How long does it take to walk along Corso Umberto I from Porta Catania to the Greek theatre? I ask our guide Francesca. Our cruise ship group has assembled at the top of the ugly municipal car park that is our entry to Taormina, arguably Sicily's most beautiful city.
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Francesca repeats my question for the benefit of our entire group.
"You are one man, walking alone. So it will take you 15 minutes," she says. "But if you were a man, walking with his wife, it would take you 90 minutes.
"And if you were a woman, walking with a female friend, you will still not have arrived in three hours time. Sicily is one of the best places to shop in Italy because our prices are so good, and you should not rush." Thank God, political correctness hasn't reached Taormina. So the old jokes still entertain. And at least half of my fellow passengers are able to spend all their time in Sicily hunting for bargains.
Dire Straits founder Mark Knopfler is the latest in a long line of musicians, artists, movie stars and writers who have visited Taormina and written about it. For most, Taormina's two highlights are its famous Greek theatre and its stupendous views (on a good day) of Mount Etna, the largest and most active volcano in Europe.
Sadly, Etna today is cloaked in cloud. That's one of the drawbacks of visiting Taormina in October. On the other hand, visiting at the tail end of the season means the hilltop town's narrow streets are free of the summer tourist crush.
Despite being "one man, walking along" I do stop for several minutes outside one shop. It shows photos of Taormina's golden age, when its film festival saw stars such as Sophia Loren, Claudia Cardinale, Gina Lollobrigida, Cary Grant, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor come to receive their awards. Woody Allen also set one Mighty Aphrodite here in 1995.
Most of these film stars and musicians appeared at the town's open air Greek theatre. Despite its name, the Greek theatre dates from Roman times. They rebuilt it in brick on the skeleton of the Greek original and a sign at the entrance says it is the second largest in Italy or North Africa after the one in Sicilian rival Syracuse.
Goethe, the eminent German writer, described the Greek theatre as "the greatest work of art and nature in Italy". That's a big wrap – and a reminder that Sicily owes much to the Ancient Greeks who set up a network of city states on the largest island in the Mediterranean.
It was the Greeks, Francesca tells us, who gave Taormina its distinctive name which roughly translates to "settlement under the mountain that looks like a bull's head".
"Those Greeks had vivid imaginations," Francesca says. "I've been coming here for years and have never spotted any resemblance to a bull." By making the Greek theatre your first stop, you not only maximise your time at this truly lovely and contemplative setting but you also ensure you can explore the rest of Taormina at a leisurely pace.
A lot of the shops that line its main streets sell similar things – multi-coloured pottery, embroidered aprons and string puppets. But the classier shops sell hand-made leather goods, leading Italian fashion brands and the distinctive foods Sicily is famous for – limoncello, olive oil, local Sicilian wines and, of course, crispy cannoli.
I'm searching for a beautiful hidden garden called Naumachie whose main feature is a 1st-century Roman wall, when I stumble across Roberto's, one of Taormina's most celebrated cannoli bakeries. Here the baker individually fills a cannoli case with fresh ricotta for each customer, sprinkling on icing sugar. Delicious.
In the late afternoon, Corso Umberto I is thick with the smell of cigar smoke as locals – who look like extras from The Godfather – savour the remains of the day over a coffee or glass of local wine.
Though Taormina was never used as a location for The Godfather trilogy, two local villages – Savoca and Forza D'Agro – were the setting for many key scenes. Francesca explains director Francis Ford Coppola didn't like the real Sicilian town of Corleone which author Mario Puzo chose as the birthplace of his fictional Don, choosing the more picturesque villages near Taormina instead, hence the large range of Godfather merchandise on sale.
I decide to join the Godfather lookalikes, taking a table at Piazza IX Aprile to try a glass of Sicilian red. Despite the Mafia connections, it's utterly relaxing watching Taormina go about its daily, unhurried business. Believe me, that's an offer you shouldn't refuse.
TRIP NOTES
MORE INFORMATION
CRUISING THERE
Azamara Journey visits Taormina on its seven-night Amalfi Coast to Greece voyage, departing on June 16. Fares from $2929 per person, twin share for interior stateroom. Phone 1800 754 500; see www.azamaraclubcruises.com.
Steve Meacham travelled as a guest of Azamara Club Cruises.
