20 Secrets of Sicily: The Restaurants, Beaches and Museums Most Tourists Miss

livemint.com:

da Messina masterpiece of the Madonna, but the secret find here is the ‘Trionfo della Morte,’ a 15th-century fresco that is about the size of Picasso’s ‘Guernica.’ It is a hypermodern painting about the death of a city that is especially moving after our experience of Covid. It’s an amazing piece of art to look at and I think every visitor should go see it." —G.R. 15.

See Who Pulls the Strings “Learn about opera dei pupi, or puppet theater: Visit generations-old puppet makers, Fratelli Napoli in Catania or Famiglia Argento in Palermo and learn how the wood-and-metal puppets are made. Current masters describe the stories being performed that involve myths, religion, lessons in good and evil, and the legends of kings. The Argento family offers one-hour shows, or book a private visit to Fratelli Napoli." —K.L.

16. Hop on the Ferry “From Marsala, a port city on the western coast of Sicily, take a 10-minute ferry ride to the tiny island of Mozia, whose ruins include a Punic cemetery. If you love quirky antiquariums, don’t miss the Giuseppe Whitaker Museum, famed for a marble statue of a classical Greek charioteer.

Ferry back to the mainland to the Florio wine cellars or Pellegrino winery to sip Marsala wine." —M.F. and E.B. 17.

Have a Spa Day “In Catania, visit the Achillean Baths, remnants of the city’s Roman past. Believed to be part of a huge temple devoted to Bacchus [the Roman god of wine and revelry], the site was rediscovered in the 18th century, having been covered in rubble during the earthquake of 1693." —K.C. 18.