2 Best Sights in Mount Etna and Eastern Sicily, Sicily

For a walk on the moonlike surface of Etna, visit the Silvestri craters on the southern side of the volcano, near Nicolosi. Located at an altitude of roughly 6,200 feet, these five extinct craters formed during the 1892 eruption. Just a few meters away, across from Rifugio Sapienza, you'll find the Funivia dell'Etna (€50 round-trip), a cable car that carries you 8,000 feet up to Monte Montagnola, where you can hike further with a guide or go skiing in winter. 

Also known as the faraglioni, these ancient volcanic islets are so dramatically stunning they have inspired writers throughout the centuries. Homer set Odysseus's battle with the cyclops here in the Odyssey, contending that the angered and freshly blinded cyclops Polyphemus hurled giant hunks of rock from Etna to the sea to destroy Odysseus and his ship. Sicilian writer Giovanni Verga set his most famous novel, I Malavoglia, on the island of Lachea, the largest of the isles. Today the area is a protected marine preserve. You can kayak or swim the waters or take a short boat taxi to Lachea to visit the Lachea Island Museum of Sea Studies, which highlights the flora and fauna of the area in a tiny museum perched near the top.