Segesta, Wine and Monreale Tour from Palermo

Experience colors and flavors of the Western coast of Sicily, a region renowned for producing wines. Travel through the ancient and majestic Doric Temple, visiting the country side off the beaten track of Sicily to visit a local winery and tastings delicious wines and ending the tour visiting the Dome in Monreale with its 6340 square meters gold mosaics representing the scenes of the new and old testaments.

Archaeology, Wine and History are the focus of today!

HIGHLIGHTS:
–   Visit the Doric Temple of Segesta
–   Taste wine in Camporeale, a small village off the beaten track
–   Admire the unusual landscape off the beaten track
–   Visit a majestic Dome in Monreale

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

Approximately Travel Time and Unit: Full Day  –  95 Miles (170 Kilometers)
Private Vehicle and English Speaking Driver Disposal: full day from h 9AM
Segesta, English Speaking Local Guide NOT included
Important: Camporeale Winery is closed on Saturday and Sunday, Bank Holidays and Summer Week (middle of August) 

Today you will experience colors and flavors of the Western coast of Sicily, a region renowned for producing wines and extra-virgin olive oil.

We travel to Segesta, one of the major cities of the Elymian people, one of the three indigenous peoples of Sicily. Segesta’s ancient Greek temple can make a valid claim to being the best preserved in the world, and its amphitheatre boasts a hilltop position on Mount Barbaro second to none. The archaeological site reflects the presence of several ancient civilizations, beginning with the elusive Elymians. While the magnificent Doric temple, though (strictly speaking) never completed – as the roof was never added and the pillars never fluted – is impressive, it is just the highlight of a large archaeological park. Today you will visit the Temple (Admission fee: not included).

Then along the country side off the beaten track to join the small village of Camporeale to visit a local winery. Upon arrival visit the winery and tast local wines.

During the afternoon we then continue onto Monreale to visit the Dome, erected by King William II (1167/71-1189) in a royal park on the site of an earlier Greek church. Work on the structure and its decoration was largely completed by the death of the king in 1189. The church was consecrated to the Assumption of the Virgin.

The interior is impressive in its spaciousness and rich decor. Not only are there mosaics throughout, but also large antique columns with decorative capitals, marble paneling on the lower wall surfaces, and an ornamental floor in the sanctuary. The mosaics cover the upper portions of the walls of the sanctuary and the nave, in all a surface area of roughly 7.600 sq m. The Monreale Cathedral thus presents the most extensive mosaic decor in Italy, surpassing even Venice’s San Marco.

The focus of the multifigured program is the main apse calotte with its half-figure of Christ Pantocrator, which far surpasses all the other figures in style. The main motif in the lower part of the apse is an enthroned Madonna and Child between archangels and apostles. The apse calottes hold large enthroned images of the apostles Peter and Paul, and the walls present scenes from their lives.

An extensive cycle on the life of Christ unfolds in three registers across the walls of the crossing and the transepts. The mosaic decoration continues in the nave where forty-two scenes from the Genesis are depicted in two registers. In the side aisles the mosaics depict Christ’s miracles.

Then we return to Palermo.

This tour is operated with English speaking Driver.

TOUR DETAILS & BOOKING INFORMATION

WINERY:
Winery could be closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Italian holidays.

PLEASE NOTE:
Order of the stops may change.
This tour runs rain or shine.

TOUR CODE: SEGWINEMON