If you love Sicily Italy Travel Photography, here are some photos and memories from my trip to Italia with my mama in the Summer of 2024. You might recall that I backpacked through Italy when I was 24 years old alone. Well, I met up with my mom on that trip towards the tail-end of it and we spent time in Northern Italy. We traveled to Florence, Milan, Lake Como, Venice, and Rome in 2018 together. Fast forward more than 6 years later, and we decided we needed to go back to experience Southern Italy. It also coincided with Taylor Swift’s incredible Eras Tour, so we decided to plan an epic mother daughter trip to Europe in summer 2024.
The Best Travel Photography 35 Film Camera
As a professional destination wedding photographer, I am used to lugging around a giant SLR. However, in my personal life, I’ve switched to film. I love shooting film. For years, I have been too scared. Film tends to be finicky and temperamental. Also, it feels like all the “cool” hip photographers shoot film. If you know me, I have never considered myself cool ;). Once I began traveling the world, I realized how exhausting it was bringing heavy camera equipment was. Not only that, but coming up to edit thousands of RAW images felt like work. To this day… I don’t think I have edited all my Antarctica photos from 2019.
A couple years ago, I was traveling with another destination wedding photographer who showed me her nifty Olympus Stylus Film camera. Here is a great blog post about Olympus Stylus Film Cameras! These nifty film cameras are almost film proof. I have found that owning an Olympus film camera has been extremely rewarding and allows me to be fully present while I’m traveling! Instead of coming home with thousands of photos to edit, I send my film to be developed. Waiting for film scans feels like Christmas because I usually can’t remember what photos I took! My Olympus came with me to Europe for my first try at Sicily Italy Travel Photography.
5 Day Travel Itinerary in Sicily Italy
After seeing the Eras Tour in Germany in late July, we flew from Cologne Germany to Rome, then Rome to Palermo! The Palermo Airport is very small and slightly chaotic upon entry into Sicilia. However, renting a car is very easy in this small airport. We rented a car for under 10 Euros per day for our 5 Day Roadtrip around Sicily! A lot of people who fly into Palermo skip the city, but- I highly recommend spending at least an afternoon or full day exploring the amazing city. Palermo is a UNESCO heritage site. I was blown away by the historic Teatro Opera House and followed this guide here.
Day 1: Palermo Italy to Cefalu Italy
I’ll be up front with you: this was not my first rodeo traveling to Sicily. A year ago, I photographed an amazing Italy destination wedding so I got to visit Sicily for work. However, I did not have nearly enough time to drink Aperols and relax at the beach ;). On my prior trip, we drove through the town of Cefalu and I fell in love. I knew that if I ever got the opportunity to come back, Cefalu would be the very first place I’d go. Sure enough, spending time in Cefalu was our priority (yes, more than Taormina!).
Day 2-3: Cefalu Italy
For my 32nd birthday, I simply dreamed of being near the water. I also dreamed of a touch of luxury. We splurged on a fancy hotel in the town of Cefalu. We spent two nights at the Alberi Del Paradiso and one night at the Le Calette. I loved the Alberi Del Paradiso hotel because it was a little bit removed from town and felt like a quiet oasis at the end of a long day in town at the beach surrounded by people. The lush gardens were to die for and I absolutely loved laying out by the pool in the mornings with a book. The food was also spectacular and the service was just as amazing. Our splurge night ended at La Calette- a luxury resort right on the beach. We also loved our stay here. It felt a touch more upscale and fancy. However, the proximity to town did make it feel a little nosier and the beach club attracted a younger crowd. This wasn’t the vacation for electronic music at the beach, but we still loved our stay!
Day 4-5: Taormina & Castiglione di Sicilia Borgo
You might think that my favorite memory of this trip was drinking unlimited Aperol Spritz at the beach and swimming in the Mediterranean. Although I did love that experience, my favorite memory of our entire trip was our accidental day trip to Castiglione Di Sicilia Borgo. My mom is a huge fan of Byzantine Architecture. Her priority for the trip was to find some old preserved Byzantine Architecture. While doing some research, I found a historic town on the way to Taormina in the mountains. A mountain top village with castles, cathedrals, and tiny alleyways was everything we could have dreamed and more. We visited the Byzantine Cuba chapel first. We were the only visitors and walking around the tiny cathedral made my sweet mama weep. After, we wandered up the mountain to the town of Castiglione to see a castle and MORE examples of Byzantine architecture!!
If you love this Sicily Italy Travel Photography blog post, here’s another guide I wrote about traveling to Iceland!
