Rich seams of history
In Ortygia’s Piazza Pancali, there remain vestiges of a temple of Apollo built in the 6th century BC – the oldest Doric temple in Western Europe. Siracusa’s Greek theatre saw first nights of tragedies by Aeschylus. In a sumptuous Villa near Piazza Armerina, Roman women in chic two-pieces did work-outs in the gym – the mosaics, like them, are in remarkable shape.

Centuries later, medieval castles rose against panoramas of Mount Etna. Arab craftsmen created ecclesiastical treasures for their conquerors. Spanish and French architects enriched towns such as Noto, Ragusa and Modica with elaborate baroque. Wherever you go in Sicily, layers of history overlap each other like strata of rock. In spite of the outpourings of lava from Etna’s histrionic eruptions and – in some cases because of them – millennia of development have been preserved, making this one of the most extraordinary places in the world to reach out and touch the past.

The island’s unique geographical position, sandwiched between Europe and Africa at the heart of the Mediterranean, has made it a strategic plum, irresistible to the power-hungry. Sicily, like England, had its Norman conquest, followed by a thousand years of European rule by the Angevins, the Aragonese, the Hapsburgs, the Bourbons and finally the dukes of Savoy. Evidence of the lives they led, the monuments they built, the riches they amassed are still there.

Best beaches
Not surprisingly Sicily, the largest island in the Mediterranean, is home to some of Italy’s most stunning beaches. San Vito Lo Capo with its almost tropical allure has soft, white sand and shallow, crystal clear waters dominated by a lofty headland that mimics the rock of Rio. More blond sands and clear shallows can be found at Fontane Bianche, just south of Siracusa. In the North, charming Cefalu wins hands down. Its sandy beach is in a perfect setting, dominated by the pretty town and its awesome Norman cathedral rearing up against the mountain.

But there are wilder shores to explore too: west of Castellammare, where on foot or by boat you can get to the secret coves and crystal waters of the Zingaro coastal reserve, as well as Selinunte and the beaches of the South coast, which in contrast are reminiscent of Pacific shores.