4 Best Performing Arts Venues in Mount Etna and Eastern Sicily, Sicily

Teatro Nazarena puts on an evening of entertaining duets and arias from Italian opera on most nights during the summer. A glass of prosecco is included in the ticket price.

The Teatro Greco and the Palazzo dei Congressi, near the entrance to the theater, are the main venues for the summer festival dubbed TaoArte, held each year between June and August. Performances encompass classical music, ballet, and theater.

Although it has died out in most other parts of the island, the puppet-theater tradition carries on in Acireale with a small but informative free exhibit at the Museo Opera dei Pupi, which recounts the history of the art and displays the puppets once used in widely beloved local performances.

Opera season (October through June) attracts top singers and productions to the birthplace of the great composer Vincenzo Bellini. Guided tours of the theater's lavish interior, built in 1890, run Tuesday through Saturday from 9 am to noon, as theater business permits; call first to ensure you can get a tour. Enter by the box office on Piazza Bellini.