Airlines and side trip

This is a public forum, not the Rick Steves Tour Department. You can contact them during the workweek.
But, off hand, you know that the tour starts at the designated hotel in Rome at 3 pm, and will end after breakfast in Florence on day 9. When you register for the tour, you will receive info on the starting point.
So you are free to make your own travel arrangements before and after the trip. Just be at the hotel in Rome on day 1.

Google , on the computer is a wonderful tool. I have planned / booked everything with only a few goofs , traveling with family /friends in the USA , England, Wales , France all these years . It has been a lot of work and I started months ahead of time . One two week trip " with a cousin from a different state ", we attended a Genealogy Conference at York University, it then included a London visit with friends from Kent . Easier then it used to be eon's ago with all the helpful sites and this forum too. I certainly have used it on the trip I am taking in April.. very informative to see what not to do as well as positive , helpful ideas.

We usually open jaw to and from Europe and then use budget airlines like Easyjet or Vueling for shorter intra European flights. Booked early they are usually pretty cheap.

I use the Matrix web sit to compare prices for airlines. I always use the " month later" option for the date. That way you can pick the best day and rate.

Sicily is a large place, so in a few days you can only see a tiny portion. You will have to be brutally selective about what you want to see.

The largest airport on Sicily is Catania (in the east), followed by Palermo (northwest). There are many flights a day from Rome to both of these; there should be 1-3 flights a day from these to Florence. Once you know what you want to see in Sicily, you can figure out if you should fly round trip to Palermo, round trip to Catania, or into one and out of the other (this last is definitely recommended for a longer Sicily trip). There's also an airport at Trapani (on the west coast), with fewer flights, and at Comiso (in the southeast), with very few flights.

Our frequent poster Roberto has explained that if you're flying from the US to Sicily, it's easiest to route through Munich, Frankfurt, or Rome. There are also seasonal routes through places like Madrid and Zurich. Beware of connecting from the US to Sicily via London, Paris, or Milan, as you have to change airports.

As for booking air travel for Rick's tours, you do it yourself, or you can use a travel agent (he has one he recommends). Note that travel agents charge a fee, which of course may be worth it for a complex itinerary or if you don't want to spend the time doing the legwork yourself. To see what Rick says about this, go to this link about your tour, click "Pre Tour" and scroll down to "Transportation": https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/heart-italy

To search for flights yourself, you can use Kayak for flights from the US http://www.kayak.com/flights and Skyscanner for flights within Italy http://www.skyscanner.com/

Many flights to Sicily are on budget carriers. If you are looking at these, see Rick's advice about what to expect: https://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/budget-flights. Note that since Alitalia allows one checked bag (budget carriers charge for any checked bags) and a more generous carryon allowance than many budget carriers, it can be cheaper overall.

If you're looking at Alitalia within Italy, use their International website. It has an English language option, and often shows lower prices than their US website dose, for the exact same flights. (This only applies to flights within Italy - not flights from teh US to Italy). However, note that while a few months ago someone on this Forum was able to do this without difficulty, more recently another poster said their credit card wouldn't work on that site.

I'll just add that whatever you decide, you'll want to arrive at least a day early, if not 2. If you do decide to go to Sicily ahead of your tour, plan to fly back to Rome the day before the tour starts. Remember that usually from the US you leave on Day 1 and arrive in Europe on Day 2 as it's an overnight flight. Coming back it is one long travel day with you arriving back in the US on the same day you left Italy.

Heart of Italy was my first Rick Steves' tour and it was excellent! I really loved it but beware....it will get you hooked on RS!! lol

By the way, if you only have a small number of days, consider adding nights on to Rome ahead of your tour as there is SO much to see and adding another day in Florence onto the end as, yep, SO much to see! Be careful about trying to add too much geographic area in too little a time. Rick says assume you will return, and he's right. You could do the RS Sicily tour next time. OR if you have time, do a back to back with Heart of Italy!

If you do add days, you will get the list of your first and last hotels right after you book so you can book extra nights before/after at the tour hotels.

Ken and Mary (hope that's right), first of all, Italy is wonderful, September is a very good month to visit, and whatever itinerary you choose will be very enjoyable and worthwhile, I'm sure. I think your first decision is just how many days/nights you can allow to be in Italy, the more the better I would say. As others have said, both Rome and Florence merit considerably more time than the short 9-day tour allocates, so it would be good to stay 1, 2, or 3 extra days in either one before and/or after the tour. Certainly arrive at least one day before the tour starts, to get over jet-lag, and to give a buffer for any travel delays. Of course there are also wonderful places to visit near your itinerary, in Tuscany, Umbria, even Venice. I say all this because Sicily is very large, with diverse towns and sites spread throughout the island, and I think Sicily is really very wonderful. Personally, rather than taking the travel time and expense to go to Sicily for just a few days, I would (and did!) leave Sicily for a longer, later trip. You can very easily spend two enjoyable weeks in Sicily. My own follow-up trip the next year included the RS Sicily Tour, which I thought was terrific! As far as air travel goes, once you decide the length and particularly the itinerary of your whole trip, you can dig into air travel fares and reservations. I don't know where in the US or elsewhere you are starting from. Once we know your itinerary and starting airport, I imagine many people here can give guidance. Certainly flying open-jaw can save you substantial time, at little or no extra cost. Also, while web sites comparing different airlines, routes and fares, can be useful research tools, I would recommend actually booking through the eventual airline's own web site, as the airline can much better assist with any problems than can some "middleman" web site service.