Sicily's Best Tour Guides
Knowledge is the most important element in the magical mix that makes a good guide exceptional. But the best guides are far more than lecturers or "teachers" - though you can expect to learn something on a tour with a good guide. They're passionate about making your discovery of Sicily a rewarding one. And they're passionate about the place. Expertise? Experience? Absolutely. Some guides are experts in their own right, acting as Sicily-based consultants for CNN or the BBC, or writing books and articles about Sicily. But it's the passion that makes an interesting, informative sightseeing visit an enlightening, enjoyable one. Use this page to find an exceptional tour guide, tour leader or interpreter. (Hiring a guide, with important advice on rates and conditions, is discussed below.) Guides are listed based on general historical and cultural knowledge, linguistic competence and ability. It is also presumed that they work in a professional manner and are polite and cooperative. For rates, based on a full or half day, please email the guide. Best of Sicily recommends these guides but does not represent them commercially. More comprehensive services (including drivers for shore excursions, week-long tours, etc.) are listed on our Sicily tours and travel services pages, while the consulting page describes such services as lectures, research and photography. All these guides speak English. Although tour guides are licensed to work anyplace in Sicily, some are specialized in a few provinces, regions or sites. Following the list of guides by Sicilian region (actually West followed by East), we also list specialists in Malta and other areas (such as family history guides). There is a special page of travel agent resources.

Palermo, Monreale, Cefalù, Segesta, Erice

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 the Normans' Genoard park). Jackie has worked with, among other media, the Discovery Channel and The History Channel, and lectured university classes (from New York University, for example). 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 scholarly (original) 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, Catania, Messina, Ragusa, Taormina, 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.

Malta (Malta on Best of Sicily)

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.

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.

How to Hire a Private 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 on this site. 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 our travel 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, which could easily double this cost. As a point of reference, this is the minimum you should expect to pay. On the other hand, we seriously question the approach to 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.
• Travel Agents: Some tour guides may occasionally require a non-refundable deposit of at least 30% from travel agents reserving shore excursions for cruise passengers because, unfortunately, last minute cancellations (or "no-shows") are becoming increasingly frequent.
• 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!
• A few travel agents and tour operators, and dozens of "independent travelers," have told us that this page alone makes visiting Best of Sicily worthwhile. Contact us to suggest a guide, indicating your 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 great guides and mediocre ones.