Farewell dinner was grest.

Great tour director, great experiences, great food!

Collette and our tour guides made the trip wonderful. Everything was a thought out and all of our excursions/tours were amazing.

All of the tour was top notch, but the best part was our tour manager, Martina! She was always guiding us thru everything we saw and helped with anything that came up.

Excellent tour and tour guide

The trip exceeded all expectations Great locations fabulous tour manager smooth friendly people ,nice accommodations , interesting locations with expert guides wide variety of experiences and lots of fun

Wonderful and knowledgeable guide ! Beautiful accommodations., great secondary guides, nice pace and small group.

Great Experience with great people. Much fun!!

The tour guide was excellent. The tour was well organized & Sicily was a great place to visit. I would strongly recommend this tour. Being in a small group tour was an added bonus. Climbing Mt Etna & visiting Taormina were my favorite experiences. The many ruins & the Unesco towns were also fabulous.

It was a good plan for the trip. We saw a lot but Mossimo was not a good tour manager. He was very impatient and didn’t tend to the participants very well.

The tour was average or below, nothing special or exceptional. I found a big difference between tour of Greece which we had just completed in April and this tour. This tour was very cheap where food, water bottles and requests were concerned. For instance, at the welcome dinner which is usually a highlight, there was a very small dish of pasta, no second plate of something more substantial as there usually is in Italy. The restaurant was very nice but our meal was not at all. At 5/21 lunch at the oil tasting place, again a very nice place, we had 2 plates of pasta with nothing substantial in it for 8 people placed on the table and a tiny desert with one decanter of wine and water - paltry indeed. Other groups at both places were actually provided full meals, but not us!! This happened other times as well. Re water, the bus driver charged religiously 1 Euro for 1 small water bottle on the bus. In Greece meals were substantial when included and water was always provided there and on the bus for free. Tour guide's attitude was basically it is what it is, he implied there was not much he could do about it. With other tour companies we know the guide has some latitude to improve things, make guests happy. Not here apparently. One time we requested a salad - said we would pay for it - response was I'll see (it was provided in the end). What kind of an attitude is that. Did not happen with Greek guide. Also there was seldom any English speaking channel and sometimes no water provided in some of the hotels. At the Malta hotel there was no luggage rack, nice hotel, but what hotel does not provide some rack or bench for luggage. Tour seemed like a low budget trip that university students studying abroad might take and it was NOT that cheap. Very disappointed especially as Collette is associated with Marriott Vacation Club through which we joined both the Greece tour and this tour.

Our tour guide made everything an excellent experience

The small group size made it easy to get to know everyone. Ivan was a wonderful guide, patient and knowledgeable.

Our tour manager Paulo was excellent…..everything else was very good

Everything except the last meal were top notch!

The trip was a dream. Hotels were great. Excursion’s excellent

Everything was great and Dario was excellent.

The tour was very good,(more than good, The airline bookings were too tight on the transfers. The first hote (Hotel Felice, Palermo) took our passports which I found disconcerting. The dinner at the Palace Hotel was awful.

I have been on many Collette tours and they have always exceed my expectations. Well organized, professional and enjoyable.

Fabulous guide, itinerary and group size. One of my favorite tours ever. Collette comes through on all of their tours.

to me it was a once in a life time experience. Everthing about Sicily was a wonder from people to food to history. All of this was shared expertly and enjoyably thru travel excursions, unique experiences with peoples and their food and expert sharing of history and information with our guide. I cant say enough about our guide. He quickly became the head of our family of travelers. He anticipated our needs and sought to fill them, he showed compassion to the travelers who needed more attention. His pride and knowledge of his country was shared with enthusiasm, and a bit of wimsy. He treated us to little surprises along the way to remind us of the culture and customs of his country. Truly memories to last a lifetime.

Too Many to mention. All were great. Favorites were Salina and Taormina. Could have had another day there Lest favorite was city of Palermo. Glad we were in the old city

I already submitted a review

Collette included so many things to see and do. Visiting Palermo was a great experience so much to see. Visiting Mount Etna and the side trip we had to savor the taste of freshly made ricotta cheese. Tasting Marsala wine. Especially Marsala gelato! The seafood is out of this world. I would go back to Sicily to visit the many other sites as wells as revisit the areas Collette included in their itinerary.

We had a great time. We experienced so many different things about Sicily from gathering sea salt, visiting Greek temples, sampling ex-virgin olive oil, staying on the Island of Saline and visiting a caper farm. And many other interesting sites and activities. I wanted to stay longer and see even more.

I loved the tour but wish there was at least two optional excursion's to the beach.

Personal help from tour director Rosario. He was exceptional.

The tour manager Rosario was very knowledgeable professional and very personal always available to help us make the trip enjoyable. I enjoyed Palermo,Monreale Cathedral,the salt pans,olive and caper farm tours,valley of the temples,Salina island,Stromboli volcano,Taormina,Mount Etna. I would suggest staying at Baja Di Ulisse for more than one day,we did not have enough time to enjoy the beautiful beach and amenities.

Shown almost nothing of the important sights in Palermo. Hotels were usually outside of city so unless taxi taken no way to explore. Old bus was cramped, no WiFi but driver excellent. Island visit mostly for caper farm. Bigger city on the island was skipped. Hotel was more like 2 stars when better were available. Food generally disappointing although good at agritourismos. Syracuse, Catania, and Noto were skipped. Aetna and Taormina were highlighted and worthwhile. Tour leader was good. Overall could have been much better at the luxury price paid.

Loved the family owned farms, groves and accommodations.

The tour focused on providing the opportunity to get a good experience getting to know the people, their culture and their traditions. We visited some places that are probably not part of many other tour’s itineraries.

Great experience. Would do it again. I enjoyed the many sites throughout Sicily, especially the boat ride to Stromboli and surrounding islands and seeing the volcano erupt in the evening from the boat. I also enjoyed Taurmino and all its splendors. Our tour guide, Rosario, was wonderful.

The entire tour was memorable and favorable. Would love to go back.

Enjoyed every city. Wine and Olive Oil areas were very memorable. Ragusa and the surrounding area was a great experience. Salina and Taormina were my absolute favorites. My negative review has to do with the unrelentingly pace and very little free time for shopping, beach and resting. The weather, out of control of agency, was oppressively hot. Time of year needs to be foremost in planning. Summer trips in Sicily should be avoided. It is a late September and beyond destination . I also have complaints with the included dinners. Limited choice and same options at several restaurants. Swordfish and eggplant on consecutive days!!! While having a good experience in between the not so good, I most likely will not vacation with or recommend this tour company.

I wouldn’t personally recommend this trip based on 2 things. First, there is no free time. I walked past too many cafes, shops etc that I couldn’t go in because I was “on tour”. I skipped things in order to have breathing time. Second, I felt cheated out of good dinners. Of the 7 included dinners only 2 were good. The others were cheap, repetitive and not good. I was hungry most days. Breakfasts were excellent and I ate as much as I could because I never knew what food I would have the rest of the day. I’m Not sure if the tour manager is pertaining to our local man who we booked through or the tour guide in Sicily. Tour guide, great (Marco). Tour manager in the US could have given us more info and a meeting much earlier as we had asked multiple times. It’s a demanding trip with hills and the aforementioned lack of free time. He needed to lay eyes on some of the people who were interested in the trip to see that it was too demanding for them BEFORE we paid the money. I was physically fine but some of the others couldn’t do the hills. I admit that some of discomfort was due to the extreme humidity and the poor AC in the bus, lack of a bathroom on the bus, and poor AC in the hotels. That is a regional thing that can’t be changed. Sicily is beautiful, for sure. It’s my heritage. I would choose a different tour company who puts more money toward food or lets you eat on your own. I wish I had those 5 dinners to do over on my own. For example, I was served “meat rolls” 3 times of the 7 dinners. Scraps of meat rolled and deep fried. The fish eaters were served swordfish at least 3 times. We were given eggplant Parmesan 3 meals in a row. Not acceptable. We skipped the last night and went on our own because my choice was stuffed sardines or meat rolls. All of the local tour guides were wonderful. The best experiences were Hotel Mammasantina on Salina and the optional Excursion to the ricotta farm and the chocolate makers in Modica. The pizza party in Ragusa was nice and the food at Hotel Mammasantina was excellent for sure. Our local transportation was small and cramped when we were not on our tour bus. 21 people on a tiny bus with no air, 89 degrees F and over 80% humidity. Our transport from the hotel to the airport couldn’t fit our luggage, we had some inside the bus in the aisle. There were good parts but overall I would go with a different company.

Overall vibe of the group led by Nensi Simionato. She was excellent, knowledgeable but most of all FUN! Food, Friends and Fantastic Memories!!

Loved it. Sicilia was a memorable place to visit. People, food and the sites will forever be in my thoughts.

I loved the tour. We really liked the small group format (23 people). We were not aware that the tour was experiential until first night dinner, but now we would look for that format for future trips. Mimma Simeone, tour manager, did a great job. She was organized. She really came through for us when we were looking for laundry in Ragusa. She was on time which i appreciated. If she said a certain time, we had to be there. She selected a Great lunch for the group in Terrasimi on the way to Trapani. Last night dinner was joyous. The bus was comfortable. The driver was excellent. My favorite parts were the tour of Monreale (great guide), Valley of the Temples, although i wish we had more time there (great guide)., and the Stromboli boat trip. The hotels were great except for Agrigento-over crowded meals and one bad dinner there. Too many tours there similtaneously. Salina hotel was outstanding. Picturesque, great breakfast, great food walking distance from the hotel. Wonderful staff. I wish we were there longer! We preferred the hotels that were in cities as oposed to outside (Palermo and Taormina). The hotels in Ragusa and Trapani were gorgeous but removed from town. I like early morning coffee in the room or available outside. Great food included but we also liked the oportunities to select restaurants for meals not included. One activity i did not enjoy was in Ragusa-visit to a place that restored wooden carts. I couldn’t go in because I smelled mold and didn’t want to have an asthma attack. We were niot able to stay in the tour hotel in Palermo the first night due to no availability at the tour hotel. But i booked another hotel for one night as well as transfers to and from airport as we booked our own air. I would whole-heartedly recommend this tour to anyone.

St Julian Harbor St. Jon’s co cathedral Falcons Memorial site Palermo Taormina Monreale Cathedral Scicli Dingi cliffs Hagar Qim &Mnajdra Temples Maria Grammatico’s almond baking Great fellow travelers

Marco, our tour guide was a not only a wonderful & very knowledgeable tour guide but a caring and thoughtful person. I would highly recommend Collette Tours! The Valley of the Temples is one of the largest archaeological sites in the world. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage list. To be able to walk among this centuries old site and learn about the beliefs of the people then was truly amazing. I also especially loved the hands on pastry making class with famous author and baker Maria Grammatico in her famous bakery in Erice. There were so many memorable memories made with the people we met in our tour group and the fabulous places we visited. Each place we stayed at in Sicily and Malta were unique and charming.

Tour guide Ivan was wonderful. Informative, enraged with group. Also easy-going and great sense of humor. Ootional tours were varied and interesting.

Collette’s itinerary was what captivated me, but Davide’s leadership is what made the trip one of the most fun and exciting adventures. His enthusiasm for his homeland and his caring nature for each of us made it a trip of a lifetime. Some of the highlights for me were dancing and singing with the musicians near my grandfather’s village at the olive agriturismo in Agrigento, visiting Maria Grammatico’s bakery in Erice and of course, spending time on the beautiful island of Salina in the aeolians. Our last three days in Taormina were fantastic and a perfect way to end our trip. Can’t wait to return.

This was our 5th Collette tour to Europe and the best! Beautiful country and experience!!

Hotels were too remote and had to have provided meals that I did not care for and we were not given many choices. Two or three hotels did not have any English-speaking channels and a couple hotels had such poor internet it was impossible to get online.

OUR TRIP WAS AWESOME...AS ALWAYS!!!!! WE LOVED THE WHOLE EXPERIENCE...TOUR GUIDE...CHRISTIAN CUEVA WAS EXCELLENT...THE BEST TOUR GUIDE WE EVER HAD. SOOOOO KNOWLEDGEABLE !!

Excellent tour! One of the best I’ve ever been on

tour guides was the best

Christian Cueva, the Tour Manager made the trip exceptional, with his knowledge of Rome and Sicily. In all of our tours with various tour companies we never had a Tour Manager like Christian, he was the best.

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From the moment we arrived in Palermo we felt like we had family in Sicily! Rosario Pirrone was awesome! So welcoming, knowledgable and personable. He was a great tour leader and took the time to know our group and pace the trip accordingly. We had an awesome group of fellow travelers and we all became quick friends. Our welcome dinner at Quattro Mani was delicious!! What a nice place to eat. Monreale & the Cloisters was blinding beautiful! The City Tour Guides were all very well trained, personable and just great! We loved the Street Food Tour of Palermo. Perfect introduction to Sicilian Foods. The Espresso/pastry stops throughout our trip were awesome! We were constantly on the go, we loved the pace and size of our group. We felt truly immersed in the Sicilian Culture by day2! Every hotel was comfortable, spacious and just right! Waking up to a Windmill outside my window in Trapani was such a wonderful sight, and watching the sunset behind that same windmill was magnificent! It was diappointing not to have WIFI at Poggio Del Sole Hotel in Ragusa and the meals provided could have improved there, However, It was a beautiful place, and being disconnected at this point in trip was ok. We enjoyed the learning more about the Anti Mafia movement in Palermo. Growing up on the streets of Queens NY, it was John Gotti (Mafia) territory, now I understand more about all of it. Had a very nice Marsala wine tasting at Alagna Vini, the antipasta spread they put out for us was outstanding and paired so well with all the wines. The people from the winery was very welcoming! Loved the Life Sized Stations of the Cross, Enjoyed the boatride to Mozia. Stopping at the small towns on our journey to next stop was pricelss! Felt like a local! Loved the Optional Tour to Erice and so happy we added it! This is a place not to be missed!! Visting the kitchen of Maria Grammetico was very special and meeting and chatting with her was wonderful! Not to mention how yummy our Genovese Custard pastries were! It was so lovely sitting on the patio with a plate of pastries and an espresso. We had amazing views of the seas from up in Erice! Interesting to visit all the small alleys, see the history and just imagine life there in the past. Our visit to the Olive Groves was outstanding! The tasting was over the top! The lunch was delicious in a spectacular setting! It helped that we had near perfect weather! I just wanted to stop and spend a night or two at this Baio. Seeing the mosaics at the Unesco site in Armenina really made you wonder, how many people did it take, how much more is hidden? Agrigento hotel was very nice, tour of the ruins was very enlightening and our guide was amazing! So knowledgable he filled our heads with more than we could absorb! Loved it! And, againm our group did amazing with the fast pace on uneven ruins. The roads we traveled towards Arigento, Mama Mia! We passed orange and lemon groves, almonds, pomegranate, peaches…we had an amazing bus driver for our entire trip!! Antonio made us all feel very safe and also did his best to immerse us deeper in the culture of Sicily! Onwards we traveled towards Taormina (everyone goes to Taormina). A beautiful experience. We enjoyed cable car to beach areaand I put my hands in the warm Iconian Sea! The Hotel was very, very nice. THe foods great. The Views spectacular. We hiked thru the gardens. Again, Rosario made us feel like a local. The amount of steps and walking up and down hills is very suitable for Mountain Goats, not girls from Queens. But everyone wantss to visit Taormina. Loved the exploring all the side alleys. Sad it was a bit hazy today with rain forecasted for our Etna trip. And yes, we had pouring rain and our Etna hiking experience was adapted to a simpler walk. And, of course, the last time they had this rain was 5/3/2023- but today brought heavy wind and rain halting us at half way up Etna! Saw the Lava Fields, got wet in the woods and found a very nice restaurant with local jug wine for 7 euros a jug. La Dolce Vita, so be it. Lunch was excellent! Have I mentioned the Pistachio experience throughout Sicily? Oh My! It was yummy. Gelati stops are as important as Espresso stops! As we drove thru Naxos on our way to Ragusa, Mt Etna was shining in all her glory, too bad our hike wasn't today. But still beautiful to stare at. We did so much it's hard to remember all at once. Our visit to Cinnabro cart shop was such a great experience. It was very interesting to hear the history and see the detailed work being done by true craftsmen! Makes you wonder what's behind all the other closed doors in this town! Rosario's relationship with all the locals is just amazing! You can see how well liked and respected he is. It was a joy seeing this! Stopping for lunch, learning how ricotta is made and then enjoying the warm Ricotta and a beautiful lunch in a very pretty Agritourismo was a fun stop. Had a very enjoyable time touring Scicli and Modica. The Chocolate experience was another memorable experience and we left we a shopping bag full of gifts! Our ferry ride to Malta was interesting. Ferry was larger than I thought it would be and we arrived on time & safely. Our hotel is Malta was very nice, we had a great harbor view with a balcony I used as much as possible. We walked the steps and hills of the Three Cities of Malta. Was supposed to be a boat tour, but wind was blowing hard and no boats on water . They even canceled the Sicily/Malta Ferries! We were to be on traditional Dghasa boats.. wind is howling big time here! The Mediterranean blues are gorgeous here, even the harbors. Safety is the priority! We did learn about the Maltest weather, if wind from North it will be cold, Wind from southm it will be warm! I have lots of pictures of all the beautiful doors in Malta, the colors, the hardware, so unique! We visited a Norman House from the 1300's. Learning more and more about the history. Being absorbed by Malta! Sampled Maltese Rabbit at a charming restaurant, OPA, just a short walk from hotel. Our walking tour of Valetta was so enlightening. Very enjoyable town. Venturing on our own we had a great light lunch at Cafe Cordina and shopped for more souveniers from our amazing trip! We were very fortunate to tour Casa Rocca Piccola with the Marquis Nicholas and Marquessa Frances dePiro. He is the 9th Marquis. Very nice, warm people, we had delicious champagne in the courtyard. Their blue and gold Macaw, KeeKu was out there joining us. This stop was definitely a highlight for me and one of my favorite stops on this trip. The Marquis had so much history to share with us, that the time limitations has to curtail his stories. I could have spent a day with him! That night was special, we watched fireworks from our balcony, and we realized our journey was soon coming to an end.... our last full day was spend on the optional excursion, We saw the beautiful Blue Grotto, Cliffs, and sampled Prickly Pear Liquor ( yes, we bought a couple bottles) We then visited the Unesco site of Hagar Qim and Mnjdra, the monoliths and dig - so much history and an amazing stop - we were so glad we added this too! We moved on to The Silent City of Medina. Of course there were Maltese pastries called Pastisse involved in Rabat. We had a very nice farewell dinner in St Julian's. Again the group, sad to have to leave! Through it all Rosario took such awesome care of this group - I think he was enjoying it too! We were sad to have to say goodbye. I'm sure I forgot some of the amazing things we did. I think our Tour Manager, Rosario Pirrone, definitely set the tone for this trip by being so welcoming and enthusiastic about showing us Sicily and Malta from a local's perspective. He made the entire trip FUN! We're experienced travelers, and this was probably the best trip we every took. We have so many beautiful memories.

The tour started off in Palermo. Our guide, Rosario was fantastic! He met us in the lobby of the hotel upon check-in and arranged for us to have a quick snack after a long flight. We met the rest of our group in the early evening where Rosario introduced us to one another and learned a little about our traveling companions. They were an awesome group of people! Rosario provided details of what we can expect while on tour and kept everyone informed about our upcoming schedule for tours, meals and transportation. Personal highlights for me was the tour of the street market, sipping espresso in a popular establishment, sampling local street market cuisine, and learning the local history and culture of Sicily. As we moved around the island the visit to the olive farm and learning about the methods to harvest and process the olives was fascinating. It was also very interesting to learn about the cold press chocolate process and sample the product. Perhaps the most interesting part of the tour was sitting in the room with Maria Grammatica, learning her story and actually making pastries under her watchful eyes. Quite a remarkable woman. My wife and I both agree that this was one of the best trips we have taken with Collette and also agree that the credit goes to Rosario Perricone. He made the trip fun with his personality and local knowledge of the locations we visited. He embodies what a great tour guide should be!

The visit to the private home of a Knight of Malta. He was so passionate about sharing his story and showing us his “curiosities “. It was very enlightening and informative. It was a pleasure to be able to help the family continue to be able to maintain their home.

Great tour director, great experiences, great food!

Farewell dinner was grest.

Collette and our tour guides made the trip wonderful. Everything was a thought out and all of our excursions/tours were amazing.

Excellent tour and tour guide

All of the tour was top notch, but the best part was our tour manager, Martina! She was always guiding us thru everything we saw and helped with anything that came up.

Wonderful and knowledgeable guide ! Beautiful accommodations., great secondary guides, nice pace and small group.

The trip exceeded all expectations Great locations fabulous tour manager smooth friendly people ,nice accommodations , interesting locations with expert guides wide variety of experiences and lots of fun

Great Experience with great people. Much fun!!

The tour guide was excellent. The tour was well organized & Sicily was a great place to visit. I would strongly recommend this tour. Being in a small group tour was an added bonus. Climbing Mt Etna & visiting Taormina were my favorite experiences. The many ruins & the Unesco towns were also fabulous.

It was a good plan for the trip. We saw a lot but Mossimo was not a good tour manager. He was very impatient and didn’t tend to the participants very well.

The tour was average or below, nothing special or exceptional. I found a big difference between tour of Greece which we had just completed in April and this tour. This tour was very cheap where food, water bottles and requests were concerned. For instance, at the welcome dinner which is usually a highlight, there was a very small dish of pasta, no second plate of something more substantial as there usually is in Italy. The restaurant was very nice but our meal was not at all. At 5/21 lunch at the oil tasting place, again a very nice place, we had 2 plates of pasta with nothing substantial in it for 8 people placed on the table and a tiny desert with one decanter of wine and water - paltry indeed. Other groups at both places were actually provided full meals, but not us!! This happened other times as well. Re water, the bus driver charged religiously 1 Euro for 1 small water bottle on the bus. In Greece meals were substantial when included and water was always provided there and on the bus for free. Tour guide's attitude was basically it is what it is, he implied there was not much he could do about it. With other tour companies we know the guide has some latitude to improve things, make guests happy. Not here apparently. One time we requested a salad - said we would pay for it - response was I'll see (it was provided in the end). What kind of an attitude is that. Did not happen with Greek guide. Also there was seldom any English speaking channel and sometimes no water provided in some of the hotels. At the Malta hotel there was no luggage rack, nice hotel, but what hotel does not provide some rack or bench for luggage. Tour seemed like a low budget trip that university students studying abroad might take and it was NOT that cheap. Very disappointed especially as Collette is associated with Marriott Vacation Club through which we joined both the Greece tour and this tour.

Our tour manager Paulo was excellent…..everything else was very good

The small group size made it easy to get to know everyone. Ivan was a wonderful guide, patient and knowledgeable.

Our tour guide made everything an excellent experience

Everything except the last meal were top notch!

The trip was a dream. Hotels were great. Excursion’s excellent

Everything was great and Dario was excellent.

The tour was very good,(more than good, The airline bookings were too tight on the transfers. The first hote (Hotel Felice, Palermo) took our passports which I found disconcerting. The dinner at the Palace Hotel was awful.

I have been on many Collette tours and they have always exceed my expectations. Well organized, professional and enjoyable.