Sicily Travel Guide

Sicily - the football off Italy's toe -is the jewel of the Mediterranean and its largest island.

Home to Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, Angevins and Bourbons over the last 2,000 years, it has a fascinating clutch of cultural sights from saucy bikini-clad ladies on the mosaic floors of Roman villa, Piazza Armerina, to the Arab-Norman fusion architecture of Palermo's Palatine Chapel.

Along the way, take in the exquisite Ancient Greek amphitheatre at Segesta, the 12th-century hilltop town of Erice and catch a performance in Taormina's ancient amphitheatre which has views across the fertile countryside of eastern Sicily towards the smoking volcano, Mount Etna.

Laze on the volcanic beaches of the Aeolian Islands (Stromboli et al) or head south to the sun-soaked Pelagic archipelago where Pantelleria and Lampedusa draw the likes of Madonna and Giorgio Armani to their shores.

Come for sizzling summers (Jul and Aug 28°C), in spring for balmy days (Apr 16°C) and in autumn for Indian summers (Sep and Oct 24°C).