Above: Seaside pool, Villa Igiea, Palermo

I first fell in love with the scenic drama and culinary riches of Sicily more than a quarter-century ago, long before the second season of “The White Lotus” enhanced the island’s allure. Culturally, Sicily is astonishingly complex, with Greek temples and theaters from classical antiquity (most notably at Segesta, Agrigento, Syracuse and Taormina), Norman churches and cathedrals, and elaborate baroque architecture in the towns and cities of the Val di Noto, an area in the southeast that appears on UNESCO’s World Heritage list. For many visitors, a highlight of their stay is an escorted tour to remote mountain villages, where the atmosphere has changed little in the past 100 years. (Corleone, famous from the “Godfather” movies and notorious as the birthplace of a string of real Mafia bosses, is a hill town situated 35 miles south of Palermo.)

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Above: Seaside pool, Villa Igiea, Palermo

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