Palermo, Monreale, Cefalù, Segesta, Erice, Mozia

Jackie Alio (aliojacqueline@yahoo.com) has worked as a professional guide for over a decade. Educated in Italy and in the United States (English is her mother tongue), she has undertaken scholarly research in England, and authored articles for Best of Sicily (on Thomas Becket and Margaret of Navarre, as well as others). Jackie has worked with, among other media, the Discovery Channel and The History Channel, and lectured university classes (from New York University, for example). She specializes in personalized tours in northwestern Sicily, where she also works with larger groups. In addition to her exceptional insights into the comparative Norman histories of Sicily and England, her knowledge of Palermo's Jewish history encompasses the kind of arcane (original) scholarly information you won't get from other guides or the internet. She specializes in personalized tours as well as tours for larger groups. Visit her Palermo tour site for more information about her services.

Francesca Lombardo (lofran07@libero.it), a native of Palermo, has worked in tourism for over twenty years, and has been a licenced guide for most of that time. At university she majored in foreign languages and literature, with a concentration in art history. As a professional educator, Francesca brings a special talent to her profession as a guide. She speaks German and French as well as English. Francesca is the kind of guide familiar with all kinds of fascinating details, and a "go to" expert for highly specialized tours like "winemaking and the English families of Marsala."

Siracusa, Ragusa, Taormina, Catania, Piazza Armerina

Rosa Rizza (rosa_rizza@hotmail.com), who also works in the Taormina area, was raised and educated in Italy and in the United States. Over the last two decades, her vast experience as a guide and group leader has made the "Sicily experience" of thousands of visitors memorable and interesting but also extremely informative - and highly educational. In addition to her work as a guide, Rosa's experience includes organizing weddings and events in Sicily. The depth and breadth of Rosa's knowledge is remarkable, and as she explains the history of ancient Syracuse you sense that Plato and Archimedes were people she actually knew. It's almost as if they had come back to life and were speaking to you themselves.

Douglas Kenning (douglaskenning@gmail.com) is a combination history professor and actor who lives half of each year in his beloved Siracusa and half in California, where he teaches university courses centering around the histories of Sicily and Italy, ancient and modern. Professor Kenning's theatrical and mythical approach to Sicily and her stories have made his tours and classes wildly popular.

Stephen Davies (luciadavies@hotmail.it) is English by birth, Sicilian by marriage, with over thirty years experience living in Siracusa and showing people around the island. Fluent in Sicilian, funny, gregarious, with friends in every corner of Sicily, he is an expert on Sicilian culture, food, history, and craftsmanship, with a love for the adventure of undiscovered roadways.

Diana Mazza (trinacria2000@hotmail.com), who might be described as "Anglo-Italian," speaks German as well as English and Italian. Spanning two decades, her experience as a guide is extensive. She works across eastern Sicily, including the Catania and Siracusa areas.

Family History Tours (Genealogy on Best of Sicily)

Rosy Bartolotta (rosybartolotta@yahoo.it), who was educated in the United States, is a specialist in 19th-century vital statistics records in Sicily. Her expertise is discovering family history in ancestral localities around Sicily, something she has been doing for over ten years.

Malta

Joan Sheridan (joansheridan@touringmalta.com) has many years of experience as a licenced guide on the Maltese islands which, like Sicily, boast a multicultural heritage necessitating a guide's highly-refined knowledge of peoples, cultures and faiths.

How to Hire a Tour Guide:
• Whether you find the name of a guide on this list or another, determine which languages the guide speaks. If you actually speak to him/her you'll be able to get some idea about fluency in your language. The guides listed on this page all speak foreign languages well; sometimes the advantage of native ("mother-tongue") speakers is that, being from (for example), the United States or Japan, they better understand the culture, interests and "touring style" of foreigners (non-Italians) visiting Italy.
• Try, either via email correspondence or a telephone conversation, to get a feel for what there is to see; there are plenty of ideas for sightseeing on Best of Sicily. A good tour guide will try to determine what you (or your tour group) want to see and do. For example, if your Sicilian visit has a culinary theme you'll want to see the street markets of Palermo or Catania.
• Inquire about rates and the guide's availability on a certain day. It's important that you feel comfortable with the guide you hire. If you get a guide's name from this page, mention that you found it on Best of Sicily.
• Guides are, by nature, specialists in a particular aspect of travel. If you require lodging, transportation or itinerary planning, the right service is a competent travel agent, tour operator or "travel concierge" with staff based at your destination. Several are listed on this page.
• Italians are too often inclined to rely almost exclusively on paper "credentials" rather than actual quality of service, and some travel professionals use "certifications" as a substitute for listening to, and then meeting, your needs as a traveler. Scheduling, for example, is important because your time in a certain destination may be limited and Sicily's historic and archeological sites have fickle open-hours, so concentrate on the practical elements of your visit.
• Rates may vary based on factors such as the season, but (speaking very generally) the cost of a guide service is typically slightly over 100 euros for a half-day (4-5 hours) walking tour and slightly more than 200 euros for a full-day (7-8 hours), not including transportation such as a car or minibus and driver. As a point of reference, this is the minimum you should expect to pay. We seriously question the approach and pricing of agencies, organisations, websites or other "middle men" who publish rates much higher than this; we know of two that charge double! The advantage of this page is that you can contact a guide directly instead of using an intermediary. Tipping is always welcome, but especially appropriate with a "larger" group of at least six adults.
• Remember that even if the focus of your trip is primarily cultural and historical, you're coming to Sicily to have a good time. Enjoy your discovery of the world's most fascinating island!
• Dozens of travel agents and tour operators, and hundreds of "independent travelers," have found guides and travel-related services by consulting this page. Contact us to suggest a guide, indicating your name, address and daytime telephone number.
• The editors wish to acknowledge that this page was suggested by a travel agent's experience with tour guides in Italy. He brought to our attention the vast differences between good guides and great ones.

Sicily Links