Had a wonderful tour led by a man named Sergio. He was extremely knowledgeable about Palermo,…read morehistory of the island in general, food in particular, I needed it I was a wonderful sense of humor! I wish I could've kept track of all the different foods we sampled. I even like the spleen sandwich, although I was sort of prepared to not like it. BF and I are normally not the type of people to do tours, but the group is small and this was a highlight of our trip to Palermo.

This TOUR tho! Ah,…read morePalermo. Such an interesting, historical city. Full disclosure, I didn't want to go to Palermo--we had been in Catania and Ragusa and all that jazz and my husband insisted we spend a few days in Palermo. Ok, fine. We get there and it was ok. And it continued to be just ok until....enter Streaty, stage right. My husband had booked us a food tour and of course, being the fatass that I am, I was like, food? Ok, let's do this. But it better be good. And it was. Oh, it was. We met outside of the Massimo Theater (which of course, always cues that Zumba song by Pitbull in my head, of the same name). Then I saw him. There, in all his glory--our beautiful food tour angel. I'm going to go ahead and say his name was Marco because all of the other reviews talk about someone named Marco, but in all honesty I don't remember his name--he was the owner of Streaty so that is what I will call him in this review--and he was perfect. We all introduced ourselves with our names and where we came from which I thought, with being a small group of about 10, was really nice. We were then given a "food passport". GENIUS. It makes eating more than anyone should ever eat in one day seem like a victorious occasion, which I genuinely appreciated. It makes you hate yourself a bit less when you can look back at your stamped off achievements on this passport--it takes "oh my gosh, I can't believe I just ate all that food" into "hey y'all look at what I did! I did it! YAS!" For this alone, Marco deserves the Nobel Prize. Then we were off on our adventure! We walked through Palermo's food markets while Marco, in his stereotypically swoon-inducing Italian accent, told us personal stories and tales of Sicilian life, culture and family. And of course, the ins and outs of where to go and how to buy anything we could imagine. As we walked, it was great to see that our guide had such great personal relationships with every place we went to. It makes the tour that much more special. The food: I have no idea where to begin on this one--I suppose I'll say firstly, that I keep kosher. Which is super complicated to explain so to keep things easy, I just say I am vegetarian, to be safe--and everything was wonderful. When there was something meaty, I was given something vegetarian and it seemed like it was no trouble at all when in reality I know that it's a huge pain in the butt. So for you vegetarians out there--don't fret! This tour is for you, too. Everything we tried was delicious. My favorite was the chickpea thing that I don't remember at all what it's called. Just eat it. It's really good. I will give you this one warning though--ok I lied, I have 2 warnings: 1) You will go to a bar. It will be super seedy yet super awesome all at the exact same time. You will be offered olives that your guide brought in from elsewhere. Eat these olives. They won't let you down. You will also be offered some kind of sweet wines (I really don't understand why I don't remember the name of literally anything--GOOD THING I HAVE MY FOOD PASSPORT AT HOME TO REMIND ME!), and while they are sweet, don't be fooled--they are also strong. They may or may not be strong enough for you to encourage the cute journalist on the tour with you to be with the tour guide as a favor for all married womankind, to live vicariously through her. This may or may not have happened. (And girl, if you are reading this, hit me UP I have to know details!) 2) You will end at a gelato place. For some reason that I still don't understand, Sicilians think it's normal to eat gelato (also granita) in a brioche. I do not understand this for many reasons. The first being that brioche is not Italian. Why brioche? Why? Secondly, why is gelato ever ok for breakfast, brioche or no? Also, as a born and raised American (New Yorker, actually), I've seen some big portions in my day. But holy Lord, this thing is huge. My point being that there will be tons and tons of food. You have to ration yourself and weigh what is more important to you--the savory or the sweet--and plan accordingly. Ok, you've been warned. In conclusion, this tour is basically the best thing there is about Sicily and if you don't do it, you will really be missing out. Marco is a fantastic guide who is passionate about everything he talks about and really wants to make sure you have a good time, and he succeeds. Do NOT miss this tour when you are in Palermo--if I had known they had the same in Catania when we were there, we would have definitely done that too, it was THAT good. Why are you still reading this, go book now!

See the bottom for a better alternative in Palermo:…read more Terrible Attitude Terrible Service Terrible Recording quality on tour Terrible - worthless information presented on tour. Tour A is a fast 30-minutes that barely takes you out of the starting point piazza. The afternoon, Tour B, is 1-hour and drives by the buildings so fast that when they talk about them, there is no point of reference to see which 1,000-year old building they are talking about. They are all 1,000-years old, they all have balconies. The sales clerk has no interest in her job or in you. The driver ignores you when you get on board. When the tour is over, he runs away like he has diarrhea or has to go smoke. No time to thank them for nothing. I walked a block away to the Tourist Information office. They gave me a map and showed how easy it is to take a self-guided walking tour. Do that, stop for a coffee and pastry, enjoy your time in Palermo, off the bus.

The bus was late, overcrowded and they ran so infrequently you normally waited almost an hour at…read moreevery stop for the next bus. Then they only starting another bus at noon for a few hours. We asked for an extension on our pass, they blankly refused. Really bad experience in Palermo

We booked a tour that got rearranged due to weather in Sicily. Michele was very helpful in…read morearranging an alternative day trip private tour that included Tauramina and Castamola. Sam was our tour guide. He was an amazing and knowledgeable young man that made us feel like special guests in his local town. Grateful for his knowledge and time he spent with us. Would definitely recommend Sicily4You!

Worst customer service ever. They pick and choose to whom they want to give a refund. Our cruise…read morehad a last-minute port change the day before we were supposed to dock in Messina. I canceled the excursion first and then contacted Viator because I could not contact the tour operator. I found out after the fact I had to contact the tour operator first before canceling. I tried contacting tour operator on numerous occasions before the excursion but didn't get a response. So I always contacted Viator (third party company whom I booked the excursion with). My SIL who was on the same excursion was refunded and told them I was with them. They still would not refund me but they did refund her. We were on the same excursion and had to cancel for the same reason. Difference is she waited to cancel until she talked to them. My bad on that. They should treat the customers the same way. Especially when my SIL explained the situation and told them I was with her.

Our group of four booked a tour with Lorenzo, the owner of Agrigento Experience, about a month in…read moreadvance. He was incredibly easy to communicate with while we were planning our trip. We met him at the entrance to the park and he was immediately welcoming and friendly. His immense knowledge of the history of his city and the temples themselves is extensive and he is so passionate about the subject. His ability to make connections between us and the history of the area added a lovely personal touch. He had an ability to tailor the tour to our group on the fly based upon our interests and background which made it less of a lecture and more interactive. We rented a car and drove down two hours from Palermo just for this tour and we would do it over and over again if it meant learning more about the area from Lorenzo! We highly recommend booking a tour with him and Agrigento Experience.

My husband and I had the incredible luck to have booked Lorenzo as our private guide through the…read moreValley of the Temples. We took a sunset tour with him and loved every minute. He was incredibly warm, gracious and knowledgeable. We felt like we were with a long time friend while walking through this amazing historical sight. It was definitely one of the highlights of our two week tour of Sicily. I would recommend a tour with Lorenzo to anyone who comes to Agrigento.

I was so intrigued by Conte Federico while doing my research for our trip to Sicily, and added it…read moreright away to the "must see" list. I'm so glad I did. Right off the bat, the person who checked us in was the 15th generation of the family, and he ended up also being our lovely tour guide, Andreas. The history of the 800 year old Palazzo is rich and colorful. Our guide told entertaining, informative and humorous bits of information about his family, the impressive and varied architecture, and some of the beautiful artwork within. We also learned about his mother, an accomplished soprano singer and competitive swimmer, his father, an avid race car driver, and he himself a former fencing aficionado. I enjoyed getting a glimpse into the life of this wonderful family's history, and I was so appreciative that they are generous enough to have shared it with us. Thank you, Andreas and house Federico!

Intimate, detailed description of an important historical palazzo, given by one of the members of…read morethe family who has owned and lived in the palazzo for centuries. Highly recommend.

This castle is by far my favorite place in the world (so far!) and I might be biased because my…read morefamily is from this small town, but this castle is a hidden gem. If you are traveling to Sicily, Palermo will likely be one of your stops. If you are willing to drive into a smaller town, you have to visit Carini and more specifically, this castle. It's breath-taking... every step leading to this castle and within in is spectacular and rich in culture. If you have time, do some research before visiting on the background of this castle. Locals and tour guides can tell you about it, but there are so many amazing details and legends that it's worth Googling in advance. The story is that the married Baronessa Di Carini, Laura Lanza, was involved in a love affair with a commoner and her father, the king, once getting word of this, killed her. During her death, she touched the blood on her side and grabbed onto the wall with her bloodied hand in her last effort to cry for help. Legends say that this handprint could not be washed off by the maids and was still visible in Laura's room until the 1950s. The room then collapsed, but you can see artifacts from that time period on your tour. If you are into history, this should be on your list of attractions to visit in Sicily. Locals still hold processions and parades for the Baronessa. If that's all too grim for you, no worries. The castle itself is a work of art. If you are a resident of Carini, you'll get a discounted rate for entry. For the rest of us, entry to the castle is a bit more (check their website) but definitely worth it. Every room is magnificent and the windows will lead you to amazing views of the city. Photographers rejoice. You can also snap pictures of the old paintings which are said to go back to the 1400s and are still in tact. My suggestion is to visit during the morning hours so you can see the rooms in natural light. If that isn't enough for you, they have a built in bar and lounge in the building attached (so it's technically a bar inside of castle!). If you're not sure where to go, just follow the cobble stones out front and you will usually see a swarm of vespas parked outside as this is a local hotspot. If the bar scene isn't for you, there is a restaurant down the block that offers stunning views of the city as well as the water and the famous Isola Delle Femmine. There's also a gelateria located down the steps from the castle's bar if you just need a sweet treat. If you do come to visit this castle, let me know how your experience is. I hope you love it as much as I do!

In the United States, you'll see our flags flying everywhere. On every building. On every grave in…read morea military graveyard. At car dealerships (the ones selling American cars, at least). Some folks even have flagpoles and flags in the back of their pickup trucks. It's an American thing. It is apparently NOT an Italian thing. From the terrace of Teatro Massimo with a view over much of the city of Palermo, I did not see many flags. In fact, I saw only one Italian tricolor. Just one in the whole city. So after the theater tour, I made my way to the flag and found it on top of the city's firehouse. I'm not sure if this is the main office or the headquarters as I did not want to raise suspicion of a strange man taking pictures so I snapped and moved along. The building itself is very impressive. From the https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/vigili-del-fuoco entry, "[Palermo's Vigili del Fuoco structure} dates back to the mid-19th century. This building was commissioned and completed during the height of the Fascist Era in the 1930's. It is an example of the Art Deco aesthetic that dominated the designs of Mussolini's team of architects." "The monolithic tower and various rectilinear and curvilinear adornments are typical of the style. Il Duce tended to favor Art Deco draftsmen in building his New Rome. Similar architecture from the Fascist era can be found scattered throughout both Italy as well as her many colonial holdings in Africa." It's not far out of the way, located close to the Teatro Massimo and the historic district of Palermo. Stop by and if you're a fireman, I'm sure they'd love to trade patches with you if you can figure out how to do that in Italian. [Review 12844 overall, 159 of 2020.]

We also hired Lorenzo for our tour of the Valley of the Temples, early September, 2016. Lorenzo…read morewas fabulous. He explained the various civilizations that inhabited the area. How they designed their temples, why the deigns evolved. How each succeeding civilization added to the design. We did an evening tour to escape the heat of the day. Lorenzo added magic to a magical historical site. Lorenzo loves the valley of the temples. His enthusiasm, the time he spends with you. We love to travel. Rarely have we had a tour guide with his enthusiasm. I happened to leave my glasses in a cab at the end of the tour (returning to the parking lot). I emailed Lorenzo when I discovered this. He phoned the taxi driver and was able to return my glasses to our hotel the next morning. I can not recommend him more highly, as a tour guide and as a person.

We just finished a guided tour through the Valley of the Temples with Lorenzo and he was FANTASTIC!…read more So knowledgeable and so enthusiastic. We have had some mediocre tours during this trip to Italy so it was wonderful to find a guide to this most wonderful Unesco World Heritage Site. His number is +39 349 40 66 291 and his email is info@agrigentoexperience dot com.

"The Fountain of Shame" because a number of the statues here are rather undressed. The "Praetorian…read moreFountain" was originally created for the garden of don Luigi de Toledo of Florence in 1551. In 1573, the fountain was sold to the city of Palermo and reinstalled after it was moved. A restoration was completed in 2003. According to our tour guide, a recent Dolce & Gabbana runway took place here. Which I would totally understand as the Piazza is quite lovely. Well worth a stop to check it out and photograph. [Review 12821 overall, 136 of 2020.]

We found this gorgeous fountain as we walked along the Via Maqueda. It is a very busy area filled…read morewith tourists most every day. There are horse drawn carriages that you can rent for a very nice ride to see area located right on the street.

Visited the Palermo Cathedral while in town and wow -- it's absolutely beautiful. The architecture…read moreand deep history are truly stunning, and its UNESCO status feels well-deserved. We wandered for a while and found plenty of great photo spots. Entry is paid, but worth it. Definitely a must-see when in Palermo. Saluti!

Beautiful! The interior, and the altars were amazing. There are crypts of two kings from the tenth…read moreand eleventh century there. The silver altar needs to be seen to be believed. This church is definitely worth the visit!