Sicily and Sardinia 2025 is simply an unmissable itinerary.

In this tour, we’ll visit the best of both old and new gardens, from the ancient muscularity of Villa San Giuliano in Sicily to the newest experimental work of Sardinian designers Marco Scano and Maurizio Usai.  We’ll explore the delights of natural plant communities on Mt Etna and the wildflowers of its agricultural surrounds, along with those of the wild limestone coast of Sardinia, and discover how this landscape continues to influence its garden design.

We’d love you to join us to be inspired, to learn, and to simply lap up la dolce vita of Sicily and Sardinia.

Please note, the final itinerary is subject to change.

DAY 1 | Friday 25th April

The tour will start with pre-dinner drinks and a celebratory meal in a local restaurant, at which Michael will set the scene for the tour to come.

Meals included: Celebratory meal and pre-dinner drinks

Accommodation: Hotel Atlantis Bay, Taormina

DAY 2 | Saturday 26th April

We start the morning in Taormina, our first ‘host city’, and an extraordinarily beautiful and historically important hilltop town overlooking Sicily’s east coast and Mt Etna. The town itself predates Greek settlement in Sicily, but its most notable ruin is a stupendously sited Greek/Roman theatre, still used for live performances, which we’ll visit with a local guide, along with Taormina’s many other significant sites.

Then we’re off to the private garden of Le Stanze in Fiori, where we’ll be hosted for lunch by the owner, artist Rossella Pezzino de Geronimo.  It’s an extraordinary and ever-expanding achievement, with a very current-day take on an old site, incorporating rediscovered Arab irrigation infrastructure.

Gardens: Taormina & Le Stanze in Fiori

Meals included: Lunch at Le Stanze in Fiori

Accommodation: Hotel Atlantis Bay, Taormina

DAY 3 | Sunday 27th April

We begin today by two sites of the amazing Piante Faro nursery. Along with a vast range of beautifully grown nursery lines, grown to be sent throughout Europe and the middle East, are vast quantities of established trees, some of them truly ancient.  They have a carob tree - potted! - that’s 1,500 years old! 

Then we’re off to the amazing resort of Donna Carmela for lunch, with it’s fabulous mediterranean and exotic planting,

We’ll then spend the afternoon in the very impressive site of the biennial Radicepura Garden Festival, featuring cloud-pruned olives well over 500 years of age.

Gardens: Donna Camela Resort, Piante Faro Nursery and the Radicepura Garden Festival

Meals included: Lunch at Donna Carmela

Accommodation: Hotel Atlantis Bay, Taormina

DAY 4 | Monday 28th April

Today we’re off to Mt Etna, to check out the wildflowers that clothe this remarkable landscape, in the company of specialist local guides.  We’ll take a walk on the lava flows from eruptions several years back, to examine the recolonisation process, and drive through post-agricultural settings that are passing through phases of vast bulb meadows.

Then we’re off to a well-earned lunch at the boldly contemporary Pietradolce winery, along with a tour of its cellars and remarkable art installations.

Gardens: Wildflowers of Mt Etna & Villa Giulia

Meals included: Lunch at Pietradolce winery

Accommodation: Algila Hotel, Ortigia

DAY 5 | Tuesday 29th April

Today starts with the wonderful garden at Le Case del Biviere - a garden created by Principessa Miki Borghese on the long-dry shores of an ancient lake, partly around an ancient port. 

We then head to the remarkable Villa San Giuliano, whose plantings perfectly match the muscularity of the old villa itself.  The garden is largely the creation of the previous Marquis, in collaboration with the English head gardener Rachel Lamb, who together mastered the art of strong, repetitive use of bold, exotic plants.

The afternoon will begin with a walking tour of Ortigia, a small island forming the historical centre of the city of Syracuse.  Syracuse was founded by the Greeks earlier than 700BC, and was for some time stood as the most powerful Greek city anywhere in the Mediterranean, so contains many important historical landmarks.

Gardens: Le Case del Biviere & Villa San Giuliano

Accommodation: Algila Hotel, Ortigia

DAY 6 | Wednesday 30th April

Today we check out of the hotel and head to Vivai Cuba - a nearby nursery exploring new avenues for water-wise gardening. Growing much of its stock from seed sourced from the drier parts of the world, it specialises in wildly exotic and interesting plants suitable for gardening in a changing climate.

Then we’ll head to the airport for our transfer to Cagliari, Sardinia.

Gardens: Vivai Cuba

Accommodation: Palazzo Tirso, Cagliari

DAY 7 | Thursday 1st May

We’re heading out of town today to visit the work of Sardinian garden designer Maurizio Usai, who was given the remarkable opportunity to design both the interiors and the garden of Hotel Sant’Efis near Pula, the owner of the hotel wanting to provide a garden-like experience inside and out.

But first we’ll get grounded in history, and drop in to some very significant pre-Roman and Roman ruins at the Archeologica di Nora.

Lunch will be at leisure in Calgiari, where we’ll enjoy an afternoon of free time.

Gardens: Hotel Sant’Efis

Accommodation: Palazzo Tirso, Cagliari

DAY 8 | Friday 2nd May

We head north this morning, towards Cabras, en route taking in more ancient ruins, and a visit to the Giara di Gesturi, a remarkable high plains site where miniature ponies run free amongst wild flowers.

Then on to lunch at the incredible creation of Lucia Schirru - Ros’e Mari Farm and Greenhouse in Oristano (the name reflecting the Lucia’s love of roses and the ocean). The restaurant and nursery border a remarkable garden built within the framework of a commercial greenhouse.

Garden: Ros’e Mari Farm and Greenhouse

Meals included: Lunch at Ros’e Mari Farm and Greenhouse

Accommodation: Aquae Sinis, Cabras

DAY 9 | Saturday 3rd May

In the morning, we’ll head out on the lovely Sinis Peninsula - the burial site of the Giants of Mont’e Prama (stone statues discovered in the 1970’s, and dating back 3000 years) - for further botanising, and a look at the planting by our hosts this afternoon.

Vivaio I Campi is the wonderful nursery and garden of Leo Minniti and Italo Vacca, with whom we’ll spend our afternoon.  Vivaio I Campi specialises in a range of Mediterranean plants that are otherwise very difficult to source in Sardinia, and these guys really know how to put them together!

Gardens: Sinis Peninsula & Vivaio I Campi

Accommodation: Aquae Sinis, Cabras

DAY 10 | Sunday 4th May

Today we’ll head off to Olbia via the charmingly colourful town of Bosa, and a magical drive along the stupendous north west coast.

After free time for lunch and shopping in Alghero, we’ll continue east to Olbia, passing through the beautiful oak-strewn, savannah-like landscape of north-central Sardinia

Gardens: Pozzo Santa Cristina

Meals: Three course dinner in Olbia

Accommodation: Grand Hotel President, Olbia

DAY 11 | Monday 5th May

Our garden visit today - the creation of designer Maurizio Usai, for his own pleasure - could not be more different from that of yesterday.  Maurizio eschews ‘dry’ gardening, and chose the location of his private garden to give him access to water, and to allow an entirely different garden garden ethos.

Then we’ll move on to the Olivastri Millenari, the site of some of the oldest living olive trees in the world, one having attained the grand old age of 4000 years! Then back to sparkling Olbia, for an afternoon of shopping, city exploration or a ride on its fabulous ferris wheel.

Gardens: The Garden of Maurizio Usai and Olivastri Millenari

Meals: Farewell dinner in Olbia

Accommodation: Grand Hotel President, Olbia

DAY 12 | Tuesday 6th May

Today starts with a visit to a remarkable resort garden by garden designer Marco Scano.  In addition to garrigue gardening at its best, with a desaturated palette of woody plants clipped as they might be on a wild cliff-face, Marco is experimenting with various forms of meadow-inspired matrix planting.

Palau, overlooking the magical La Maddalena Archipelago, will be our stop for lunch, before taking an afternoon cruise thoughout its many hidden and inaccessible bays, and discovering why this part of the world is known as the Emerald Coast.

Tonight we’ll share a farewell meal and look back our incredible time together.

Gardens: Private gardens of Marco Scano

Meals: Farewell dinner

Accommodation: Grand Hotel President, Olbia

DAY 13 | Wednesday 7th May

Heading home, or onwards! Check out of the hotel at your convenience.