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Driving from Taormina to Savoca and Forze D’Argo on your own

Posted by (west Chester, PA) on

Hello All,

We need advice on driving in. Sicily, particularly in Taormina to Savoca and Forze D’Argo. We have not yet booked our rooms and wanted to hear of anyone who has done this. Of course, our goal is to visit the Godfather movie locations there. Also, is it better to stay out of Taormina proper (we don’t mind parking in the garage overnight as we realize the limited parking availability) or stay closer for better proximity to walk the town in the evening.

We will be going over in mid September and flying from Rome to Catania and possibly flying out of Catania to Naples for a few day visit before ending in Rome. We will be using ITA airways not Ryan Air. We will also be driving from Taormina to Agrigento, onto Ragusa Ibia then to Ortigia and dropping off the car at Catania airport before spending a few days in Catania. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you all in advance,
Marie

Posted by
7057 posts

Taormina to Savoca is only 12 miles and that road is fine. I’m not sure what your concern is about driving. Stay at or below the speed limit and familiarize yourself with ZTL (no driving zone) signs. I felt the ZTLs were well marked in the places we visited.

In Taormina, we stayed at Hotel Bel Soggiorno half way up the hill and it had free parking. The walk to the main part of the town took about 10 minutes.

Overall I thought that the rural roads were poorly marked so have a good GPS or use Google maps or a similar app for directions. I suggest you look up parking lots prior to the trip and bookmark them on Google maps so you can go straight to them. In 2018, the parking machines on Ortigia only took 1€ coins.

Not sure what you plan to do in Catania for a few days. The main sights can be seen in a full day, so two nights should be adequate.

Posted by
372 posts

Hello jaimeelsabio

I was just looking at the map and I was concerned about the steepness and curves, my husband is not at all concerned, just me. I get motion sickness so I really don’t want to take a bus/tour bus (my adventures on the Almafi coast were awful).

Thank you for your suggestions!

Posted by
372 posts

Forgot to mention in Catania, we hope to go to the WWII museum, see a few churches and will fly out there back to Rome.

Posted by
7057 posts

There are sharp twists and turns (switchbacks) going up the hill in Taormina and any other hill town. As long as the driver drives slow and anticipates trucks or busses possibly coming around corners, there shouldn’t be any issues.

The WWII museum by Catania is supposedly nice, but I haven’t been to it.

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