Gardens and Wild Flowers of

Baggage Allowance Travel We advise you to check the baggage allowances carefully as you are likely to be charged the excess Passports if you exceed the weight limit. Maximum weights Please ensure your 10-year British Passport is not for single bags apply. out of date and is valid for a full three months beyond the duration of your visit. EU, Andorra, With Easyjet your ticket includes one hold bag of up Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino or Switzerland to 23kg plus one cabin bag no bigger than 56 x 45 x valid national identification cards are also 25 cm. Overhead locker space is limited on board acceptable for travel to . the aircraft and on busy flights your cabin bag may have to go in the hold.

Visas Please contact the airline for further information Visas are not required for British and EU nationals. http://www.easyjet.com/en/planning/baggage For all other passport holders please check the visa requirements with the appropriate embassy. Labels Italian Consulate-General: “Harp House”, 83/86 Please use the luggage labels provided. It is useful Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4BL. to have your home address located inside your Tel: (0)20 7936 5900. Fax: (0)20 7583 9425. suitcase should the label go astray. Email: [email protected] Website: Departure Tax http://www.conslondra.esteri.it/Consolato_Londra The departure tax is included in the price of your Open Mon-Fri 0900-1200 flight tickets.

Transfers On arrival in , transfer to Capri Leone and Tickets the Hotel Antica Filanda (2 hours 30 minutes approx.). Included with this documentation is an e-ticket, which shows the reference number for your flight. EasyJet have now replaced all of their airport Special Requests check-in desks with EasyJet Baggage Drop desks. If you haven’t already, please notify Travel Editions Therefore you must check-in online and print out of any special requests as soon as possible to allow your boarding passes before travelling. Checking in sufficient time to make the necessary online also provides the opportunity for you to pre- arrangements. Please note that some airlines may book seats, if you wish, at an extra cost. charge for use of wheelchairs.

Online check-in is available any time prior to travel using the reference number provided. Please see the enclosed e-ticket for more information or visit; www.easyjet.com

Please check that the details on your documentation are accurate and that all names are spelt correctly and match the names on your passport. Your flight ticket is non-transferable and non-refundable. No refund can be given for non- used portions.

Accommodation

Hotel Antica Filanda, Capri Leone A result of the Arab control of the island in the 10th th Located just outside the village of Capri Leone, on and 11 centuries, apricots, melons, raisins, a hillside and surrounded by olive trees, with views saffron and couscous often feature in dishes – of the Tyrenian Sea and the . such as Couscous al pesce. Facilities here include an excellent restaurant, bar Typical sweets include Cannoli (crusted tube filled and a garden with outside swimming pool which is with ricotta and sugar), Cassata (rich, creamy open during the summer months. The comfortable ricotta filled cake), Gelato (possibly invented in bedrooms with private bath/shower with Hydro- Sicily), and the lighter Granita (sweetened and massage shower, air-conditioning, TV, telephone, flavoured crushed ice). free wi-fi, safe and minibar. Table service is common in most restaurants and For more information please visit the hotel’s website: bars. Usually, a discretionary service charge is http://anticafilanda.me/ added to your bill in restaurants and bars, and no further tipping is required. Santa Caterina Hotel, Acireale The 4* Santa Caterina Hotel enjoys a panoramic location overlooking the sea and facilities include a Drink swimming pool with solarium. The restaurant The world’s largest wine producer, Italy is home to comes with a magnificent view. The recently some of the oldest viticulture regions. Named restored bedrooms are comfortable with private according to their grape variety or after their bath/shower, hairdryer, air-conditioning, TV, free village or area of origin, excellent wines are wifi and fridge. produced throughout Italy and Sicily, with local wines offering great value and quality. With an For more information please visit the hotel’s website: ideal climate and soil (thanks to Mount Edna) http://www.santacaterinahotel.com/en grapes have been grown in Sicily since the Greeks first colonised the island. The dry white and rosé wines are excellent accompaniments to the seafood dishes, whereas the Nero d’ Food produces sumptuous hearty reds. Inspired by the many cultures that have settled on The most famous Sicilian wine, the fortified the island these past two millennia, Marsala, is similar to sherry and port and comes in has a touch of Greek, Spanish, Arab, and of course oro (golden), ambra (amber), or rubio (ruby), in a Italian to it. The surrounding sea provides plenty of range from sweet to dry varieties. The golden, seafood, the rich, fertile soil of the island is perfect sweet, sometimes sparkling dessert wine Moscato for growing olives, citrus fruit, aubergine, is very pleasing. tomatoes, pistachios and almonds – the results are Sicily also produces excellent liqueurs, such as Ala, a varied, fresh, and mouth-watering combination. Averna, Fichera, and some that can also be found Traditional dishes include Caponata (side dish of on the mainland – Limoncello, Grappa, Anisette aubergine, capers and sweet balsamic vinegar), and Amaretto. Maccu (Fava bean soup), Arancini (fried rice ball – a traditional snack), and Sfincione (, Meals included in the price of your holiday are: thick base with various delicious toppings). Breakfast – daily; Pasta dishes are also popular – try Spaghetti ai Lunches – 3 lunches included ricci (sea urchin pasta), the aubergine, tomato, Dinners – 3 dinners are included at the Hotel basil and ricotta Pasta alla norma (originally from Antica Filanda Catania), or Manicotti (similar to cannelloni, tubes of pasta filled and baked) – as is seafood, freshly caught, served simply grilled, boiled or fried. As for meat, the most frequently seen are lamb and goat.

Destination This tour explores some of this wild flower bounty, Reserve, which extends for about 380 hectares, along with excellent local cuisine. As well as wild there is a remarkable variety of environments: it flowers, we will visit a selection of beautiful public goes from the brackish lake environments to the and private gardens, and explore the oak and beech coastal marine sands, to the steep slopes and to the woodlands of the beautiful Nebrodi Regional Park. areas overlooking the sea. Most of the visits will be undertaken on foot, so comfortable walking shoes are essential for this For more information about Laghetti de Marinello, visit: tour. https://www.tindari.org/riserva-naturale-marinello

Places of interest included in your tour: Le Stanze in Fiore Le Stanze in Fiore by Canalicchio is the name of an Nebrodi Park ancient citrus grove transformed into a The park is a very rich and impressive natural contemporary garden, welcoming and natural, full landscape, with Mount Soro standing as the highest of colors, scents, rare plants and water. The name peak in the park at 1850 meters: from here the view derives from the fact that it consists of several is breathtaking, with and the Aeolian rooms, open air rooms with different styles. Islands behind, which can be seen looking north. Rossella Pezzino de Geronimo created it, starting in The low population density of the area has allowed 2000, around the family country villa, built in the the preservation of the natural habitat of the area neoclassical style in the nineteenth century, mixing and its overall integrity. The flora is typical old Mediterranean flowering plants and tropical Mediterranean varieties especially at low altitudes, and sub-tropical plants. The garden is divided into with great examples of chestnut and oak trees that different zones, connected with each other, along a predominate at a higher altitude. The fauna is very sloping path that rises from the bottom upwards. numerous, and some specimens still live in the wild, Among the different "rooms", there are the such as pigs that move in a group or limited herds nineteenth-century one, with a vintage greenhouse of Sanfratellani horses that roam along the valleys full of exotic plants, the Oriental Garden and the of the Park. The avifauna is also well represented, Contemporary Garden. thanks to the large natural bodies of water that quench the thirst of the large birds particularly For more information about Le Stanze in Fiore, visit: during the period of migration: among the most https://luoghi.italianbotanicalheritage.com/le-stanze-in- fiore-di-canalicchio important exemplary, with a little luck, it is possible to admire the golden eagle and the large griffins. Parco Paternò del Toscano For more information about Nebrodi Park, visit: A few steps from Etna, on ponds and lava outcrops, https://www.visitsicily.travel/en/nature/regional- the Paternò del Toscano Park extends for about 3 parks/the-park-of-nebrodi/ hectares, a special terraced rock garden designed by the landscape architect Ettore Paternò. The Laghetti di Marinello manor house was built in the 1950s, at the highest At the foot of the promontory is the point of the property. The park consists of citrus characteristic lagoon of the " Laghetti di Marinello " groves and vineyards, characteristic of the Sicilian which together with the lakes of Ganzirri landscape, and from the garden itself, composed of constitutes the last examples of brackish coastal Mediterranean and exotic plants from all over the environment present in north-eastern Sicily. It is world. In the park, palms prevail, the great passion believed that the formation of the lagoon area of Paternò, for a total of 42 different species, dates back to about 100 years ago, between 1865 including various plants from around the world. and 1895, due to particular tectonic processes and also to the singular meteo-marine conditions For more information about the Park, visit: https://luoghi.italianbotanicalheritage.com/parco- present along this strip of coast. The lagoon area is paterno-del-toscano/ located within the "Laghetti di Marinello Oriented Natural Reserve" established in 1998 and managed by the Regional . nside the

Etna Villa Bellini Europe’s largest active volcano, Mount Etna The Giardino Bellini (also known as Villa Bellini) is dominates the whole of Eastern/central Sicily, and the oldest urban park of Catania. Before the most recently erupted in 2001 and 2002. we construction of a public garden, the area was explore the lava fields of Mount Etna with wild occupied by a botanical maze owned by the Ignazio plants, new and very ancient trees, such as “Il Paternò Castello, prince of Biscari. In 1854, the Castagno dei cento cavalli” (Hundred-Horse di Catania bought the area of the maze, Chestnut), the largest and oldest in the world, and in 1864 started to adapt the area into a public believed by scientists to be between 2,000 and garden. Starting from 1875, the municipality 4,000 years old and situated just over 7 Km from acquired several further areas surrounding the the volcanos crater. maze, and two years later the work to unify these areas was undertaken. For more information about Mount Etna, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Etna For more information about Villa Bellini, visit: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giardino_Bellini Giardino del Biviere Il Giardino del Biviere occupies a vast depression Giardino di Casa Pennisi between the and the northern The garden of Villa Pennisi is one of the few ancient slopes of the Iblei mountains, west of the Ionian gardens that have resisted the assaults of building sea, in the province of Syracuse. According to speculation: in fact it has managed to keep it intact legend, what today is called the garden of myth, in its structure and in its original dimensions. The was nothing more than a famous lake, the lake of task of designing the garden was entrusted to Hercules, which upon its arrival in these places, Mariano Falcini, creator of the whole body of Villa returning from Greece, found the Goddess Demeter Pennisi, who wanted to impress a classic plant, with who was looking for water for his crops. Hercules paths bordered by high hedges of box and large threw down the skin of the defeated Nemean lion flower beds, but also wanted to insert the plants of and the water gushed out forming a huge lake of origin tropical that you can still admire; without 1200 hectares that he took the name: lacus neglecting, however, typically Mediterranean erculeus. The State Archive of Palermo preserves essences, which create a particularly attractive and the original document of the edict of King Martino full of charm. which, in 1392, granted as a fiefdom 'Il Biviere di ' to an ancestor on his father's side of For more information about Casa Pennisi, visit: Giangiacomo Borghese, Don Scipione Borghese. The http://www.villapennisi.com/en/

Borghese family, of Sienese and later Roman origins, counts among its descendants several Reading suggestions cardinals and a Pope, Paul V, whose name is written Leonardo Sciascia, Open Doors, The Wine Dark Sea, in large in the tympanum of the Basilica of St. Peter. The Day of the Owl, Sicilian Uncles … In 1968, the villa in the Case Biviere district of Through his excellent stories and essays, Sicilian Lentini became the home of Maria Carla Borghese. author Leonardo Sciascia provides a fascinating The Princess moved with her husband and four insight into modern Sicilian history, family ties, children from Rome to Palermo and from there, in political parties, alliances and allegiances. her properties of Lentini with the aim of realizing a farm for the cultivation of citrus and durum wheat. What was once a desolate place, surrounded only Tour manager by stones and dust, has become today thanks to Your tour manager will be on hand throughout the love, the passion for plants and the personality of tour to ensure that everything operated according the owner, a unique and particular Mediterranean to plan. If you have any problems or questions garden, today belonging to the circuit of Grandi please see him or her immediately – it is often Giardini Italiani. possible to resolve complaints or problems very quickly on the spot, and do everything to help you For more information about Giardino del Biviere, visit: enjoy your holiday. https://www.naturalmentesicilia.it/blog-giardini- storici/29-il-giardino-del-biviere.html

Drinking water – Tap water is safe to drink. (Although you’ll find plenty of bottled water for sale The Basics too)

Shops – Department stores and supermarkets are Climate – The weather in Sicily at this time of year open Mon-Sat 0830-1930. Most small shops close should be warm and pleasant, with temperatures between 1230 and 1600. Please note than most higher than in the UK. But there is always the shops close on Sundays. chance of the odd shower, so our best advice is to Although very common in tourist towns in Italy, come prepared. please note that street vendors selling all kinds of

designer knockoffs are illegal and could land you Time – GMT +2 hours (Summer time Apr-Oct); with a hefty fine. Care should also be taken when GMT + 1 (Standard time Nov-Mar) buying antiques since Italy is renowned for skilled Language – Italian imitators. Religion – predominantly Roman Catholic

Clothes & Shoes –You may like to bring a warm National holidays – New Year’s Day (01 Jan); sweater for cool evenings. Light rain wear for the Epiphany (06 Jan); Easter Monday; Liberation Day occasional storm and good grip/flat walking shoes (25 Apr); Labour Day (01 May); Republic Day (02 are recommended. Jun); Assumption of Mary (15 Aug); All Saints’ Day

(01 Nov); Immaculate Conception (08 Dec); Camera – Bring plenty of memory cards/film and Christmas Day (25 Dec); St Stephens Day (26 Dec). any spare camera batteries as these are not always

available. Please check with your guide before Currency – Euro. €1 = 100 cents. Notes are in photographing people. denominations of €500, 200, 100, 50, 20, 10 and 5.

Coins are in denominations of €2 and 1, and 50, 20, Bath plugs – The hotel has plugs for basins, but it is 10, 5, 2 and 1 cents. useful to carry a ‘universal’ one with you.

Banks – Cashpoints compatible with international Telephones/mobiles – You should be able to use banking networks are located in all towns and cities, your mobile phone in Italy, depending on your as well as airports, major train stations and other operator and contract. spots. They usually offer an attractive exchange rate. Those banks that still exchange foreign Tipping –To keep our tours affordable, we do not currencies into local money will always charge a increase the tour price by adding in tips. However, transaction fee, so withdrawing money from an in the tourism industry, there is a certain level of ATM usually represents the most logical means of expectation that when receiving a good service, one obtaining euros. does award with a tip. Tour Managers,

Representatives, Guides and Drivers appreciate a Credit cards – American Express, Diners Club, tip at the end of their involvement with the tour, MasterCard and Visa are widely accepted across the but this is entirely at your discretion. We believe in country. If you’re eating at a restaurant, check prior allowing you to tip according to your level of to the meal that your card will be an acceptable satisfaction with their services, but for your form of payment. Even in cities, it’s advisable to guidance about £2-3 per person per day for the tour carry a supply of cash with you at all times. Varying manager is the norm. We would like to reiterate amounts of commission can be charged. that tipping is an entirely optional payment and this

information is given purely to answer any questions Electricity – 220 volt, two-pin continental plug. you may have about it.

Health

Doctor/Dentist/Chemist Insurance Please talk to your tour manager if you are feeling To be covered under your Travel Insurance Policy, unwell and they will organise for you to see a if you become ill, it is essential that you contact a doctor. local doctor and also telephone the emergency Keep receipts for insurance claims. number of your insurance company. You will NOT be covered for any claim unless this procedure is carried out. Your insurance company will then decide on the best course of medical attention. Hospital Your tour manager/hotel reception will arrange hospital transport. European Health Insurance Card (EHIC) Keep receipts for insurance claims. The EHIC replaced the old E111 in 2006. Valid in all EEA countries, the card lets you get state healthcare at a reduced cost or sometimes for General Health Advice free. It will cover you for treatment that is needed We suggest you take a good supply of your own to allow you to continue your stay until your individual medicines with you and always keep planned return. It also covers the treatment of some in your hand luggage in case you get delayed pre-existing medical conditions. or your luggage goes astray. General-purpose supplies for bites, stings, or scratches, and your Please note that the EHIC is not an alternative to usual medication for headaches, or stomach travel insurance. It will not cover any private upsets are always recommended. Oral re- medical healthcare or costs such as being flown hydration sachets are excellent for topping up salt back to the UK, or lost or stolen property. and glucose levels. Therefore, it is important to have both an EHIC and a valid private travel insurance policy. It is also Visit the NHS Fit For Travel website for more important to note that each country’s healthcare generally information specific to the country you system is slightly different, so the EHIC might not are visiting – www.fitfortravel.nhs.uk cover everything that would be generally free on the NHS.

Sun Protection We strongly recommend that you take out an Always ensure you take sufficient sun protection appropriate travel insurance policy when you and moisturiser. A sun hat and sunglasses are also travel abroad. advisable. For more information about the EHIC please visit: https://www.ehic.org.uk Mosquitos Like most Mediterranean islands, you might get a few mosquitos about in the evenings so it is worth taking some repellent.

Inoculations You should check with your own doctor and take their advice as to which inoculations are required for the country you are visiting, as only they know your medical history and recommendations are liable to change at short notice.

Emergencies Should an emergency arise, please call our offices on: 00 44 20 7251 0045 Outside office hours (Mon-Fri 0900-1700), telephone our emergency staff on: 00 44 7899 796542 or 00 44 7831 133079 PLEASE USE THESE NUMBERS ONLY IN THE EVENT OF A GENUINE EMERGENCY.

If you find that you are in need of consular assistance during your holiday:

British Consulate Rome Via XX Settembre 80/a 00187 Rome Italy Email: [email protected] Tel: +39 06 4220 2431 Fax: +39 06 4220 2334

Open Mon-Fri 0900-1700. Outside these hours, emergency consular assistance is available on +44 (0) 207 008 1500.

Travel Editions 3 Young’s Buildings, London EC1V 9DB Tel: 0207 2510045 Email: [email protected] www.traveleditions.co.uk

PLEASE NOTE: THIS INFORMATION IS CORRECT AT THE TIME OF PRINTING. IT IS MEANT AS A GUIDE ONLY AND WE CANNOT ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR ERRORS OR SUBSEQUENT CHANGES.