Surfing in Sicily: Chasing Waves, Vulcanos, and Arancinis

Sicily, or Italy for that matter, is not your average surf destination. Lately two surf movies “La vita e bella” and “Peninsula” put Italy a bit more into the surf world spotlight but surfers around the world are still surprised that there are waves in Italy, let alone on it’s east coast in the narrow sea of Adriatic. Or sometimes they are not surprised they just think the waves are shit. But if living and surfing around here has taught me one thing it is this – if there is a sea, there will be occasional waves. How often that “occasional” happens depends on weather patterns. These are the most favorable for another Italian island – Sardegna which can get from 200-250 surf days a year. Sicilia comes second best exactly because of its northwestern “neighbor” which blocks the waves from the most consistent wind in the Mediterranean. So what makes Italy’s surf spots tick?

Weather Patterns That Pump Waves Towards Sicily

The most consistent wind for Italy is the north/northwest Maestrale (Mistral), that comes down from the Alps and hits the sea somewhere around Marseille. It is directed straight into Sardegna and brings most of the waves to this island. Lots of time this wind extends past Sardegna and then turns into west wind bringing surf to Sicily’s west coast and part of the southwest coast. It can also turn west right after hitting the sea north of Sardegna bringing waves to Liguria. It can also extend over Sardegna and make waves for spots around Palermo, spots facing north and northwest.

Two other winds (that are not that common) are the northeast and the south/southeast. The northeast brings waves to the eastern coast of Sicily and the south brings waves to south coast of Sicily. So basically – if there is wind in the Mediterranean you are covered:). Sicily can get waves most of the year but the most consistent season is the winter. Best bet could be December but again, we are talking about weather so nothing is fixed.

I had my eye on the Italy islands for a while – when checking home forecast they are always on the map, and they always look better than our home breaks. For the December Sicily trip I’ve waited for the long term forecast to show some movement before I purchased the plane ticket even though it was priced higher every passing day. But after following the December / January forecast for Sicily I kind of feel that the waiting was pointless. There were waves breaking somewhere in Sicily almost every day of the period. So just but the ticket and go.

Sicily Surf Forecast

There are surf destinations where surf forecasting is as easy as opening Magicseaweed or Surfline and checking your chosen surf spot and then there are surf destinations where every surf forecast you check is different and at the end they are all wrong. I am no expert in Sicily surf forecast but to me it seems this island falls into the later category. Surfing windswells in the Mediterranean means a fine balance between wanting a strong wind to make waves for your coast and not wanting a strong wind at your spot since it will destroy the very waves it made. So best conditions happen right after the wind dies or on spots protected from the wind. The existence, direction and strength of the wind on the spot makes the difference between an epic and a shitty session.

Checking multiple forecasts for Sicily I’ve learned two things: first – don’t trust wave heights from different wave models, you will find different models showing wave heights for the same coast that are 200% different; and second – don’t trust the wind strength forecast. If gale force winds are predicted then there will be strong wind for sure, if massive waves are predicted, there will be waves for sure, but if it’s more of a fine tuning thing, you can not really rely on any of the forecasts that we have checked.

Still, the best sites to check are:

• ilmeteo.it/surf
• magicseaweed
• windguru.cz
• or just check all the forecasts here in the Italian surf site surfcorner.it

Sicily Surf Spots

There are numerous surf spots on all four coasts. You can expect some crowds when conditions are good around bigger cities (Palermo, Catania), the rest of the spots you will probably surf alone or with only few people. Lack of crowds and lack of visiting surfers make Sicily surf community pretty friendly. Many surfers are kind of excited and amazed that you have chosen Sicily as your surf destination are are happy to help you. Still, show respect to get respect. I won’t mention any spots here, because you can find them yourself and because there are plenty available online:

• Magicseaweed (check spot guides)
• Surfnews.it
• Surfline (not much info here)
• Wannasurf
• Stormrider Mediterranean Sea e-book

But the real problem with surfing the island is not finding the spots, it is choosing the right spot for the given forecast. As with all islands you always have a choice to go a bit more around the corner and look for a beach that is more protected/exposed from wind/waves. Or to sit in a local coffee sip on latte macchiato and feast on pasta or something. If you combine that with an unreliable forecast and the fact that it takes about 3 and a half hours to drive from east coast to the west it can happen that you are not surfing the best spot at the moment. It also seems that local surfers are not that keen to drive around the island, they have enough waves throughout the year at their home breaks, so they have them dialed, but for the rest of the island their info can be vague. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter. It’s the travel and the experience that counts.

Surf Shops, Surf Schools and Renting a Surfboard in Sicily

Nine days are not enough to become Sicily surf culture expert so just a few notes. There are only a few surf shops on the island, don’t expect a surf shop with surfboard rental in every coastal town where you arrive to the beach and notice there are waves – so plan ahead. Best bets would be Palermo and Catania which would also be best bet for surfboard rental and possible surf school. For rent expect beginner boards and foamboards. Because of inconsistency of waves, especially in the main tourist season in summer, also don’t count on getting surfing lessons. If there are no waves, you can’t surf:).

The South Coast

The south coast of Sicily is huge so this is the most likely place to surf alone and on the beach not mentioned in any of the guides. Waves on most of the beaches are pretty mellow. We surfed a few spots and “spots” around Siculiana and Agrigento with not another person in sight. Here are a few photos from the south:

Scala Dei Turchi = Turkish staircase. Because the cliff looks like stairs and because Turks invading Sicily usually landed somewhere in this area.Stairs of Scala Dei Turchi.

The West Coast

The west coast starts somewhere south of Mazara del Vallo, goes past Marsala and Trapani and ends at the Capo San Vito. I think this is the most consistent stretch of Sicily’s coast that holds our favorite spot of the trip.

West coast of Sicily is probably the most consistent one. And this spot here alone is worth the drive.

Best spot we surfed while we were in Sicily was a right pointbreak that started with a possible tube section and then slowly turned into a workable wall and later into mellow longboard wave.Alone session number umpteenth.

Lighthouse in the night.

Another one from the point.

The East Coast

Surfwise the east coast consists of the huge sandy Playa Catania and the south of Syracuse region. The sea floor south of Syracuse drops down pretty fast which gives more power to the waves around here. Unfortunately we did not score this region at its best, we only had one windy session in the Syracuse region while looking for a protected spot that could handle the galeforce SE winds. But we did have few sweet small glassy sessions at Catania beach. Photos:

Playa Catania is a long sandy beach in front of Catania city. There are only few places on the whole beach where you have free access to the beach with your car. This is the far south end of the beach and some prime beachfront property:)

Some funny looking trees and a funny looking guy near Agnone.

I wanted a photo with a surfer and Mount Etna in the background but the angle was not right.Knee high waves at Playa Catania…when chasing windswells in the Mediterranean you take what you can get.

One of the must see places is the city of Syracuse, especially it’s old part called Ortigia.Old house in Syracuse, Italy.OrtigiaMore breakfast ready balconies in Syracuse.

Old town of Syracuse is one nice looking city.Fountain in Syrause.Fountain in Syrause.Taormina is a cute posh tourist town north of Catania near one of the surf spots that don’t work that often. But it is a nice place to visit if you have time after your surf session.

And home to numerous vine bars and restaurants.Sicilian riviera by night

Mount Etna

This is not a surf spot:) But when the sea is flat you can easily spend your day hiking around the volcano. Or if you are lucky even snowboarding or mountainbiking.

Mount Etna trip is a must. You can drive your car somewhere up to 2000m and the rest of the way it’s either with an organised bus service or by foot. Here is me doing it by foot somewhere in the lower parts of Etna.When mentioning going to Sicily 90% of the people you talk to will mention mafia. This is the only encounter we had.With Etna volcano elevation around 3.350m (it depends on the latest lava eruption) the upper parts of volcano get snow, even if the seaside has hoodie weather most of the winter. There is even ski resort on the volcano, they say it usually works in January, February when there is the best chance for snow. Etna had some snow during our visit, but not in the ski resort area.This is where the bus takes you to the upper part of the volcano.Lava rocks, lunar landscape, sharper than coral reef in Indo.There is life in this sharp and pointy lunar landscape. And it’s a ladybug. Plenty of them.Climbing one of the craters on Etna.Looking into the crater that no longer works. But Etna is the largest alive volcano in Europe. And by alive I mean – it was erupting during my flight back home.  I thought there we going to be problems with my flight, but it was all business as usual for Sicilians, they actually like living under the volcano and are kind of proud of it.

On a path to nowhere.Lava rocks are hot. If you want to hold them you have to juggle.