Southern Italy

Do you have guide books for either location yet? If so, great. If not, I would suggest you get two as they will certainly help in your research as RS guide books have helped me every year. I see RS has guide books for parts of Italy and then LP has one for Sicily, all of which could be ordered elsewhere on this web site (see: "Books").

Sicily is very large, you will not be able to see all of it in a week, especially from one base. Pick an area and you will have lots to do for a week; Palermo can get you to Cefalu, Agrigento, Segesta, Monreale, Erice and Trapani (just an example). On the other side of the island is Taormina and its surroundings.

I really don't think Sicily is all that big. We didn't get to stay in Palermo because we couldn't get reservations, but we managed to stay in Taormina, Siracusa, Agrigento, and Castellemare and saw as well Piazza Armerina, Selinunte, Segesta, Monreale, and Erice. That was in six days, and we loved it. We were surprised how short the driving times between sites was. I don't think you could manage to stay in one location and see everything, though. You definitely need a guidebook.

I'm going to watch this thread, because I haven't yet done Italy south of Rome, but have been to Sicily twice and spent several weeks. Coming from the south of Italy with a car, you might be better off doing the East side of Sicily. (which is what I did on my most recent trip. We saw Mt. Etna, visited a beautiful winery, went to Syracuse, and spent a couple of days in a resort on the seaside of Cefalu which was spectacular. I sent you a private message regarding the apartment we rented, and I know you'll never be better fed, both visually and gastronomically than in Sicily. Now I want to know what you're going to do in Salerno! Sounds good to me!