Italy Bicycle

[Biking on a Sicilian river - credit: pepsy+]

Attractions

Doing a Sicily tour bike means to live particular natural and cultural experiences. Your natural tour bike will include:

• Beaches
• The Volcano Etna
• Mounts such as Nebrodi, Madonie
• Natural parks

Your cultural tour will show you:

• Phoenician villages
• Punic Cities
• Roman and Greek Amphi theaters
• Greek Temples
• Norman Castles
• Spanish Churches.
• Historic cities

[Syracuse's Greek Theater - credit: James UK]

The best time to bike

Sicily has a great secret: it is a sunny place all the year round. You can visit all the attractions in summer and winter too.

But some suggestions can be is useful:

• Summer is hot, and a tour bike in August can be hard, especially coast city for the high temperature.
• Spring is the best season to cycle all the sicilian landscape, in fact the mild climate allow you to cycle mounts, valley, coasts and cities.
• Winter is a good season too, but no for riding high-top of mounts, like volcano Etna: here in Winter the climate is cold, and a tour bike will be hard.

[St. Agatha's Feast, Catania - credit: euart]

Doing a Sicily bike tour allows you to live the real Sicilian way of life, with its folkloristic Festivity and cultural shows:

• Catania: on the 5 February St. Agatha’s Feast, a two-days of procession, the second famous religious procession in the world
• The Almond-Blossom Festival in Agrigento
• The Pistacchio festival at Bronte
• The Chestnut Tree festival at Trecastagni
• Euro Chocolate at Modica
• Palermo: S. Rosalia Festivity on the 15 July
• Taormina’s Greek Theater holds theater, opera, movie, and music performances
• Siracusa: in Greek theater you can see INDA shows (National Institute for Ancient Drama).
• Ottobrata: in Zafferana you will taste tipical sicilian food with singer and comics shows

[Sicilian Cannoli - credit: fazen]

Gastronomic experiences

• Sicily is famous for its pastries: Cassata, Cannoli.
• Wine is another well know product of Sicily with its variations like “Marsala”, “Passito di Pantelleria”, the “Nero D’Avola” and the most important “Etna Red.”
• Sangeli: pig gut cooked in blood is a specialty of catania cuisine
• U pani ‘ca meusa: bread roll with calf spleen and lung
• Granita and Gelato (ice-cream)
• Pasta alla norma (LINK Mediterranean diet.com)

Suggested Bike Itineraries

1° A wonderful place: Etna - The Etna is a great Volcano. Winter is a good time to visit Etna, when the crater is full of snow. But the summer is a good time too, the only difference is an easier tour bike because the absence of snow and higher temperature. Consider to be provident while choosing your equipment when climb on the summit.

[Mount Etna Eruption 2007 - credit: CyboRoZ]

Bike tour on the Etna volcano

1. Reaching the summit, through woods and hidden trails.
2. Philosopher Tower, a high refuge seat in a rudimentary construction that legend ascribes to Empedocle, a philosopher from Agrigento lived about V century a. C.
3. Bicycle tour of the Mt. Etna villages tour bike: you will cross the characteristic mountin villages by your bike:
4. Nicolosi, Linguaglossa, Zafferana, Belpasso, Adrano, Bronte, so you can see and live Sicily history. (LINK north sicily bike tour)

2° Greek atmospheres

• It is sure you will enjoy seeing Agrigento and its magic Temples Valley
• Syracuse and its Apollo temple, Greek theater
• Greek show of Segesta, with its Doric Temple made around V a. C. and the Greek theater.(LINK west sicily bike tour)

3° Cities: visit the most important cities of the island Catania and Palermo