We visited Gambino Vini while in Sicily as a stop on cruise into Messina. We had heard from friends…read morethat this was the best place to visit in Taormina. Before we arrived in Italy, we visited the website and didn't see anywhere to make reservations. We took a chance and arrived early and they were so kind to accommodate us despite being otherwise fully booked with tours. The entire experience was delightful. The food and wine were delicious and the service was educational, warm, and welcoming. Plus, best views in the area on the slopes of Mount Etna. We ended up joining the wine club and look forward to enjoying their delicious wines and spices at home. Highly recommend.

We visited the Gambino Winery on a Sunday afternoon. It has become a really popular winery these…read moredays. It had gorgeous views and we had a very informative tour. The tour guide did talk way too long. We loved our wine tasting with Nino. We are giving this winery 5 stars because of him. He took excellent care of our group. We booked the wine tastings and lucked out when they paired him with our group. He was so accommodating and was very entertaining too.

Incredible experience, top to bottom. If you can get out here, do it. This was the perfect day trip…read morefor our honeymoon. From the tour of the winery to the historic wine shop they have at base camp, we learned, heard about the site, and drank good wine. To top it off, we had a great lunch! Thank you to the welcoming staff - we cannot wait to tell everyone we know!

Miriam received us very nicely even though we didn't make a booking. Perfect hospitality, amazing…read moreservice, I recommend coming and making a booking.

Our hotel booked us for an intimate visit here. They have 3 acres and produce limited amount of…read morewine. The tasting was 40 euros and tried 3 wines, white, rose and red, all very good. It came with plate of cheeses, meat, olives and tomato salad. The wine making room is unique and has an antique press and the grandmother Amalia Tomaselli paintings on the wall.

When you want to visit a vineyard in Italy this is exactly the way you envision it: picturesque,…read morefamily run, and welcoming. That is the Fischetti vineyards. Even on a grey dreary day on the side of Mount Etna, Michela could not have been more agreeable, showing me around and explaining in easy terms what makes a good wine. The tour finishes at a old stone pressing house where you are offered a generous tasting of some of their award winning wine.

SUPER CUTE PLACE!! We needed a place to crash while the…read moreNavy lodge was doing some maint work and found this little spot not far from the base. I was immediately attracted to the "French chateau" feel of the place!! When you come in you need to be let in at the front gate; a bright green motorized entry, there is green leafy foliage ALL OVER THE PLACE; I mean literally!! When you drive up on the main building there is an Ever After (movie reference) feel! You expect to see servants coming in from the back gardens with fresh veg, eggs and milk for today's meals. We kind of got lost finding the front door, as there are no signs or anything pointing us along the way but our gracious host (Daniele)was available via WhatsApp to guide us in. (Note: that they are ALWAYS available via WhatsApp whenever they are needed!!) Check in is very easy and depending on the type of booking you have you can either pay up front (at booking)or upon arrival. We are told this used to be a winery back in the day and it Does have that vibe!! We are guided to a small cottage outside of the main building and guys!!! This little place is SO CUTE!!! You use an ACTUAL KEY, the doors are So old fashioned!! It's a little split level w the main floor being the living area and bathroom, and the upper level loft bedroom. It's super comfy and you get the sense of being back in the day and simpler life living. You see that the buildings have been updated on the inside but that they tried to preserve the original outer elevations. There are rugged roads (you can just "SEE" horse drawn wagons meandering around the property carrying out day to day chores). We are surrounded by citrus orchards, there IS a very modern pool outside but I get the sense that this too was an original feature that has been updated. It's just a BEAUTIFUL property!! There is Such a sense of History about the place!! I'm sitting out by the pool and there is a great view in the distance. According to Google maps I'm looking at Misterbianco, Catania. There are low mountains also within view; it's just spectacular. The room we are in is very comfy, the bed is a simple low pitch, no box spring but i slept Great!! The entire building is surrounded by beautiful fuchsia oleander, lemon trees, palms, and English ivy. There is a modern shower (although there was next to NO water pressure ) you can tell the plumbing has been updated (thank you!). Keep in mind tho! This is a place where, if you need to work or if you don't speak Italian you May not be able to access the WiFi as the building is outside the main building. Sooooo but it is PERFECT if you just need an unwind sesh! There is one TV up in the loft (Italian channels only!), no microwave or mini fridge (there IS a wine cooler). The property has a little restaurant and I get the feeling they are using Fresh, organic and local ingredients. I was able to enjoy the included breakfast on the second day, which offers a buffet style selection of cold hams, salami, hard boiled eggs, cheese and fresh fruit. As well as a large selection of pastries and sweet breads. It's your standard Italian breakfast. They also bring you a basket of fresh bread to eat with your deli meats. These meats and cheeses are top notch too! Not your grocery store deli meats; you can see they are of much higher quality. We saw the dinner menu as well but weren't able to partake, but the courses looked fabulous, and again, of higher quality offering local fresh ingredients. For example: Sicilian pork loin rolls in a bed of mint-flavoured courgette cream with a side of potatoes WUT???? How YUMMY does that sound??? I was able to try their tiramisu and GUYS!!! This was one of the BEST tiramisus I've had!! And it was beautiful. Tenuta del Gelso is a beautiful property to come to for a respite and to get away from the fast pace of life. It's extremely relaxing just to BE here; to Slow down. Their host is absolutely gracious and accommodating, you are WELL taken care of! My only suggestions for the little cottage: fix the water pressure in that Beautiful shower, increase the WiFi signal or put another router in there, and add a mini fridge and microwave. THIS would make it PERFECT I would love to further explore more of this place and try the main building accommodations. I bet it's as gorgeous as our little cottage was!! Thanks so much!!

Spent a beautiful afternoon at this lovely inn and winery. A light farm fresh lunch with wine…read moretasting. A wonderful look into the world of the wine grape. The atmosphere was absolutely charming and rustic. The wine needless to say was amazing. ( I bought a case). The staff was very pleasant and accommodating. No language barrier here. What a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.

This was an absolute treasure of a find. On our last days in Sicily, we were on a mission to try…read morelocal wines and find great stuff to bring home. I went on Google maps to find possibilities and this one popped up which was more or less on our way from one of our night stops to the next. Getting there was tricky but on the phone I was given great advice, since it's a little tricky to get there following the location on Google. It involved a big, zigzagging uphill drive and a stretch through an area where we wondered if we were in the wrong place! BUT - we are SO HAPPY we came here! We learned that Gelsomina had just opened up its newly revamped visitors center this year, and the initial setup they had for us was truly beautiful with numerous spreads, snacks, and wines all placed artfully on a tabletop above repurposed wine barrels. We had an incredible tasting session which began with one long pour into a glass which we were invited to insert into a little "wine necklace" to hold as we stepped away from the tasting area and walked throughout the vineyard grounds. We were BLOWN AWAY by their stunning terraced gardens, lake, and unbelievable view of the sea. We were also blown away by the other wines, almost all of which we took a bottle home. The prices are super reasonable, the wines were delicious, and their sparkling is delicious. I plan to recommend this to anyone heading to Sicily in search of great wine and wonderful visitor experiences!

This place is off the beaten path and a little hard to find but trust Google and let it guide you…read morethere. Once you get there you will be seated in a 100 year old wine pressing room. That alone is a great experience. We ordered our first plate, the Sicilian typical starter and wow, it did not disappoint. 10 small dishes each one better than the last. Our next plate was the steak for two. Mind you we are from Kansas City (USA) and we know about steak and the taste and quality and this was by far the best steak we have had as of yet! This steak was surrounded by smoked vegetables that were delicious! Tiramisu for our dessert was fresh and amazing as well. Both house red and house white were also wonderful. Our dinner was wonderful but the best part of the evening was the chef who served us our entree and spent a lot of time with us Americans. She was what made our evening and experience. 10 months later we came back. Still just as good as the first time.

Excellent food , enjoyable atmosphere and service that is hard to compare. Our waiter offered us…read moresome local specialities to try, made sure we tried local specialities and did not stop to bring us some fresh bread and olive oil.

We were on the Etna People tour and stopped at Cantine Don Saro, a lovely little winery where had a…read morelovely lunch package included in our trip. We were seated and soon greeted by The Don who talked about his wine, food and enjoying life. The table had several wines during lunch a white, a red and a rose but I didn't have any but most people seemed to enjoy them all. The food was good and certainly appreciated by everyone at the table, some of the ladies on our table received some free gifts of jewelry as a thank you for visiting the winery. They also have a number of great wines for sale in their store so I would suggest you pick up a bottle or two if you can.

Loved our visit to Don Sara's winery - we walked away with 9 bottles! Very affordable bottles to…read moretake away. The hostess who taught us about the wine was very sweet, and included in the tasting was cheese, bread, olives and salami -- perfect accompaniments to the wine. The sparkling wine was exceptional. Worth the drive!

Prior to my trip to Sicily, I did a google search for wineries and vineyards to visit. I found a…read morelot, so I didn't bother to research them all, I just saved them in Google Maps. As we were driving down from Mt. Etna past the wonderfully-named town of Misterbianco (it refers to a white monastery, nothing more!), I saw that this place was nearby. Google reviews suggested it was a small operation but photos confirmed they did have wine! So we gave it a try. After taking a few back roads to reach the location, we weren't sure if we came to ... nothing. But we saw a sign at their entry gate with opening/visiting hours (after 4pm), and a spray painted sign that said "VINO" with an arrow pointing left. OK! On the right track. When we got there we saw it was a small but very lovely family-run operation making really nice red and white table wines. It was clearly a family operation, as a nonna (grandmother) was cutting lima beans when we arrived, and their next door neighbor even dropped in to see who the strangers were! We got to try very very tasty red, white, and rosé wine straight out of their tanks; the prices were SO low we grabbed a couple bottles, some for now and some for later. They also had some very delicious-looking fruits and vegetables. They grow everything on their own property and hopefully they get more and more visitors!!

It was great Claudia at Etna People was able to accommodate my last minute request to take a trip…read moreto Mt Etna, they sent two SMS messages with details about my guide Emanuele and that he would pick me up from the entrance of Isola Bella at 9:05am. It was great they were just 1 minute late as they were stuck behind a truck unloading for one of the nearby cafes. Once aboard Emanuele introduced me to everyone and made sure we were all ready for an amazing day out exploring Mt Etna. This wasn't the cheapest tour option but it was all inclusive so you can't really go wrong as all the additional costs add up quickly on other tours. Our guide was really great on the way to Mt Etna as he made everyone feel part of the group and had some fun true/false questions about Volcanoes and the history of Mt Etna. He was also talking about the age of the different lava flows and how you can tell the age of a lava flow by the colour of the rock and if there is vegetation growing there. The shots below were from a lava flow about 200+ years ago apparently after 200 years it's very hard to easily notice the difference in age. After a fun drive upto the chair lifts at the base of Mt Etna we arrived and Emanuele got out the provided hiking equipment. I would listen to the guides advice and take the hiking shoes they offer as your own shoes will get rather dusty and certainly take a jacket and gloves for sure if you are here in early spring (April-May) as it does get very cold on top of Mt Etna. It's best not to wear shorts if you are travelling in Spring as two people did on our tour. It was really great being part of an organise tour as Emanuele was able to organise all the tickets for the chair lift ride and we were able to skip the massive line as we already had our tickets and were in an organised group. It was the first benefit of getting an all inclusive tour that we didn't waste anytime waiting in line. Once we arrived at the top of the chair lifts 2000m up Mt Etna we walked down a bit to some massive 4WD buses to take us up to the 2900m point to the base of the main crater. Passing a lot of people in the chair lift and in the 4x4 bus I was glad I opted for the transport option as a number of people we passed were really struggling to climb in mountain ash and loose rocks as you can see from the chairlift view below. We had a good amount of time at the top of Mt Etna and our guide stopped every 40-50 minutes as we walked around the crater to explain a bit more about what we were seeing and about the geography of the craters and geology of the area. This gave us plenty of time to take some amazing photos and the only thing that was missing was a great photo of the tour group while on the mountain. I'd make sure you pick a day that doesn't have too much cloud cover as you won't be able to enjoy as much of the mountain. After the exploration of the crater finished we headed back down via 4x4 buses to the chairlift and stopped at a lava tube, again all the equipment was provided including hard hats and led lamps to explore the tube. One of the ladies was claustrophobic so she stayed outside while we explored inside the lava tube. The tube was small but that was because the other 1.5 kilometers was closed off to tourists, but our guide was able to tell us the history of how the tube was created and how the locals used the tubes to create ice in winter. For lunch we stopped at Cantine Don Saro, a lovely little winery where had a lovely lunch package included in our trip. We were seated and soon greeted by The Don who talked about his wine, food and enjoying life. The table had several wines during lunch a white, a red and a rose but I didn't have any but most people seemed to enjoy them all. Entree was a plate of local salami, soft cheese, potato bake, garlic bread and Parmesan cheese. The food was good and certainly appreciated by everyone at the table, some of the ladies on our table received some free gifts of jewelry as a thank you for visiting the winery. They also have a number of great wines for sale in their store so I would suggest you pick up a bottle or two if you can. Our last stop was Alcantara Gorge which was an amazing lava flow that has been reclaimed by the river for form an awesome natural attraction, it's a paid attraction but yet again it was paid of the all-inclusive tour. The water was quite cold but it was so refreshing to walk through and some people on our tours were even brave enough to let their friends push them into the stream, but this was not me this day. Our guide talked a bit more about the rock formations that we were seeing and how they were created and how they were similar to the Giant's Causeway in Ireland. Probably one of the more expensive tours I've been on but certainly one of the best I have been on, can't recommend it enough, you must do a tour with Etna People for sure! They also have several other tours such as an all-day hiking trip, maybe next time

Best volcano tour ever! I've taken tours to see volcanos in Hawaii before but Mt Etna still blew me…read moreaway. The views were magnificent and was glad to spend the day with an amazing guide and great people. Ezio was our guide for the Etna Day Trip in November and was super knowledgable. We took all the backtrails and avoided the tourist crowd (so glad!,) and had the most amazing views of Etna and the Gorge Alcantara. Itinerary: Hiking to Etna craters, Lava cave exploration, Lunch & wine tasting at an Etna winery, Gorge Alcantara. They provided helmets, flashlights for the lava cave part of the tour, and hiking shoes for people who don't have proper footwear. All you need is atheletic-ish clothing and a warm jacket. Highlight of my Italy trip. Highly recommended.