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View to Castello Saraceno from Castelmola

The path passes well below, in a blaze of pink oleanders and shaded by fig trees, before joining a surfaced road lined with broom close to a spread of modern apartments. Minutes later you touch on Via Leonardo Da Vinci once more, and essentially follow your nose for the final stretch back to town – namely take the steps down right, cross straight over the intersection for Salita Celestino Penna, and notice the lovely angle onto the Castello Saraceno and sanctuary. The subsequent leg is called Via della Chiusa, part of the route dating back to prehistoric times between Taormina and Castelmola.

These steps between houses bring you out on Via Diodoro Siculo–Via Apollo Arcageta, just uphill from the town’s original cathedral, now the church of S. Francesco di Paola. Next is the square and car park preceding Porta Catania (keep left), leading back into the heart of Taormina along Corso Umberto I°, reserved for pedestrians. This broad avenue faithfully retraces the axis of the Graeco-Roman settlement, while the Via Valeria, the 3rd-century BC Roman road that linked Messina with Siracusa, also passed this way. Nowadays it is lined with ceramic workshops, pasticcerie crammed with mouth-watering almond pastries, and cafés where thirst-quenching granite can be had. This western medieval section of town includes a stately duomo and monumental fountain, before the Porta di Mezzo (clock tower) leads to the charming Piazza IX Aprile, featuring a terraced belvedere and several pastel stuccoed churches.