Contessa Entellina, Sicily, Italy
This place is for the pure of heart, for those who do not like cities or crowds, for relaxing tranquility, meeting distant relatives, spending time with good people, enjoying interesting history & cultures, rural small village joyful excursions, and just enjoying walking the old narrow streets up & down our unique village 🙂
More Videos to come ! 🙂
Official Website of Contessa Entellina (the Village in Sicily, Italy): https://kuntisa.it
I believe Google Chrome automatically translates the fully viewable site in English 🙂
Because we booked long layovers (3.5-4 hours), we were blessed to have made all flights even with delays; however, if we would have checked any baggage at all, the luggage would not have made it onto our plane as we ran directly to one gate as soon as landing one flight – announcing out loudly: “Please allow us to go ahead & of anyone who doesn’t mind as our next flight is boarding now“, or we would have had to deal with finding very late luggage sent on another flight if lucky when reaching our destination. We were very blessed to have beaten the summer crowns at the end of May or else our new “basic economy” fare category easily could have and probably would have checked our carry-ons for free making a mess of the luggage situation totally messing up our timeline with logistics 🙂 I advise not traveling “basic economy” if traveling during summer or peak travel times 🙂 I also advise only bringing one roller carry-on of small size according to the size rules of the airline for many reasons if you decide to go roller bag or backpack to be hands free (but the weight will be on your back, and one small front pack with items that do not want to lose. People fill the overhead bens, so because basic economy boards last, when flights are full & people bring too much or bags that are too large, basic economy suffers the consequences 🙂 Weigh your bags before leaving the home.
Transportation from Palermo: https://kuntisa.it/to_book/contessa-transfer/ 🙂
Renting an automobile is doable, but not advisable; we did it; now, you can benefit from our experience..:
Booking.com made our room cheaper, but renting a car was made more difficult because we had paid for the insurance through booking.com instead of directly through “Sicily by Car”, so Sicily By Car wanted an additional $29 per day for insurance; we declined. We rented an automatic; rent in advance to catch the few automatics available. If you are dead set on renting a car after reading my full advise, at least try “Hertz”, (another well known brand), or book directly through “Sicily By Car” if dead set on having the lowest cost deposit. Rent a small Car!
We were unable to go to the monastery near Contessa Entellina because thick thorn vines were reaching into the road; we were not about to scratch the car; we would have had to go through booking.com to deal with the insurance… I was fortunate to have good skill at driving during the few times that google maps took us through packed rock roads that had places to catch wheels, but I drove slowly & saw where to place the tires to not bottom out; the majority of the driving was on paved roads. I strongly advise only going to Contessa Entellina if you only have one week off of work. We ended up spending a morning in Palermo, then went to Contessa Entellina for a late afternoon & evening, then two full days & a morning before then driving to Cefalu. Driving to different locations wastes a few hours if you are careful like me, try to follow the rules, and take it very easy in the turns to not make your passengers sick. I could have done without time in Palermo (except maybe the marzipan), especially sense the parking was nearly impossible until we fortunately found a parking garage with very reasonable rates. We were very blessed again to find free parking “off of the roadway” Cefalu also was completely unnecessary taking time away from what mattered most, but the exercise walking the mountain trail up and back down the mountain was mostly enjoyable 🙂 If you don’t like crowds, don’t go to Cefalu 🙂 If you are going to find relatives &/or just enjoy Contessa Entellina, at minimum, one week should spent in Contessa Entellina (booking several days with Annalisa G., which we will get to soon), so you should just hire the transfer to & from the airport. We used up more of our precious valuable vacation time & energy traveling from Cefalu to Palermo before dark (we did all of our driving before dark) to check into a room to sleep a few hours before going to the airport. We had to fill the tank before returning the evening prior to our flight, which I have the absolute best room and host information for near the airport who will assist in returning the rental & driving back to the hotel to sleep before returning to the airport for the flight (cheapest transfer on the market) If you are dead set on renting a car video & photograph the vehicle completely; they had missed damage that was already on the vehicle but not in the paperwork description; the front desk man said to just photograph & show when returning… It isn’t worth wasting your time seeing more than Contessa Entellina or driving place to place or dealing with the logistics of renting an automobile. (to be edited 🙂)
Room: https://kuntisa.it/to_book/contessa-vacanze-byron/ 🙂
My wife & I stayed here; book well in advance if you want the only unit with kitchen 🙂 The roof top is superb to watch the sunrise 🙂 The location was perfect for us (with convenient parking) overlooking the village at a higher point in the village 🙂 We paid less the this property using Booking.com 🙂
Guesthouses: https://kuntisa.it/to_book/rocca-dei-capperi/ 🙂
The Abbey of Santa Maria del Bosco: https://kuntisa.it/to_book/abbazia-s-maria-del-bosco/ 🙂
Farm: https://kuntisa.it/to_book/terre-di-entella/
Much of this information can be found on the official town website.
Official Town website: https://kuntisa.it
Rocca di Entella, Elimo archaeological site is the Castle of Calatamauro 🙂
Most Important Festival: September 8th ‘Feast of Madonna of the Favara’ 😇
Crafts Persons:
Young people today produce good wine, cheese, honey, etcetera 😋
Listen to these words carefully:
No matter what someone else “says”(on Facebook or otherwise), I am told that Annalisa Gannuscio is the only (at the time of this writing) licensed tour leader in Contessa Entellina, who pays the tourist tax directly contributing to the village; she works with the mayor to enhance tourist experiences 🙂 She is a local, who speaks English 🙂
She made us feel like we were someone because I try to strengthen ties between the New Orleans Contessa Entellina Society & Contessa Entellina residents; Annalisa makes that link possible 🙂
All tourism to our village contributes to wherever money is spent, so it is a personal choice whether to support the entire village while spending money in shops, restaurants, and excursions, or only a higher priced tour leader (including excursions) claiming the extra money to go to the village, but does not. Making a donation is not always for what you may think it is for.
From the official town website of Contessa Entellina:
licensed tour leader:
I am Annalisa Gannuscio, 28 years old. I live in Contessa Entellina, a small village of Albanian origin. I have always had a passion for languages and travel, so I decided to take up the business of tour operator. I have a degree in foreign languages and literature; I have a master’s degree in sectoral translation, and my studied languages are English and Russian. I deal with experiential tourism; I like to get in touch with other cultures and meet people from other countries; I love to make my visitors experience unique, to help them to feel sensations and try experiences never lived before; I accompany them in our daily life, allowing them to immerse themselves in our traditions and show them magical and unknown places.”
Ps: If you want to find your roots in Contessa Entellina, please feel free to contact me!
Annalisa says that she knows people all over Italy, so if you are afraid of pickpockets, having tour guides throughout the trip may help…
It makes sense that if a tour guide is driving you around, you are less likely to hop on the pickpocket tour bus in Rome.
Official Town website: https://kuntisa.it
