Where to Stay in Sicily for Wine Tasting – Etna and More

Which Regions Do You Want to Visit?

Before diving into anything, we should note that there are many wine regions in Sicily. The Etna region surrounding the volcano is, objectively, the most popular for visitors, and whenever we discuss wine tasting in Sicily with others, odds are good they are only talking about Etna. Although for wine fans like us, only focusing on Etna alone is a mistake.

We have a greater breakdown of all of the wine regions and styles in Sicily at the previous link, but here, we simply want to point out that there are other regions you may want to consider visiting, including Marsala in the southwest (great fortified wine), Vittoria in the southeast (killer Frappato and Nero d'Avola), and even nearby islands like Pantelleria (excellent passito wine) and the Aeolians (a mix of styles).

Even better, you're never really too far from a winery when in Sicily, and even outside of these areas, you can quickly find wine without too much hassle.

For non-Etna destinations, figuring out where to stay is fairly easy as major tourism centers are located close to the wineries. In Marsala, for example, many wineries can be found inside (or just outside) the city limits, and we made an easy day trip from Trapani in under an hour (our preferred town if you're willing to make a bit of a drive). Similarly, for Vittoria, several of the top wineries can be reached in under an hour from Modica and Ragusa (our preferred town in the southeast).

As such, these wine regions are pretty accessible from common stops along a Sicilian road trip either while driving between cities or as a dedicated day heading out wine tasting.

But the Etna region is massive. You can spend well over an hour, if not closer to 90 minutes, driving along Mount Etna between wineries, and figuring out where to stay relative to your ideal wineries may take some additional planning.

How Close Do You Want to Be to Wineries?

The first questions you need to ask yourself when planning where to stay in the Etna region is how close you want to be to the wineries proper and how many days you want to allocate to wine tasting.

Do you want to be just a few minutes away from some of the top producers? You can do that (and should if you are planning multiple days of tasting). Do you wish to visit on a day trip from a major town like Taormina or Catania? You can also do that, with some caveats attached.

For day trips, you can reach the eastern slopes of Mount Etna in about an hour from both Taormina and Catania, depending on traffic and what winery you're looking to visit. If you like to take big day trips in your car, you could even add a drive up Mount Etna to the hiking area at the end of the road and still only drive for about two-and-a-half to three hours total while visiting one or two wineries if tasting times/availabilities work out. (Many guided day trips are also available in this area, too.)

Taormina also has the added bonus of only being about an hour from Passopisciaro on the northern slopes, making that area a possible day trip candidate as well. Can you do both slopes and get back to Taormina on the same day? Theoretically, yes (with about three hours of total driving), but we like to treat the northern and eastern slopes as two distinct areas because there are so many great wineries to check out on each side, and, perhaps even more important, tasting hours are often quite limited (book in advance!).

If you're short of time, we would also advocate being strategic in your driving route between destinations to hit up wineries while on the road as some spots may only add on a bit of extra drive time.

If you're driving from Catania to Taormina, for example, you can easily take the long way up the eastern slopes of Mount Etna, stop at a winery, and allocate a separate day trip to the northern side of Etna if you are so inclined.

• For some further ideas for driving itineraries/logistics, on my first trip, we drove from Catania to Gambino Vini for a tour and tasting, up Mount Etna, and on to Taormina for a half-day before driving towards central Sicily to stay the night (just over four hours total driving).
• On my second trip, we drove from Ragusa to Benanti Winery for a tour and tasting, on to Taormina for a half-day, before finishing at the northern slopes of Etna (just over three hours total driving). I've never actually stayed overnight in Taormina, and I find a half-day visit is enjoyable enough for me. These are just a few ideas for visiting wineries while transiting!

For those who want to stay for several days, you have far more options, and that's where things really get fun.

The truth of the Etna region is that there are many small towns and villages scattered all over the volcano, and it is very easy to find a base near the Sicilian wineries that you're looking at enjoying the most. Is there a right or wrong answer here? Absolutely not! We just always advocate finding an excellent agriturismo within a short driving distance from your ideal stops, and that gets you 90% of the way.

But for us, we have one area of Etna that we adored, and that is the northern slopes in and around Passopisciaro.

Our Ideal Location – Passopisciaro

Now, while there is no wrong way to do Etna for a wine trip, we would be remiss if we didn't point out that you shouldn't miss the northern slopes. To us, this is the best area of Mount Etna, and Passopisciaro is a great location to stay for a few days for those who want to take a deep dive into Etna wine.

It is stunningly beautiful, many of our favorite producers are found within a short drive, and the agriturismo scene is excellent (with additional delicious restaurants found in town). The only downside is that you'll likely be driving on narrower back roads that are slightly farther away from main roads compared to the eastern slopes.

On my first trip to Sicily, I only had time for a day trip to wineries along the eastern slopes as discussed in the previous section. It was a ton of fun and rather easy logistics-wise, but it only took about five minutes of driving around the northern slopes on my second trip before I realized that I had messed up skipping it the first time. It is that beautiful, and that was before we tried any of the wine!

This is, admittedly, only our preference. As mentioned at the start of this section, there really is no wrong way to do Etna. If your research and tastes are screaming eastern slopes, spend time there. If you are leaning towards the northern slopes, stay there. If you have the time and can do both, even better!

But if you're anything like us, enjoy fine wine, stunning nature, and want to be in the middle of it all, it really is hard to beat the northern slopes of Etna, particularly around Passopisciaro. When in doubt, however, always let the drive times be your guide!

In the end, Sicily is a pretty easy destination when it comes to planning where to stay for wine tastings. The biggest hurdles you're going to have is figuring out how to do it all with the time you have, and what concessions you'd be willing to make if time is the biggest barrier of all. So whether you're hitting wine regions as a day trip or diving in deep for several days, the only wrong way to do it is not go to the wine regions, particularly Etna, at all!

Do you have a favorite area to stay in when wine tasting in Etna? Comment to share!