Vittoria
Azienda Agricola Arianna Occhipinti
2.9 km off the line · Tastings from €38 · 2 hours
View winerySicily · Wine route · 1 day
Strada del Vino Cerasuolo di Vittoria Sicily's only DOCG in one flat day on the Ragusa plain: Comiso's baroque centre, Vittoria's Liberty streets and regional enoteca, Acate's castle and tasting rooms, the Biviere lake inside the Classico zone, then Gela on the sea. Fifty kilometres, four member comuni, one wine.
51
km end to end
1
1 day
5
stops, Comiso to Gela
1
denomination crossed
€20
tastings from
Why this drive: This is the only road in Sicily with a DOCG in its name, and the wine is the reason to drive it. Cerasuolo di Vittoria is 50 to 70 per cent Nero d'Avola with 30 to 50 per cent Frappato: pale, scented, served cool, nothing like the island's heavyweight reds. The three core towns sit within 20 kilometres of each other on a plain of red sand between the Iblei hills and the sea, so you taste the whole zone without a mountain road. The association's own line, from the Baroque to the Liberty, is the itinerary: Comiso's churches, Vittoria's 1920s streets, Acate's castle, then the Biviere lake and Gela, where the Classico zone's contrade meet the water.
The route, drawn
See the whole road, then drive it stop by stop
The map stays with you as you read: scroll the stops and it follows, or press a marker to jump. Leg times are door to door, before the views slow you down.
Layers
The drive
Numbered stops
Estates near the route
Stop 1 of 5 · Comiso
1
Stop 1 · The Baroque start
Comiso
Baroque start on the plain: the Chiesa Madre and the Annunziata, Piazza Fonte Diana with the Roman mosaics beside it, and the town's own small airport five kilometres north.
What to taste here
- Cerasuolo di VittoriaDOCG Comiso is one of the five comuni whose whole territory is Classico; start with the pale, cool-served style
- VittoriaDOC The DOC for varietal Frappato, the grape that gives Cerasuolo its scent of strawberries
Park along via Roma or the ring road and walk up: the centre between Piazza Fonte Diana, Corso Vittorio Emanuele III and via degli Studi is small enough to cover in an hour. Dinner is the meal to plan here, because Disio opens at 19:30 and does Sunday lunch only.
Where to eat
Hand-made pasta from ancient Sicilian grains, milled on the stone mills in the kitchen
Ristorante Disio. Via Principe di Carignano 37, open since 2009; dinner from 19:30 Monday, Tuesday, Thursday to Saturday, Sunday lunch only, closed Wednesday
2
Stop 2 · The DOCG's home town
Vittoria
The DOCG's home town, founded in 1607 and rebuilt in Liberty style on the wine trade of the 1920s and 30s; the Enoteca Regionale del Sud Est pours the zone at Palazzo Carfi, via dei Mille 131.
What to taste here
- Cerasuolo di VittoriaDOCG Classico means the 1973 zone: all of Vittoria, Comiso, Acate, Chiaramonte Gulfi and Santa Croce Camerina, held back until 31 March of the second year
- Frappato COS and Occhipinti bottle it alone: light, red-fruited, at its best chilled
- Pithos COS's Cerasuolo fermented and aged entirely in terracotta amphorae, made since 2000
Walk via Cavour to Piazza del Popolo and the Teatro Vittoria Colonna, then taste at the Enoteca Regionale, opened in 2024 as the regional enoteca's south-east seat. The famous cellars are in the countryside to the east: COS on the SP3 Acate to Chiaramonte road at km 14.3, by appointment only, and Arianna Occhipinti on the SP68 at km 3.3, booked through her own online page.
Where to taste
Azienda Agricola Arianna Occhipinti
Tastings from €38 · 2 hours
Booking required
Wines to Try
A few wines from the estates above.
3
Stop 3 · Castle and the valley cellars
Acate
The smallest of the three core comuni, under the Castello dei Biscari; Valle dell'Acate's tasting rooms are in the Bidini contrade below the town.
What to taste here
- Cerasuolo di VittoriaDOCG Valle dell'Acate makes Iri da Iri, a Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCG, beside its Classico; taste the two against each other
- VittoriaDOC Il Frappato, the wine the Jacono family is best known for, in its sixth generation on the estate
Book a Valle dell'Acate tasting online at least 48 hours ahead: 18 euro for two wines with olives, dried tomato and bread, 30 euro for the Brunch Ibleo with arancini and scacce. The Ippari valley and the Pino d'Aleppo reserve lie between here and Vittoria, on the association's nature itinerary.
Where to eat
Ricotta calda, warm from the vat, made the old way
Agriturismo La Maddalena. Contrada Bosco Rinelli at Monte Calvo, a farm restaurant and pizzeria open to non-residents; book on 333 119 2837
4
Stop 4 · The lake in the Classico zone
Biviere di Gela
A coastal lake inside a nature reserve, ringed by the Gela contrade that the 1973 decree wrote into the Cerasuolo Classico zone; Casa Grazia's vines run down to the water.
What to taste here
- Cerasuolo di VittoriaDOCG Casa Grazia's Victorya 1607 and Brunetti d'Opera come from the Passo di Piazza and Spina Santa contrade around the lake
- SiciliaDOC The regional DOC covers the whites and varietal reds the estates make beside their Cerasuolo
Leave the SS115 for the SP51 towards Scoglitti to reach the reserve. Casa Grazia, at Contrada Passo di Piazza on the Strada Vicinale Spina Santa, takes tasting requests through the form on its site; its two Cerasuolo di Vittoria DOCGs are Victorya 1607 and Brunetti d'Opera.
5
Stop 5 · The end, on the sea
Gela
ZTL city, see the driving notesThe road's fourth member comune and its only city: the Greek walls at Capo Soprano, the archaeological museum, and a corso closed to cars in the evening.
What to taste here
- Cerasuolo di VittoriaDOCG Gela's contrade were in the first 1973 decree, so a Classico can come from vines within sight of the port
- Terre SicilianeIGT Terre Siciliane IGT is where the zone's blends outside the DOCG rules go
Park on the streets either side of Corso Vittorio Emanuele II before 18:30 in winter or 19:00 in summer, when the restricted hours start. Ristorante Marino is on via Generale Cascino, a few steps from the old centre. Catania airport is about an hour and a half back east.
Where to taste
Catalano Viticoltori
Tastings from €20 · 1 hour
Booking required
Where to eat
Fish grilled over wood, or the fritto misto
Ristorante Marino. Via Generale Cascino 99, a few steps from the old centre, in the same family for over 60 years; Monday to Saturday, closed Sunday
Before you go
The practicalities
Visit prices are set by the winery and availability should be checked before travelling. Bookings open on the estate page or the provider's site.
When to go
Harvest starts in late August
Arianna Occhipinti's published harvest notes put the first picking anywhere from 26 August (2023) to 24 September (2013), finishing with Frappato and Nero d'Avola in the first week of October, so September is the month the cellars are working. June to August bring about a millimetre of rain on this coast, the figure quoted in the DOCG's own rules, and the afternoons are for the sea, not the vineyards. April, May and October are the comfortable drives, and the Classico is released from 31 March of the second year after the vintage, so a spring visit meets the new wine.
Driving notes
Fifty easy kilometres, and one corso to avoid
The whole line is 51 kilometres: provincial roads between Comiso, Vittoria and Acate, then the SS115 west along the coast to the SP51 turning for the Biviere and on into Gela. None of it climbs. Fuel is everywhere on the SS115. The only restriction on the route is Gela's Corso Vittorio Emanuele II between via Marconi and via Trieste, closed to cars from 18:30 on winter evenings and from 19:00 from 20 June. Comiso's centre is best walked from via Roma. Catania airport is 93 kilometres and about an hour and forty minutes from Comiso on the SS514 and SS194; Comiso's own airport is five kilometres north of the first stop.
ZTL
Only Gela restricts, and only in the evening
We found no camera-controlled restricted zone in force in Comiso, Vittoria or Acate; Comiso's centre is still best walked from via Roma. Gela closes Corso Vittorio Emanuele II between via Marconi and via Trieste from 18:30 to 22:00 on winter evenings, to 02:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, and from 19:00 to 02:00 from 20 June to September. Fines for a restricted zone arrive by post months later, so park on the streets either side of the corso before the hour.
Getting a car
Collect at Catania, return to Catania
Most UK flights land at Catania Fontanarossa, 93 kilometres and about an hour and forty minutes from Comiso on the SS514 and SS194; the return from Gela is 99 kilometres, about an hour and a half. Comiso airport is five kilometres from the first stop and worth checking for a direct flight, but do not plan the trip around it. Keep the car for the whole day: none of the cellars is reachable without one, and the route ends 51 kilometres from where it starts.
Leave the driving out
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Tours in this wine area
Nearby, not the route itself
Vittoria: Sicilian Brunch with 4 Wines and Vineyard Tour
Visit the vineyards in Vittoria and enjoy a Sicilian brunch with a food tasting of 4 organic and vegan-friendly wines, paired with Hyblaean specialties.
2 hours
From €50
Book via
Vittoria: Sicilian Cooking Class & Organic Winery Wine Tasting
Taste our most iconic organic wines, stroll through our vineyards surrounded by biodiversity, and learn to cook three classic local dishes.
From €140
Book via
Where to sleep on the route
One estate on this road has rooms, so you can book the cellar and the bed together.
11
Reading the labels you'll pass
The wine country it crosses
Cerasuolo di Vittoria
DOCG
Sicily's only DOCG. It is also the one Italian wine name built on a partnership between two grapes that do opposite jobs. Nero d'Avola supplies colour, body and tannin. Frappato supplies perfume and lift. The rules insist on both. The wine comes from the Ba...
Sicilia
DOC
One name covers the whole island: Sicilia DOC takes in every one of Sicily's eight provinces.
Before you ask
Strada del Vino Cerasuolo di Vittoria, answered
Yes. It was recognised as a DOCG by ministerial decree of 13 September 2005, after 32 years as a DOC, and no other Sicilian wine has joined it; Etna, Marsala and the rest are DOCs. The blend is fixed at 50 to 70 per cent Nero d'Avola and 30 to 50 per cent Frappato.
About an hour and a half of driving for the 51 kilometres from Comiso to Gela, with no leg over 30 minutes. With the enoteca in Vittoria, one cellar visit and lunch it fills a day; two cellar visits need a night in Vittoria or Comiso.
Not at the famous names. COS, on the SP3 Acate to Chiaramonte road at km 14.3, takes visits by appointment only, through [email protected]. Arianna Occhipinti, SP68 km 3.3, sells visits through her own online booking page. Valle dell'Acate wants tastings booked online at least 48 hours ahead, from 18 euro a head. Santa Tresa and Casa Grazia take requests through their sites. The counter that needs no estate appointment is the Enoteca Regionale del Sud Est at Palazzo Carfi, via dei Mille 131 in Vittoria; check its opening hours before you go.
Comiso: along via Roma or the ring road, then walk up to Piazza Fonte Diana. Vittoria and Acate: on the street. Gela is the one to watch: Corso Vittorio Emanuele II is closed to cars from 18:30 on winter evenings and from 19:00 in summer, so park on the streets either side before then.
Picking has started between 26 August and 24 September over the last decade, by Arianna Occhipinti's published harvest notes, and finishes with Frappato and Nero d'Avola in early October. July and August are dry and hot: the DOCG's own rules quote about a millimetre of rain on the coast for June to August. April, May, late September and October are the months to drive it.
Classico means the grapes come from the 1973 zone: all of Vittoria, Comiso, Acate, Chiaramonte Gulfi and Santa Croce Camerina, plus named contrade of Gela, Niscemi and Caltagirone. A Classico cannot be sold before 31 March of the second year after the harvest; the plain Cerasuolo can go out from 1 June of the year after. The wider DOCG reaches into the provinces of Caltanissetta and Catania.
The Greek walls at Capo Soprano and the archaeological museum are the two stops in town, and the Biviere lake reserve sits 12 kilometres back east. Feudi del Pisciotto at Niscemi, half an hour north, is the one estate in this zone in our data with a wine relais and a restaurant, Il Palmento, both booked by enquiry.
No. Modica, Ragusa Ibla and Scicli are the Val di Noto's baroque towns, about 40 minutes east of Comiso, and none is a member of the wine road; the association's territory is Vittoria, Comiso, Acate and Gela. They make a good second day from Comiso.
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