3 nights in Sicily

Have you considered Palermo for a home base?

There's a ton to do there and it's a lovely city. I've been to Catania twice and it's definitely not my first choice for Sicily.

I'm not the Sicily expert but I can tell you that trying to get to Sicily without flying will eat up most of your 3 days just getting there and back. The ferry from Naples is more than 8 hours so train from Rome to Naples to the ferry is well over 12 hours of travel. And the same is true for all the train travel version. The all train version - the train care itself get loaded onto a ferry - is an adventure that some people like to do but it is a "slow travel" luxury.

With 3 days I would say you need to fly in and out and choose one location close to the airport - say Palermo maybe with a side trip to Cefalù - and make that the plan or pass on Sicily this trip. Trying anything else seems like hubris.

My $.02, have a great trip,
=Tod

I love Sicily, but there are so many great places to see on the mainland that I wouldn't consider spending 3 days to visit Sicily via ground transportation. You'll get a lot more bang for your buck by going somewhere on the mainland that's easily reached from Rome.

The plan is to be there for a full 3 days. Travel to and from would be separate. Thinking about Catania as a base with day trips to Taormina and Syracusa. Might be able to stay 4 nights.

I would discourage traveling all that way for only four days.

Unless you can fly home from Sicily.

The plan is to be there for a full 3 days. Travel to and from would be separate. Thinking about Catania as a base with day trips to Taormina and Syracusa. Might be able to stay 4 nights.<<

I say this as someone who used to overfill his trips with a lot of moving around... It's not crazy if you really want to do it, but I just think it's a lot of squeeze for not much juice.

When you're evaluating if it's right for you, be sure think about the travel involved just getting to and from Catania. A 1:20 flight really means 5+ hours door to door. It kills an entire day. The train ferry to Messina is like 8 hours and from there you'll be having to get transit to your new lodging in Catania. And those are just one half of the trip. And then the idea of going to Catania for 4 days and using it as a day trip base adds more time on a bus. You'll be in Catania maybe a day or a day and a half total.

There is an overnight night ferry between Naples and Palermo that is cheap, comfortable and a fun, unique experience. That would replace a night in a hotel. Palermo is awesome, but it sounds like you have some bucket list things that make it less desirable than Catania.

Alternatively, maybe just save Sicily for another trip when you can make the travel to the island more worthwhile. Use those five days to explore a different cool thing that doesn't involve such a disproportionate amount of travel time.

In Aug 2019 my wife and I stayed 3 nights in Sicily. We stayed 2 nights in Catania and 1 night in Taormina, with a day trip to Ortigia (Syracusa); it was a wonderful visit. We arrived at the Catania airport (from US via London), and departed via a day train (and the ferry it was loaded onto) to Naples; a night train is also available but I have read mixed reviews about it. More info is in our trip report (part 2). https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/italy-2019-sicily-sorrento-amalfi-pompeii-rome-orvieto-tuscany-siena-florence-cinque-terre-milan

We will be visiting other places in Italy. We just allocated 3-4 days in Sicily.