THE ISLAND OF WONDERS
Sicily holds three thousand years of cooking: Greek, Arab, Norman and Spanish, all still on the plate. This ten-day culinary tour eats through that history, with markets, wine and hands-on cooking from Palermo to Catania.
A CULINARY TOUR OF SICILY
The markets of Palermo and Catania filled with citrus, olives and Mediterranean seafood. During the hands-on cooking classes, you'll turn what we find there into Sicilian classics like pasta busiata. With local experts and winemakers, we visit vineyards, seaside villages and the baroque towns of Noto and Taormina, learning Sicily's layered history through its food.
upcoming DATES
May 6th–16th, 2027
Dates coming soon for 2028
PRICE
From $7,899 USD
gROUP
Our maximum is 12 people per tour
The experience at a glance
EAT
Street food in Palermo's markets, granita with brioche for breakfast, seafood straight off the boats and long dinners at family-run trattoria. From market stalls to notable restaurants, every meal on this Sicily food tour is chosen.
cook
Hands-on cooking classes built on Sicily's pantry: heirloom wheat, citrus, almonds, tomatoes and olive oil. You make the recipes yourself, guided by local cooks, then sit down together to eat what you made.
explore
Beyond the kitchen, we drive out to the island: vineyard visits with the winemakers, the baroque towns of Ortigia and Noto, seaside villages and markets that have been there for centuries.
The intricate marizpan
Explore the Mercato di Capo
The variety of fresh produce
Walking tour of downtown Palermo
Taste pastries from cannoli to cassatine
Sarde a Beccafico
Sicilian cooking carries every civilization that crossed the island. Eating is how this tour reads that history.
To kick off the food tour, the welcome dinner is at a family-run restaurant in Palermo cooking in an authentic way following what’s in season and the Sicilian traditions
We will enjoy a Mediterranean seafood feast during at stay by the southern coast, trying different fish and preparations from gamberi rossi with olive oil to fish baked in a crust of salt.
In Catania, we eat at different restaurants from a casual night out with cured meats, local cheese like the Ragusano and Caciocavallo to Sicilian pistachio mortadella, black pork from the Nebrodi region, or Ragusan donkey meat, if you’re feeling adventurous.
FROM PALERMO'S STREET FOOD TO CATANIA'S FISH MARKET
Food Highlights
In the kitchen
Cooking is the spine of this tour. We go truffle hunting with an expert, taste ricotta still warm from a cheesemaker in Santa Margherita Belice and sit down for a guided olive oil tasting.
In Palermo, a cooking class with Duchess Nicoletta Lanza in her palazzo. In Menfi, you'll make Timballo, the baked pasta dish of Sicilian Sunday tables, then eat it al fresco with three more courses among the vines of a wine estate.
At a cooking school led by our friend Chef Mario Traina, young Sicilian chefs guide a full hands-on class. Along the way: caponata, busiate of ancient grains, Sicilian wines, sheep's milk cheeses and Zabbina eaten the day it's made.
Hands-On Culinary Experiences
Baby octopus in ragú
Granita the Sicilian breakfast
Eating the classic pasta busiata
Wine tasting at De Bartoli
Fresh fish grilled a-la-minute
Try local bread baked from ancient grains
Beyond the kitchen
Historic Sites, Countryside & Coastal Beauty
We start with a guided visit to the Duomo of Monreale, where Norman, Arab and Byzantine hands built one cathedral.
In Agrigento, the Valley of the Temples: Greek ruins standing over the coast since the fifth century BC.
In Noto, enjoy granita at Caffè Sicilia, the pastry shop that made the town famous. On the east coast, a four-course lunch, then a guided walk through Ortigia, the old island heart of Siracusa: the Tempio di Apollo, Piazza Archimede and the freshwater spring of Fonte Aretusa.
In Catania we lodge in a hotel near the fish market, start the morning strolling the streets of Taormina and finish with lunch at a trattoria al fresco.
Cook in a palazzo with the dutchess
Guided tour of the Valley of the Temples
A trattoria lunch in Taormina
Discover the story of Marsala Wine
Walking tour of Ortigia
Olive oil tasting in the countryside
Your host
Chef Kaelin Ulrich Trilling
Kaelin was raised at Seasons of My Heart, his mother's kitchen and his first classroom. He left Oaxaca at eighteen to cook professionally: sous chef under James Beard winner Hugo Ortega in Houston, at Eleven Madison Park and Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Later he was named chef de cuisine at Thomas Keller's La Calenda in Napa Valley. In 2021 he came home to lead the school, carrying 30 years of his family's legacy into what's next.
Every Seasons of My Heart tour runs with the people who have roots there. In Sicily, our local guides open doors we couldn't open alone.
LOCAL GUIDE
Gabriella Becchina
Art Historian and
Sicily expert
LOCAL GUIDE
Mario Prestifilippo
Mycologist, mushroom and truffle expert
Why travel with us?
This tour is curated and unique.
Thirty years of running culinary tours taught us that the itinerary is the people. In Sicily that means eating and cooking with locals.
Small groups, big enjoyment.
Our maximum is usually 12 to 14 people per tour. That means you'll travel the local way, all guided by Chef Kaelin Ulrich Trilling.
Our legacy
Chef and author Susana Trilling founded Seasons of My Heart in Oaxaca in 1994. Her life's work was simple: learn a place through its cooks, then share it. Every tour we run still works that way.
From $7,899 USD
Per person, double occupancy. Single supplement available.
WHAT IS INCLUDED
9 nights of hotel accommodation
Transportation to every tour activity
All excursions, classes and guided visits
Most meals and drinks, with some free time to explore on your own
WHAT IS not INCLUDED
Airfare
Transportation to and from airport
Gratuities
Ready to sign up?
Let us curate a custom trip for you. We share our secret gems and create a trip that is special to you and fits your needs. Our aim is to provide a memorable experience through the soul and experience of Seasons of My Heart.
CAN’T TRAVEL ON THESE DATES?
Newsletters about Sicily
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Meet the makers of Sicily’s finest olive oil
January 6, 2026
Christian Centamore and Family make a phenomenal olive oil, an in-depth read about howthey make it. -
A heartfelt moment with my Sicilian family
May 27, 2025
In November 2022, just two months after my dad passed away my mom was about to go to her Sicily tour and convinced me to join. I said yes…. -
Earth’s finest: Truffle hunting in Italy
June 17, 2025
I was always told how special truffles are. Working in kitchens as a cook seeing only the Chef touch the truffles, only the chef had the key…
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A Sicilian classic reimagined: Cassata
July 27, 2025
Chef Ignazio’s cassata is a refined homage to Sicily’s most iconic dessert. At Da Vittorio, the costal hotel and restaurant in Menfi.
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