6 Best Sights in Central Sicily and the Mediterranean Coast, Sicily

A visit to this winery is a must for wine lovers. The well-maintained cellar offers an excellent tour experience, guided by knowledgeable and friendly staff who will walk you through the Sicilian wine-making process. The tour includes a visit to the sprawling vineyards and an overview of the cellar and its various stages of production, culminating in a tasting of four exceptional, high-quality wines. Visits must be booked in advance, either online or by phone. If you can manage, book the visit in the late afternoon to catch the golden hour against the vineyards and the olive groves. 

Only a 20-minute drive from the city along an olive-tree-lined country road, you'll find this family-owned winery. Not only does it specialize in traditional Sicilian grapes such as Grillo and Nero d'Avola, but it also experiments with Chardonnay and Cabernet Sauvignon. Local artwork lines the tasting room walls as well as the attached La Cantina Restaurant. Wine tasting is by reservation only. The restaurant is only open during the high season, but you can experience the wines and the food at a sister restaurant in Sciacca, La Stranizzein Sciacca, year-round. 

The island’s first female winemaker, Emanuela Bonomo, not only makes a fantastic passito dessert wine, but also had the vision to see that Pantelleria’s traditional gastronomic preserves made of capers, olives, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and oil that many islanders took for granted could find an international market. Her beautifully packaged preserves, pestos, and condiments inspired many islanders to revisit their own family’s traditions. Book ahead for a tour of the vineyard that includes visiting the Bonomo’s caper fields on Monte Gibele.

This wonderful little winery is run with passion and energy by three young locals. Many wineries run tours, but few make the experience as personal and interesting as the Valle delle Ferle. Call ahead to book a personal tour of the vineyards, where Nero d’Avola and Frappato—the two grapes used to create Cerasuolo di Vittoria wine—are planted together, a traditional practice that has died out as newer joint plantings are not permitted. Guests are encouraged to taste blind, in order to demonstrate how the wines produced in these heavy clay hills are characterized by a far longer life and softer palate than those produced at lower elevations in the sandier soils closer to the sea. Tastings are accompanied by carefully selected local cheeses and salamis, so guests can experience the way the wines work with a salty or fresh cheese, or a fattier or chili-spiked salami. Tours also take in the cantina, where there is often a chance to taste immature wines straight from the tanks.

In the countryside west of Caltanissetta, Tenute Lombardo is a sprawling vineyard that still preserves many of the ancient techniques of Sicilian wine making. In addition to the classic Sicilian grapes like Grillo and Nero D'Avola, they also produce an exquisite sparkling wine made with Cattaratto, a grape native to Sicily, using the traditional Champagne method. Sitting atop a hill, the property offers 360-degree views of the rolling hills of vineyards, especially charming during the golden hour. The tasting room is modern but preserves the rustic character of the original structure—book in advance for a wine tasting accompanied by Sicilian antipasti. 

An exuberant welcome awaits you at Cantina Basile from winemaker Fabrizio and his English-speaking wife, Simona. Fabrizio is something of a wine rebel and innovator, and if anyone can convince you that sweet passito dessert wine works its magic better with well-chosen savory dishes than sweet, he will be the one to do it. Along with dry and sweet Zibbibo wines, Fabrizio has planted Cabernet Franc, Merlot, and Syrah vines, and tastings give an opportunity to try some of his red wines. His whites include Sora Luna, 100% Zibbibo grown in volcanic sandy soil where Fabrizio trains the vine leaves to grow big and act as shade to the grapes, and Trequartidiluna, where the wine must is left in oak for a month then aged in stainless steel for 10 years. Tastings include four or five wines, and are accompanied by foods chosen to demonstrate how differently the same wines can react to various different foods.