Our SICILY
There are countless ways to DISCOVER SICILY...You can follow a guidebook, visit the famous landmarks, and return home with beautiful photographs.
Or you can experience the island THE WAY WE DO
Through the friendships built over a lifetime. Around tables where conversations linger long after the last course. In bustling morning markets, family-run kitchens, quiet villages, and workshops where traditions continue to be passed from one generation to the next.
This is the Sicily that shaped ALESSANDRO'S CHILDHOOD and eventually captured POLINA'S HEART. It is a Sicily of generous hospitality, seasonal cooking, timeless landscapes, and people who still believe that the greatest luxury is sharing a meal with those around you. It is not a Sicily reserved for a privileged few. It is simply the Sicily we have come to know through family, friendships, and years of living here.
It is OUR SICILY.
And it would be our privilege to share it with you.
Every
GREAT STORY
begins AROUND A TABLE...
In Sicily, THE TABLE IS FAR MORE THAN A PLACE TO EAT.​
It is where families gather, friendships are formed, celebrations unfold, and stories are passed from one generation to the next.
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It is WHERE
we believe the very best journeys begin.
Our story ALSO
began AROUND A TABLE
Before we welcomed guests to Sicily, we welcomed them to our table in Vancouver, Mangia Cucina.
Mangia Cucina was never just a restaurant. It became a gathering place for a loyal community of guests who returned week after week for honest food, generous hospitality, and the feeling of coming home.
"Why
DON'T YOU TAKE US TO
Sicily?"
that question changed everything.
For years, Chef Alessandro welcomed guests with the food he had grown up with in Sicily. Dinner often stretched long after dessert, as conversations turned to travel, family and life in Italy. Again and again, our regular guests returned from holidays in Italy with the same surprising confession.
"We couldn't wait to come back and
eat great Italian food at Mangia again."
​
Not because Italy lacked wonderful food—but because so often they had found themselves in restaurants designed for tourists rather than the places where Italians themselves gathered.
​
They wanted to experience the Italy Alessandro spoke about every evening: the family-run trattorias without English menus, the morning markets where everyone knew each other by name, the wineries, the artisans, and the tables where lunch naturally became dinner.
​
Eventually, one question kept coming up.
"Why don't YOU take us to Sicily?"
In 2023, we finally said, "Yes!"
Meet Your Host
ALESSANDRO RICCOBONO
For Alessandro, Sicily has always been home — even during the years he lived thousands of miles away.
​
Born and raised in Palermo, Alessandro's life has been shaped by food from an early age. His career took him from Sicily to the kitchens of London and eventually to Vancouver, where he opened Mangia Cucina and built a loyal community around the food of his homeland.
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After more than two decades in hospitality, returning to Sicily felt less like starting something new and more like coming full circle.
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Today, he shares the island as he knows it: through the flavors he grew up with, the places he returns to, the people he trusts, and the stories that rarely make their way into a guidebook.
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For Alessandro, the greatest compliment isn't hearing that someone loved Sicily. It's hearing that, by the time they leave, they feel they have made friends here.
Meet the Creative Director
POLINA PEN
Polina came to Sicily by a different route — and perhaps that is precisely why she sees it differently. Born in Bulgaria and shaped by years spent living abroad, she built her career in hospitality alongside Alessandro, from restaurants and private events to the countless details that happen behind the scenes before a guest ever arrives.
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When the two returned to Sicily, Polina found herself captivated not only by the island's food and landscapes, but by its faded palazzi, extraordinary craftsmanship, traditions and particular way of life.
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Today, she shapes the creative world of Viaggia — from the places we choose and the experiences we create to the way their stories are photographed, written and shared.
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If Alessandro introduces you to the Sicily he has always known, Polina invites you to see it with fresh eyes.
For us, true hospitality is the art of making people feel completely at ease. It is anticipating what a guest may need before they have to ask. Knowing when to be present and when to quietly step away. It is noticing the small details, adapting when plans change, and solving the inevitable surprises of travel without allowing them to become part of the guest's experience. ​
These instincts come from years spent in hospitality — running restaurants, hosting hundreds of guests, creating private dinners, celebrations and events, and learning that exceptional service is rarely about what happens when everything goes according to plan. It is about what happens when it doesn't. We bring that same standard of care to every journey we create.​
Our relationships in Sicily allow us to open doors and introduce our guests to remarkable people and places. Our experience allows us to take care of everything that happens in between. ​Because to us, luxury isn't about excess. It is the freedom to be present — to linger over lunch, follow a conversation, change course when something wonderful presents itself,and experience Sicily without worrying about what comes next.​
You simply have to arrive.
WE'LL TAKE CARE OF THE REST.
Our PHILOSOPHY
Hospitality begins LONG BEFORE GUESTS ARRIVE AT THE TABLE
