RESPONSIBLE TOURISM IN SICILY
Our Sicily Vacations
Sicily history tour, Italy
One of the most fascinating islands in Europe
Sicily small ship cruise, food & culture
Experience the flavours, landscapes and history of Sicily
Sicily walking vacation, Sicilian Volcanoes
Discover Mt Etna and the beautiful volcanic achipelago
Sicily food vacation in Italy
Be overwhelmed at how varied and diverse Sicily’s cuisine
Sicily cycling vacation in Italy
Ride through Sicily's UNESCO sites of Siracusa, Noto, Modica and Ragusa
Sicily bareboat sailing vacation
Go sailing around beautiful Sicily
Sicily self guided cycling vacation in Italy
A wonderful introduction to Sicily's south-east
Magna Via Francigena walking vacation in Sicily
Travel the ancient road from Palermo to Agrigento
Small group Sicily grand tour
Discover the temples, villages and food of Sicily
Sicily tour, Street Food and Sunshine in Sicily
See the best of Sicily’s city life, coast and volcanic landscapes
Calabria and Sicily vacation, Italy
Discover the secrets of Italy’s vibrant south
Sicily food and wine vacation
Experience the flavours of real Sicily on this tasty tour
Sicily and Aeolian Islands small ship cruise
Cruise to the amazing volcanic Aeolian Islands from Sicily
Yacht charter in Sicily Aeolian islands, 8-12 people
The “Have a Blast” sailing in Sicily Sept 12th Departure !
Aeolian Islands walking vacation in Sicily
Self Guided Walking in the Aeolian Islands, Sicily
Sicily history tour
Discover Sicily with a knowledgeable guest lecturer
Sicily self guided walking vacation in Italy
Uncover the secrets of Sicily's western coast
Sicily tour, classical Sicily
Tour the main classical sights of Sicily
Self drive tour in Sicily
Experience the best of Sicily food and wine on a self-drive
PEOPLE & CULTURE
The Mafia hit the news when periodic killings take place, but tourists are rarely touched by this kind of violence, which tends to take place in the poor corners of the island. It’s the protection racketeering that goes on across Sicily and further afield that is relevant to anyone traveling here. Typically, hotels, restaurants and shops are forced to pay, and by using these local facilities you can, inadvertently, be lining their pockets. Mafia extortion money is known as pizzo and many Sicilian businesses pay it.
What you can do
In Sicily, the grassroots movement Addiopizzo was established in 2004 by local businesses, consumers and private individuals who refuse to pay the pizzo extortion money. It challenges the Mafia stronghold on local business by discouraging shop owners from paying pizzo, educating people and challenging cultural norms. Addiopizzo Travel is an offshoot of the project which tries to raise awareness amongst vacationmakers and helps them find pizzo free hotels, restaurants and shops. It also produces a pizzo free city map of Palermo that you can download from its website. Some tour operators partner with establishments that are part of the Addiopizzo movement – it’s worth asking what their line is on extortion and tourism.
Mafia is a very complex subject and although it is often mocked or joked about outside of Italy (and unfortunately also within), it is very much a current and complex problem for this country. Mafia does still exist and operates not only in Sicily but across Italy and beyond. There are still clans, murders, extortion, corruption and so on. Most of the time, however, it operates invisibly, infiltrating various socioeconomic sectors and politics, so it is extremely unlikely that as a tourist you would come across or be affected by such activities. The occasional acts of criminal violence, such as mugging, which could affect tourists, do occur, but this is nothing to do with Mafia. Big cities in Sicily are no more risky than other big cities!
I encourage everyone who wants to visit Sicily responsibly to read and educate themselves about Mafia using reputable sources before traveling. It really helps to understand the impact that such an organisation had and still has on the socioeconomic structure of the region, but let’s change the (bad) habit of associating Sicily and Italy with Mafia superficially. Mafia is not a joke and it’s not part of the local folklore.”
WILDLIFE & ENVIRONMENT
This water scarcity is further exacerbated by the presence of cruise ships in Palermo. In summer 2017, hundreds of homes in the capital were left without drinking water. This was partly due to emergency maintenance work but also because some 174,000 tons of water was diverted from two residential areas and loaded onto tourist cruise ships in the port. [2]