It felt like a traditional British seaside outing, however with extra dependable climate. Toting umbrella, towels, solar cream, water and a cool-box picnic, my husband, son and I turned our backs on the marina in Porto Palo, close to Menfi in south-west Sicily, and walked west. About 10 minutes on a slim signposted coastal path introduced us to Le Solette, a half-mile curving golden seaside between rocky outcrops and backed by low hills. It’s a beautiful spot, with smooth sand and clear water in hues from turquoise to indigo – however essentially the most outstanding factor about it isn’t what’s there, however what’s not.
Seaside resorts in north and central Italy are a wierd phenomenon: the sand is normally virtually invisible beneath pairs of sunbeds and matching umbrellas. OK, there’s the comfort of bathrooms and showers, however at what price? I’ve been to resorts in Liguria, in north-west Italy, the place from Easter to September a stroll alongside the entrance affords views not of the ocean however of the partitions and altering cabins of an unbroken row of seaside stabilimenti.
However quiet, undeveloped seashores will be discovered – and extra simply in southern Italy, Sardinia and Sicily, and away from cities. (Mondello, close to Palermo, for instance, additionally has bathing-establishment blight.) Certainly one of our favorite areas is round Menfi – simply an hour and 20 minutes’ drive south from Sicily’s capital. Lots of the city’s older buildings have been destroyed in an earthquake in 1968, so its architectural sights are restricted, but it surely’s in one of many island’s high food- and wine-producing areas, so affords nice eating places, farmers’ markets and winery visits.
Even higher, it’s a few miles from a barely developed stretch of coast, the place golden sandy seashores – with blue flag standing for practically 20 years – are punctuated with wild, scrubby headlands and small villages. The coast of Tunisia is simply 100 miles away, lots nearer than Naples or Rome.
We stayed in a low-rise vacation let, Villa Melograno (sleeps six from €1,430/£1,225 per week) simply exterior Menfi, having fun with early June temperatures within the mid-20Cs, sea views from the backyard and day by day forays to whichever seaside spot took our fancy.
On lazy days we made for the closest: dune-backed Lido Fiori, which has a minimarket, a few fish eating places overlooking the water and a transparent stream working throughout its western finish.
For extra bustle, we’d drive to the broader sands of Porto Palo, a fishing village with a good selection of locations for a night pizza. Attending to Le Solette took extra effort however this was rewarded with a blissful day of swimming, snoozing and snorkelling, with not a constructing and barely one other individual in sight.
The Menfi coast does get busier in August, when Italians from Palermo and the mainland arrive and temperatures soar. Shoulder-season warmth was good (as a bonus, most coastal automobile parks don’t begin charging till mid-June). October, with highs between 21 and 25C, additionally sounds interesting.
This being Sicily, there’s a lot to do away from the seaside. The fertile, sun-soaked land round Menfi is understood for olives, vines and greens (notably the Sluggish Meals-registered spiny artichoke, in season December-April). We loved procuring on the Wednesday farmers’ market in Menfi (in excessive summer time it’s additionally held on Friday evenings in Porto Palo) for tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, herbs and salads smelling of southern sunshine, plus cheeses and cured meats.
Olive oils from the 250-year-old Ravidà property north-west of Menfi are prized overseas (and stocked in Waitrose); it affords excursions, tastings and cookery lessons. But when we come again in autumn, we’ll head as an alternative to the down-to-earth Casale Abate, which affords a “household olive harvest” (weekends from 26 September-26 October, €250 for 4 individuals together with two nights’ lodging) the place everybody joins in hand-picking the olives, urgent them and tasting the ultra-fresh oil on heat bread.
Youthful households would love a brand new attraction that opened final autumn near Casale Abate: on the Ricupa open farm, youngsters can have a go at amassing eggs, milking cows and goats, choosing fruit and studying how greens develop.
Firstly of this century, the Menfi space was within the early phases of a wine renaissance, revitalising a practice that started earlier than the Romans, flourished below Julius Caesar (whose favorite wine got here from Sicily) however languished within the twentieth century as bulk shipments of low-grade plonk grew to become the norm. Now refocused on high quality wines, the realm is being referred to as “Menfishire”, or “Sicily’s Chiantishire”, and its 7,000 hectares produce 40% of the labelled wine that Sicily exports around the globe. We tried the Mandrarossa vineyard, on the best way to Porto Palo, and loved our decide of 4 wines, with nibbles, on a panoramic terrace with views out to sea (€30pp). Its plummy, blackberry, peppery 2023 nero d’avola lingered lengthy on the palate, and in my reminiscence.
One other day we employed bicycles from Sanzone in Menfi to journey the well-surfaced former railway line from Menfi to Porto Palo, incomes a big ice-cream every from Gusto Giusto on the principle street into the village. Our son was so impressed that the subsequent day he cycled east on the identical path to fulfill us 10 miles away within the port of Sciacca, with its baroque centre and Castello Incantato (grownup €5), a barely mad sculpture park created in 1919 by émigré Filippo Bentivegna returning after an sad keep within the US. The highest cultural draw round here’s a lot older than that, although.
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This 12 months will see greater than normal crowds on the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, 50 miles east of Menfi, because the city basks in being Italy’s Capital of Tradition. So 2025 is an effective time to go to as an alternative the extra in depth, if much less intact, ruins of the Greek settlement of Selinunte (grownup €14) based within the seventh century BC. It’s solely a 20-minute drive from Menfi, so we went one cloudless morning and wandered open-mouthed, and principally alone, from one enormous break in opposition to its backdrop of glowing sea to a different (Temple E is the best-preserved), a relatable grid of streets to the north with the stays of housing and retailers, and an acropolis with 5 extra temples. Come lunchtime we had walked miles and have been glad to break down within the sea-view bar by Poseidon’s temple. (A little bit electrical prepare trundles spherical the positioning and could also be tempting in excessive summer time, although it’s slightly expensive at €8pp.)
Although grand in its day, with a inhabitants of 30,000 (or 100,000; specialists disagree), Selinunte had a comparatively quick life, lasting about 240 years. It was destroyed by Carthaginians in about 250BC, in the course of the first Punic conflict, and by no means rebuilt. Earthquakes, climate and time have since added their depredations.
And there it sits, sun-soaked, wave-lapped and so huge it could possibly take up bus-loads of holiday makers with out ever feeling crowded. A bit like this entire, completely satisfied shoreline.
Extra locations to eat and sleep
Casale Abate has one- and two-bedroom bungalows with a shared pool quarter-hour’ drive from the seaside, from €427 per week, on reserving.com
Proper on Lido Fiori seaside, Le 4 Stagioni has rooms from €90 B&B and one- and two-bed flats from €100. Its restaurant specialises in native fish, paired with wine or Sicilian craft beers.
Salisà is a barely smarter fish restaurant simply alongside the seaside, which a few years in the past added peaceable new-build lodging amongst fields half a mile inland, with rooms (from €126 B&B), pool and beneficiant breakfasts.
Within the centre of Menfi, La Regina di Alabastro does conventional fish and meat dishes and nice pizzas. Elegant rooms sleep two to 5 from €110 room-only. Hourly buses run in summer time from the city to Porto Palo and Lido Fiori.
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