How to get to and from Venice and Taormina in April.

Alitalia has nonstop to Catania for $422. Curious, why you have picked the two most distant points in Italy to split a trip?

While you could take the train, it would be a very long trip and eat up a full day each way. If you flew, I would think you would fly something like into Catania on April 9 and back to Venice on the 12th. Check skyscanner.com - there is an Alitalia direct round trip for less than $200 per person. It is possible to do, but if you want more time in Venice then you may choose your second destination to be somewhere closer to which you don't need to fly. (Whether it's worth it to go there is a question of your interests. What is drawing you there? I haven't been there so I can't comment on it.) You may want to get this figured out soon so you can reserve your Venice lodging if you haven't already (I'm assuming you're talking about April 2014, but I may be wrong).

Fly. Taormina is beautiful, close to Mt. Etna.

Thank you all for the information. I chose Taormina because my SO wanted a charming town overlooking the ocean (lake?). She is now thinking of something closer to Venice accessible by train.

Nearby, in the same Veneto region, there are plenty of charming towns overlooking a lake along lake Garda: Limone, Malcesine, Riva, Torbole, Torri, and many others. Or you could even take a boat from Venice to Rovigno (Rovinj) in Croatia. The famous Italian Riviera in Liguria, including the Cinque Terre, is just a few hours away by train.

I like your suggestion Roberto. I'll look into staying in one of those towns for a few days.

Roberto beat me to it. By staying in Veneto, you can take more daytrips to some beautiful cities and towns, and come home to your lakefront abode every evening.

I would definitely go to lake Garda (aka The German Sea). Besides from VCE to CTA your wallet would be held hostage by the only monopolistic airline that flies that route non stop: Alitalia (aka aLOOTalia)