Modern Lifestyles SPRING 2015 | Page 37

to 5 p.m. in the winter. Activities Practice your favorite sports, learn something new, or explore the island with Verdura’s many lessons, courses and excursions available to guests of all ages and abilities. Enjoy the pure blue water with water sports including waterskiing, wakeboarding, windsurfing and sailing or stay on dry land at the Sunball Tennis Academy, which hosts guest tournaments, special tennis camps and events with famous former professional players. Guests compete against hotel staff in a friendly weekly soccer match at the resort’s full-size soccer pitch, a perfect facility for team training that hosted the German national team as they trained for the 2010 World Cup. Children ages five to 16 can participate in the resort’s Juventus Summer Training Session with the world’s best soccer coaches coming from the Italian soccer team’s entourage. Take a bicycle on routes within Verdura’s grounds and along the coast to experience the Sicilian landscape. Learn the secrets of authentic Sicilian cuisine at cooking lessons from Verdura’s own celebrity chef or executive chef and then pair it with the perfect cocktail from a mixology class or a wine introduced by the resort’s sommelier. Explore Sicily with ease from Verdura, to the Baroque seaside town of Sciacca’s ancient sights and churches, a 20-minute drive west, and the Valley of the Temples in Agrigento, a 40-minute drive. The island’s capital, Palermo, can be reached in just over an hour and the Aeolian, Aegadian and Pelagian islands can be reached by helicopter. From sky diving to wine tours to private flights over the island, Verdura helps guests ModernLifestyles.tv 35