The Oriana Homel Udine is a premium choice at a reasonable price, Mercatovecchio Luxury Suites is another prime option. For visiting the Alto Adige region, the best base is Bolzano, from where there are many options for day tours of local wineries and cellars. The tourist office is located on 60 Via Alto Adige (also known as Sudtiroler Strasse). Bolazno is one of my favourite cities in Italy, a lively fusion of northern Italian and Austrian culture, architecture and cuisine, set among Sound of Music alpine scenery pleated with luscious green valleys and wildflower-sprigged pastures, with tonking cow bells for sound effects. Goldenstern Townhouse would be my choice of accommodation. Vintage in these regions usually happens in early October however as mentioned above, this date has been brought forward.
My wife and I are planning a trip to the south of Italy and Sicily next year in Q3. Could you please suggest an itinerary? We love to walk and explore places ourselves and are happy to drive or use trains for travel.
D. Potter, Newtown, Vic
Start in Palermo – the Sicilian capital has good air connections with the wider world. Stay four nights, and include the city’s Capo and Vucciria markets, the classical wonders of Piazza Vigliena and the astonishing Church of St Mary of the Admiral in Piazza Bellini. Directly opposite, the Church of San Cataldo shows how the influence of Islamic culture lingered in Sicily after the Arabs were replaced by the Normans in the 12th century. Other highlights include the amazing Norman cathedral at nearby Monreale, Teatro dei Pupi – a puppet show unlike any other – and a stroll along pedestrian-friendly Via Maqueda.
At the end of your tour, pick up a car and head for Agrigento to take in the Valley of the Temples, a vast archaeological site with well-preserved Greek temples. Continue to Piazza Armerina to see the amazing mosaics in Villa Romana del Casale, possibly the richest, most extensive and varied of any remaining collection of its kind. You could fit Agrigento and the villa into the same day if you spend a night in Piazza Armerina.
Continue to Ortigia, the island connected to Syracuse, packed with baroque churches and tiny laneways with cafes and seafood restaurants. Make this your base for visits to Noto, Ragusa and Modica, all in the south-east, and to Catania, with a ride aboard the Circumetnea Railway that makes a circuit of the villages at the base of Mount Etna. Another day trip will take you to Taormina, the setting for season two of The White Lotus. From Catania you can fly to various ports in Europe.