Blessed with 250 days of sunshine a year, Sicilian life is all about being out in the open. Join the locals in lively piazzas, on breezy terraces, at sidewalk cafés, taking leisurely Sunday passeggiate (strolls) around open-air art or sleeping under the stars – there’s an outdoor space for everyone.
t Night falls as the reel plays at Taormina’s open-air theatre
Sicily’s summer outdoor event season kicks off with the Taormina Film Fest (www.taorminafilmfest.it). Snag a ticket and join film buffs and celeb-spotters at the ruins of the resort town’s ancient Greek theatre to see premiers and old favourites under the stars. Continue the festività at Lipari’s Un Mare di Cinema (www.loveolie.com), a joyful celebration of the arts, with food stalls and activities for all ages. Want something a little different? Check out the annual Infiorata (flower festival) in Noto when local and foreign artists blanket the streets with flowers in colourful mosaics.
Join the chorus at Syracuse’s Greek Theatre, one of the most lauded summer performance venues in the world, to see millennia-old works of Aeschylus and Euripides come to life. Want even more? Book tickets all summer long to see opera, concerts and other cultural events at Taormina’s impeccably preserved Greco-Roman amphitheatre.
The Sicilian islands are full of art in unexpected places. Venture to Gibellina and the outdoor Museo Civico d’Arte Contemporanea (www.gibellina.siciliana.it) to marvel at Italian sculptor Alberto Burri’s Cretto, a striking monument that remembers those lost in the 1968 earthquake. Another modern must is Fiumara d’Arte (www.ateliersulmare.com/it), a meandering natural park strewn with enormous, Instagram-ready installations. Here pieces by Hidetoshi Nagasawa and Tano Festa, among others, put man-made materials in juxtaposition against the wild north coast around Messina.
Experience Sicily’s wild nightlife. Pitch a tent on the banks of a lake in Parco dei Nebrodi, slide a caravan under a grove of olive trees in a campsite next to the Riserva dello Zingaro or rough it in a rustic rifugio (hut) on the slopes of Mount Etna, and nod off under celestial skies.
When in Sicily, dine as the Sicilians do. Take a front-row seat for a panoramic aperitivo at Il Re di Girgenti, overlooking the Valle dei Templi. Alternatively, chow down on Palermitan staple sfincione (thick tomatoey, anchovy-laden slabs of pizza) at one of Francu U Vastiddaru’s (Corso Vittorio Emanuele 102) pavement plastic tables.
Insider Tip
You’re not the only one that enjoys al fresco dining. Mosquitos can be a nuisance. When enjoying an aperitivo at a pavement-side trattoria, be liberal with the mosquito repellent during the summer months.