A vineyard on Etna, a temple across the valley, vows on the sand
In the last piece we covered case comunali, legal wedding venues, belonging to Sicily’s comuni, the local councils. But a casa comunale does not have to be a place the town owns. A comune can formally designate a private venue too, and then the registrar travels out and the ceremony held there is the legal marriage itself. Venues holding this designation are relatively scarce: most venues offering “a space for a wedding” mean a symbolic rather than a legal one. Here are seven venues where you can really get married, from the slopes of Etna to the coast.
Villa Garufi, Biancavilla
Ten hectares of vines, olives and citrus on Etna’s south-western side, with the volcano behind. The estate is under formal agreement with its comune, so vows exchanged among the vines are legally binding. About fifty minutes from Catania.
Borgata Baldazza, Linguaglossa
An eighteenth-century estate in chestnut woodland on Etna’s northern slopes, with gardens, an olive grove and fifteen rooms, so the heart of the wedding party sleeps where the wedding is. Just under an hour from Catania.
Casa Modò, Riposto
A restored palmento, the old wine-pressing house, between Etna and the sea, now light and modern inside, with a garden and pool. It takes weddings from twenty guests, the most flexible numbers on this list. Forty minutes from Catania.
Casale Graffetta, Ispica
Twenty hectares of open country in the south-east between Modica and the sea: courtyards, terraces, olive trees, a pool and rooms on site. About an hour and a half from Catania, in the corner of the island Noto made famous.
L’Agorà di Segesta, Calatafimi-Segesta
A hillside in the west facing one of the most remarkable outlooks in Sicily: across the valley stands the Doric temple of Segesta, alone on its hill as it has been for nearly two and a half thousand years, the ancient theatre above it. The terraces face the temple, and the sun sets behind it. It suits larger weddings.
Alkamar, Alcamo Marina
On the north-west coast between Castellammare del Golfo and Palermo, forty minutes from Palermo airport, the easiest arrival on this list, and about half an hour from L’Agorà di Segesta. Alkamar is a casa comunale on the sea: the ceremony is set up simply on the sand, at the water’s edge.
Palm Beach, Casteldaccia
Just east of Palermo, about forty-five minutes from the airport. A sea-view hall opens onto a palm grove, the ceremony is set down by the sand, and a small pier runs out into the water that some couples use for their arrival.
What we look after
Most venues in this category work to minimum guest numbers, anywhere from twenty to eighty and above, and hire is priced venue by venue, with the comune’s small ceremony fee on top. The numbers for each venue, and the rest of the list, are on the venues page.
At a venue like these, most couples want our Ceremony and Celebration service. We make the marriage happen: the comune’s written confirmation that the venue’s authorisation is current and covers the exact spot where you will stand, every document and translation in the right order, and the interpreter at your side during the vows. And we build the celebration around it: a shortlist of venues against your brief and budget, viewings arranged, the negotiation with the venue in Italian, minimums included, menus and terms checked, the booking confirmed, and the caterer, music and transport lined up around it. It scales up to The Whole Wedding, where we design and plan the whole day and deliver it with a Sicilian team we coordinate, and down to just Ceremony, where we deliver the legal wedding and you do the rest.
If one of these is your kind of place, message me on WhatsApp and tell me what you are picturing, or book a introductory call. I read and answer every message myself.