Dreaming of Italy? Take a "test drive" of Rick Steves' Sicily and South Italy tours with guide Nina Bernardo. Find tour dates, itineraries, and prices at www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy. | Rick Steves' Europe

This tour of Sicilian highlights starts in Palermo, where we'll sing with the merchants in the markets, join locals in their passeggiata, drop in on a contessa, and marvel at the Romanesque cathedral of Monreale. Then we'll sip wine on the slopes of Mount Etna, munch cannoli, ponder Greek temples at Agrigento, admire Roman mosaics at the Villa of Casale, and marvel at the view from the Greek theater in Taormina. | Rick Steves' Europe

I’m at Sicily’s greatest ancient sight — Agrigento’s Valley of the Temples. Giant statues once stood here, between the columns at the Temple of Zeus. Now, they seem to be melting into the earth —an evocative reminder that, 500 years before Christ, Sicily was a center of Greek civilization. Take a minute and join me as I explore. | Rick Steves