2 months in Sicily…

Two months! That is wonderful! Sicily is bigger than people tend to think it is. Before you decide, what do you want to see and do in Sicily? Do you want ruins , beach, food and wine, churches, museums? Do you prefer big cities or smaller towns as your base? Big cities give you more options for restaurants, museums, churches, key sites, entertainment, etc and smaller towns may give you a more intimate experience with life in Sicily. If I had to choose only two I would pick a place in the east and in the west. I would probably choose Palermo in the west and then a smaller town like Noto or Ragusa or Scicli or even Siracusa/Ortygia in the east. A rental car would not be necessary for big cities like Catania or Palermo but will be very convenient for your daytrips. Given the size of Sicily and the amount of time you have I personally would recommend several bases spread throughout the island. Daytrips to many key sites will be very far if you choose just one or maybe two home bases.

Totally agree with Pat! Sicily is a lot larger than you might think. Suggest you look at what you want to see and do, and drill down your locations from there.

It’s a great place, and very envious you have that much time.

In 2001, we spent 2 weeks in Sicily with three bases: an agriturismo near Enna, Noto, and Scopello. We did a LOT of driving, especially from the central location near Enna. For next spring, we are almost done planning for a month in Sicily and that is still not enough to see and do what we want OR to avoid doing a lot of driving.

If someone had 2 months, as you do, and only wanted to rent a car for two locations, here's what I suggest.

Fly into Catania and, if you can make it work out due to its clunky schedule, take the train to Randazzo and base there. From Randazzo, you can get to Bronte (pistachios), Mount Etna, Catania, Taormina, and probably other places. Besides the Circumetnea train, I'm guessing there are buses, but we'll have a car, so I haven't looked into much public transportation. You could rent a car for this base --- I would.

Then I would base in Ragusa, taking public transportation to Syracuse, Noto, Modica, Scicli, and maybe even the Villa del Casale. Probably a good idea to stay for the night nearby so that you can get to the villa first thing in the morning before the crowds.

For the next base, and to get a seaside location and a smaller town, I'd rent a car and drive to Sciacca. From there, you can drive to Agrigento, Trapani and Erice, the salt flats, and towns and other ruins in the interior.

Then, drive to Palermo and drop off the car. See Monreale and everything Palermo has to offer (a lot) and perhaps take the train to Cefalu for a day trip.

Your interests might be entirely different from ours, and to avoid so much driving I would actually stay in additional two or three towns, but I hope this helps.

Thank you so much for the replies!

We think a base somewhere in the South East for the first month with a rental car, returning the car in Palermo and spend a month in the city using the public transportation to explore…
Alain

Oh Boy!
You are so lucky to have two whole months! We visited Sicily in 2022 for 10 days, and it was not nearly enough. That said, I vote for Scicli as your home base in the southeast. We stayed in an amazing apartment, ridiculously low priced, that had a wonderful terrace. We day tripped to all the nearby towns during our 4 day stay.

We are beach lovers, so chose Cefalu (over Palermo) as our northern base.
Both towns have enough to do on their own that they would be a great base.

Here is the link to "athena's rest" on Airbnb. Have fun planning!
https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/2237306?source_impression_id=p3_1718816603_P35bbD0h0DKLhR10