Sicily and Sardinia 2026 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 | Saturday 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 | Sunday 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 | Monday 27th 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

Meals included: Lunch at Pietradolce winery

Accommodation: Hotel Atlantis Bay, Taormina

DAY 4 | Tuesday 28th April

Today we check out of our hotel and begin our journey with a visit to one of Sicily’s most influential private gardens - Parco Paterno del Toscano. under the visionary guidance of its creator, this garden set the stage for the exotic, botanically diverse style that now defines much of Sicily’s east coast, with a particular focus on palms and succulents.

Next we’ll enjoy a leisurely lunch at La Cucina di Donna Carmela, a restaurant celebrated not only for its exceptional Mediterranean cuisine but also for its lush, exotic plantings and remarkable coastal setting.

Donna Carmelo is owned by the Faro family, who also operate the vast Piante Faro nursery - our next stop. 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! 

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: Parco Paterno del Toscoano, Donna Camela Resort, Piante Faro Nursery and the Radicepura Garden Festival

Meals included: Lunch at Donna Carmela

Accommodation: Grand Hotel Ortigia

DAY 5 | Wednesday 29th April

Today starts with a walking tour of Ortigia, the charming island that forms the historic heart of Siracusa. Founded by the Greeks earlier than 700BC, Siracusa was for some the most powerful Greek city anywhere in the Mediterranean, so contains many important historical landmarks.

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.

Gardens: Villa San Giuliano

Accommodation: Grand Hotel Ortigia

DAY 6 | Thursday 30th April

Today we check out of the hotel and head to 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. 

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

Gardens: Le Case del Biviere

Accommodation: Palazzo Tirso, Cagliari

DAY 7 | Friday 1st May

Our morning is at leisure, but we’re planning on positioning ourselves so that we can take in the beginning of the Procession of Sant’Efisio. This wonderfully colourful procession - the longest in Europe - starts on May 1 in Cagliari, making it’s way, over four days on foot, towards Sant’Efis.

We’ll then be bussing to Sant’Efis in the afternoon to explore the work of renowned 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.

Gardens: Hotel Sant’Efis

Accommodation: Palazzo Tirso, Cagliari

DAY 8 | Saturday 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 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 | Sunday 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 | Monday 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

Meals: Three course dinner in Olbia

Accommodation: Grand Hotel President, Olbia

DAY 11 | Tuesday 5th May

Our garden visit today - the creation of designer Maurizio Usai, for his own pleasure - could not be more different to Hotel Sant’Efis.  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 ethos.

Gardens: The Garden of Maurizio Usai

Accommodation: Grand Hotel President, Olbia

DAY 12 | Wednesday 6th May

This morning we’ll experience the remarkable natural landscape of Capo Testa, a home of wildflowers in and amongst monumental rock formations.

We’ll then visit the 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.

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

Gardens: Capo Testa and the resort garden by Marco Scano

Meals: Farewell dinner

Accommodation: Grand Hotel President, Olbia

DAY 13 | Thursday 7th May

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