish and so much more, Your guide will also carefully walk you through the vegetable and fish market, which are both a cultural experience, and you'll see where the social life of the Catanesi takes place. Around lunchtime, you will stop for a little while and have a fish tasting lunch snack, before the tour continues with many more interesting places and delicacies.

The afternoon is at your leisure in Catania. Stroll up and down via Etnea with the Catanesi, sit in a bar and watch the hustle and bustle, or stroll through the small streets in search of ice cream or granita. Your tour guide will be happy to give you a few ideas.

In the late afternoon, return to your accommodation, where you can rest a bit. After a long and exhausting day with lots of food, tonight you do not have to leave the hotel. Your tour guide has purchased some small snacks at the market and the hotel is offering some wine in the garden - an excellent way to let the impressions of the day sink in.

Today, you will hike with your naturalist guide Fabio to lava flows from the years 1865 to 2000. The short hike goes through pine and birch trees to a plateau of lava flows and pyroclastic products, such as waste and ash, dotted with small plants. At the end of the climb, admire various volcanic formations and enjoy the surrounding panorama, from the huge lava flow to the pine forest of Linguaglossa and over the coast to the Strait of Messina and Calabria. During a picnic lunch, enjoy a backdrop of the huge adventitious cone of Monte Frumento and the northern slope of Mount Etna.

In the afternoon, Valerio, one of the many small olive farmers on Etna, awaits you. Traditionally, every family had a little bit of everything in order to remain self-sufficient: olives, wine, vegetables, and livestock. What they didn't have, they traded. Valerio recently started producing his own Etna DOP oil and will explain to you why you can taste the warm character of the volcano in the oil. After a busy day, enjoy a short break before heading out into the area for dinner.

Today, visit a butcher in the neighbouring town of Linguaglossa, which maintains a Slow Food tradition: salsiccia al ceppo. Learn what makes this sausage special and observe how it is made, then taste this specialty once the grill is heated up. After lunch, relax by the pool before heading to the professional cooking school in your accommodation in the late afternoon. Finally, you can put all your knowledge from the week into practice. Your cooking instructor will introduce you to the specialties and techniques of Etna cuisine. What you create will be seasonal and local, such as pasta alla Norma or pasta ai funghi porcini.

After the cooking class, you will eat together and celebrate the end of an eventful week.

Today, you unfortunately have to say goodbye to Etna. In Sicily, one day of vacation should be equivalent to one kilo of extra body weight! If you don't want to say goodbye yet, stay a little longer. There are many more wonderful hikes to do on the volcano, or you might want to enjoy a few days by the sea or get to know Catania a little better. We would be happy to help you with any further planning.