Aci Trezza and the Cyclops islands

Ten minutes north of the city, the coast turns to black rock and a line of basalt stacks stands a few hundred metres offshore. Local tradition says they are the boulders the blinded Cyclops threw after Odysseus; geologically they are the remains of an old submarine eruption, and they are now a protected marine area.

Aci Trezza itself is a working fishing village with a small harbour, painted boats pulled up on the slip, and a seafront that looks straight east at the stacks. That orientation is the whole reason to come at dawn: the sun rises out of the sea behind the islands and lights the harbour front while the rocks stay as silhouettes.

Later in the day the stacks lose their drama but the village gains it — nets, boats, and the black lava shoreline, which photographs as a hard graphic edge against blue water. Etna is behind the town and shows on clear days.

Parking near the seafront is tight from late morning in summer, and the rocky shore is genuinely sharp underfoot; the harbour wall and the slipway are the comfortable places to stand.