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This small fishing village, now a resort thanks to its good sandy beaches, lies on a strip of land between the sea and a huge promontory looming above. Cefalù was founded in the 4th century BC, but destroyed by the Norman Count Roger in 1063. It only regained prominence thanks to his son Roger II, who endowed the village with a bishopric and a church decorated with exceptional Byzantine mosaics. The modern holiday resorts lie to either side of the town because the village itself has closed its doors to the sea, fortified itself against storms with tall protective stone walls, and focuses its attentions inwards (see p101).

According to ancient historians Naxos was founded in 734 BC after a ship was blown off course as it sailed to southern Italy, and it became the first Greek settlement in Sicily. Naxos never became a powerhouse but was mother city to successive colonies and the setting off point for messengers carrying news back to Greece. The ruins, defensive walls and parts of a temple are enclosed within a nicely kept park. A small museum houses finds from the Greek site, as well as finds recovered from shipwrecks.

The Madonie range, featuring Sicily’s highest peaks after Mount Etna, extends from Cefalù inland and is protected by the Parco Naturale Regionale delle Madonie. The park encompasses spectacular countryside, forests of beech, chestnuts, cork oaks, poplars and fir, and tiny villages that time seems to have forgotten. The remote villages that once provided refuge to bandits on the run are now good starting points for mountain hikes, horseback riding, cycling and skiing (see Outdoor Activities).

Founded by colonists from Messenia, Greece, the city grew up around the harbour, which has always been its focus. In 1908 Messina was levelled by a disastrous earthquake and tidal wave, although parts of the older city survive. Monuments are concentrated around the magnificent harbour, including the Norman Duomo with original portals and sculpture, a 15th-century fountain in the Piazza Duomo and a clock tower whose mechanized figures come to life at noon, the Santissima Annunziata dei Catalani with its Norman features, the 1572 monument to Don Giovanni of Austria, and the Museo Regionale, with important works by Antonello da Messina (see Antonello da Messina) and Caravaggio.

Sicily’s first true holiday resort has been drawing visitors for centuries, all of whom fall in love with its sparkling, colourful beauty (see Taormina).