Sicily Tourism

In addition to the well-known tourist destinations and famous places like Taormina, the Aeolian Islands, Erice, Aegadian, Cefalu, Monreale, Palermo, San Vito Lo Capo, Noto, Siracusa, Sicily's hinterland is rich in history and traditions, but also and especially in art, culture, forts, theaters, churches, palaces, castles, cemeteries, forests and natural reservoirs of important elements that characterize the internal areas of the region.

World Heritage Sites in Italy

Sicily is, after Tuscany, the Italian registered the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Site. This is the complete list:

• The Villa del Casale di Piazza Armerina, since 1997;
• Landscape and Archaeological Park of the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, since 1997;
• The Aeolian Islands, since 2000;
• Eight municipalities belonging to the Val di Noto: Caltagirone, Militello Val di Catania, Catania, Ragusa, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide and Scicli, 2002;
• The old town of Siracusa and the necropolis of Pantalica, since 2005.

They also questioned the possibility of entering the historical center of Palermo, Trapani and numerous monuments of Erice, Segesta and Mothia (the lands of the Elimi) and in 2009 he discussed a possible candidacy of Castle Dovecote Trapani and the geological site Scala dei Turchi.

Sicilian Baroque

Following the bloom of reconstruction followed the devastating earthquake that hit the Val di Noto in 1693 some artists adopted a common style that today fall under the name of Sicilian baroque. Before that date the baroque had been employed in the island in a naïve, advanced indigenous architecture rather than derived from the great architects of Baroque Rome. Following the earthquake, many local architects adopted this style, which is recognized not only by its typical Baroque curves and decorative motifs but also by the grinning masks and putti, particularly garish and appearance rarely seen elsewhere. Their interpretation of style led to an art form and custom rooted in the various territories such as the Val di Noto (province of Ragusa and Siracusa) and the Province of Catania. In the penultimate decade of the eighteenth century, the style came to be replaced by new fads that brought the neo-classicism.

Archeological areas

The multiple dominations in Sicily meant that Sicily is full of places of archaeological interest. This is a short list of archaeological sites divided by province:

• Province of Agrigento: Valley of the Temples, Eraclea Minoa, Monte Adranone.
• Province of Caltanissetta: Vassallaggi, Sabbucina, Gibraltar Gabel, Acropolis Walls of Gela and Timoleontee.
• province of Catania: Paterno Volcanic Hill, Pietralunga, Civita, Adranon, Occhiolà, Mount Turcisi, Xiphonia.
• Province of Enna: Morgantina and the barn, Villa del Casale, Centuripe, Fondaco Catenanuova Cuba.
• Messina: Alesa Arconidea, Naxos, villa Patti, Tauromenium, Spa Vigliatore, Tyndaris.
• Province of Palermo: dell'Addaura Cave, Cave of Gurfa, Iaitas, Entella Himera Solunto.
• Province of Ragusa: Ispica Cava, Cava Lazzaro, Castiglione, Kamarina Kasmenai, Kaukana, Scornavacche.
• Syracuse: Akrai, Cozzo Collura, Eloro, Megara Hyblaea, Neapolis, Pantalica villa Tellaro Thapsos, Casmene, Leontinoi.
• Trapani: Cave of Cusa, Uzzo Cave, Lilibeo, Mozia, Segesta, Selinunte.