Malta-Sicily itinerary help

Hi, Giangilberto from Milano, I can give you some useful tips on how to avoid unpleasant issues, specifically regarding the risk of fines associated with the ZTLs (Limited Traffic Zones) in the various places you’ll be visiting.
Palermo has a paid ZTL system where you buy a pass, though electric vehicles can enter for free.
Almost every historic center in Sicily has a ZTL, furthermore, in small towns, the risk of accidentally driving into one is higher, not lower.
Crucially, it is one of those Italian cities where an accidental entry can be rectified on the same day, something useful to know before you pick up your car.
To rent and drive a car in Italy, you need an International Driving Permit (IDP) if you are American; you must get this in the US before you leave, as it cannot be obtained in Italy.
Last but not least, in april, ferry connections to the Egadi Islands operate on a reduced schedule. Service is available but with fewer trips, so the last return sailing from Favignana is the key constraint for the day. You should check the schedule before setting out in the morning.

You certainly have plenty of time for all that. Just a couple comments. I guess the Ortigia market trip is part of your class, but it seems somewhat inefficient to go there for a daytrip, then later backtrack from Taormina for another four days in Ortigia. I did a pretty thorough two week tour of Sicily earlier this year. I found one day in Ortigia to be sufficient, including the market, which I didn’t think was anything very special, especially compared to those in Catania and Palermo. Taormina is beautiful, but very small and touristy; I think you’re right to keep that visit fairly short, but consider adding another night so you can visit Mt Etna as well as see the town (maybe you can fit that into two nights but that would be tight). Your itinerary doesn’t include what I found to be two of the best three sites in Sicily, Agrigento and the Villa Romana del Casale (the other being Monreale); try to include those, especially as you’ll have a car part of the time which makes the Villa Romana much more feasible. If you need to cut some nights elsewhere to follow any of these suggestions, I would take them from Ortigia and/or Trapani. Agree with as much time in Palermo as you can do, but you can also trim one of your six nights there, especially if you just made Cefalu a day trip.

I can only add that out of your whole trip ("32 nights") it seems that you are short-changing Malta (with just "6 nights" there). Since you're flying in and out, how many full, non-travel days do you really have there - maybe four? Five?

We spent 12 nights in Malta (and Gozo) and had wished we had had a few more - we had a great trip, but didn't get to a lot of the places I had hoped to check out. Of course, tastes vary and Malta is not everyone's cup of tea (most people experience it as a day-long cruise ship stop and don't get beyond Valletta or some beach), but if you like history and scenery, there's a lot of both in Malta. And it's a really unique blend of cultures and influences (British, North African, Italian, and more). Traveling only by public transportation will slow you down a lot, and will greatly limit your ability to get outta the capital city and explore the hinterlands, which have lots to offer (we rented a car, which is worse than useless in the main city, but critical for getting out to the far corners where great things sit); admittedly, driving there requires some nerve and you need to bring your A-game. Malta gets lots of cruise ships, and without your own wheels you will be limited to the most crowded, touristy places (which can indeed be very crowded and touristy).

Of course Sicily has plenty to offer on a trip of any length, so how to spend your days is the eternal dilemma we all will always face. But I thought Malta was worth it's own trip of 2 weeks or more. Gozo (Malta's second island) is not to be missed. As I've found to be true so often...trying to squeeze multiple destinations into a single trip means you cut corners and miss a lot of worthwhile places. For me, I've been much more satisfied when I break diverse destinations up into their own, dedicated trips. I found Malta was worth doing that. YMMV.

Some eye candy in case it inspires you...

Malta
Gozo

I just read OP again and noticed the 3 days in Catania. That’s good, and the Etna trip can be done from there rather than Taormina, so no need to add another night to Taormina.

Having never been to Malta, I can't comment on that part but I agree with the above comments from Slate. You have the luxury of so much time and you are leaving out some real gems.

So that gives you the option of just not having them take you back to Catania. With a car, you could go to the Roman Villa del Casale before lunch and then bend down to Agrigento for a couple nights. Two nights in Agrigento really means a full day sandwiched between travel days. You wake up ready to hit the temples/museum for a full day then eat and sleep before heading out the next morning.

Sounds like a great trip, though. Enjoy.

Sounds like a wonderful trip. My wife and I did a similar trip in September 2 years ago only using public transportation.

A couple of quick notes:

In Malta, Valletta was wonderful, but we also really enjoyed our 2 nights on Gozo. In hindsight, we would have liked to have spent another night on Gozo.

We did a day trip by train from Palermo to Agrigento for the Valley of the Gods, would recommend.

Between the pizza, arancini, and gelato, I gained about 10 pounds during our trip, be forewarned!

I agree with trying to work Villa Romana del Casale into your trip. It was my #1 site on our two-week tour of Sicily. Extensive Roman mosaics in situ, most of them on the floors. To help preserve them, they have built elevated walkways, which can get quite crowded when the tour groups roll in. So I would recommend getting there either at open (9 am) or later in the afternoon. They are open until 7 pm. Allow 2 hours.

Wow! Thanks for all the ideas. My head is spinning. So, just to clarify.... we were in Greece just a few years ago and Pompeii recently. I think we got rather full of the archaeological experiences. I know that Agrigento and Villa Romano are major sites, but just thinking that we would like to spend our time elsewhere. Are we crazy?

Also, we have done plenty of European driving, so we are not unfamiliar with ZTL's and all that. We also know the challenges of parking, etc and have decided to try to do without a car this time. I'm shocked at how much the rental car prices have risen the last few years!

Bguy36, I'm curious to know how you managed using only trains/busses and what kind of itinerary you had. I REALLY can't afford to gain 10 pounds! Thanks for the warning.

Slate, yes, originally we thought about 3 nights in Taormina and using it as a base for Etna, but decided Catania would work just as well.

No, not crazy; you like what you like, and you can't do it all. Personally I'm a sucker for ancient mosaics, and Villa Romana blew my mind. Pompeii was interesting, but you don't see many mosaics there. The ones that have been found have mostly been removed to preserve them; we saw some of them at the archeological museum in Naples, but it was just a sampling. The ones at Villa Romana are in place and some are HUGE -- like a 200 ft corridor!

On the other hand, the Valley of the Temples (Agrigento), while impressive in its scope, didn't especially float my boat. Not exactly "seen one Greek temple ruin and you've seen them all," but it's not something that grabs me.

Villa Romana doesn't really work too well with the rough itinerary and transportation choices you're thinking of, so for you it probably isn't worth the extra effort.

If you're "templed out", by all means skip Agrigento; especially if you've just been to Greece. But I don't think the mosaics at Roman Villa are similar at all to anyplace other than maybe Ravenna. They are really singular and special. But there are a lot of really great things to do in Sicily that will fill your time.

That’s an interesting comparison between the Villa Romana and Ravenna, which I can see, but I actually saw more similarities between Ravenna and Monreale, since they are both mosaics in churches with Christian subject matter, in a style rather Byzantine. The closest comparison I can think of to the Villa’s pre-Christian mosaics is the amazing collection of Roman mosaics at the Bardo Museum in Tunis, although there are significant differences of course, with the Villa being an in situ set of mosaics in a single Roman building complex, while the Bardo is a museum collection of different mosaics from all over Tunisia, in a building that is a lovely Moorish palace but not originally Roman. The museum at El Djem, Tunisia, near the Roman coliseum in that town, also has a wonderful collection of Roman mosaics.