Camping Torotto

When a day at the beach is called for, head off down to Gela (half an hour’s drive), where you can stroll the seafront promenade or hang out in stylish lidos offering parasols, loungers and good food. If you want to escape the crowds, you can do just that at quiet Pezza Fico beach (also half an hour), which has dunes to stroll and shallow water for safe swimming. One of the biggest draws in this corner of south-west Sicily is the ancient hillside town of Piazza Armerina (40 minutes), with its 14th-century castle, imposing Duomo and a labyrinthine web of cobbled streets lined with atmospheric trattorias and café. It’s perhaps best-known for the renowned Villa Romana del Casale (45 minutes), where the displays of intricate mosaics date right back to the Roman Empire. If you’re in search of more Sicilian history, the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ragusa (about an hour) calls with its soaring baroque-era cathedral and its banks of soft-pink cottages, churches and mansions tumbling in a photogenic manner down the hillside.