Need help with itinerary please

Can you fly into and out of Rome and Palermo instead (multi-city)?

There's nothing wrong with flying into or out of Palermo, but the Catania airport has more flights, so it's worth checking Catania if you don't like what you see for Palermo.

Here is an aside, but because you are staying so long - you may want to consider buy/buy-back program for a car. We did this when we stayed in Cortona for three months - was wonderful, affordable and came with roadside assistance and all insurances. VERY helpful when I did back into this LITTLE wall at train station (who knew/) Anyhow - worth considering.
https://www.autoeurope.com/our-car-rental-partners/peugeot-short-term-lease/

A car in Palermo would not be a good thing; traffic there is blood-curdling. Likewise, you wouldn't benefit from having a car while sightseeing in the cities of Cefalu (near Palermo), Taormina, Catania or Syracusa/Ortigia. Furthermore, all those cities are linked by train (albeit not very fast trains) as well as buses. There's even transportation cutting across the island from Catania to Palermo. Thus it's possible to get to the Villa Romana del Casale in the interior from Catania (possibly also from Palermo) by bus, but it would be smart to allot money for a taxi to and from Piazza Armerina.

Where a car will be helpful in Sicily is in seeing places not along the northern and eastern coasts. Although you can get to the attractive Baroque towns of Ragusa, Noto, Modica, Scicli, etc., (in the southeast not terribly far from Siracusa) by train and/or bus, having a car would make that sort of sightseeing a lot easier. Depending totally on public transportation, while possible, will slow you down considerably.

If you want to travel from Palermo to Trapani/Erice without a car, that is best by bus, because the train takes a very circuitous route. The distance is less than 65 miles, but the train takes over four hours!

One other thing about public transportation in Sicily: There is little if any bus transportation between cities on Sundays; that can require adjustments to one's itinerary.

I haven't driven in Sicily, but some of our other posters have. They'll be able to assist you as you start filling in the details of your trip.

Sicily, by the way, is likely to be somewhere between quite hot and deathly hot in late August and early September. All your planned destinations are in southern Italy; if you can shift the trip a little later in the year, the weather will probably be more pleasant. I wasn't smart enough to figure that out before my 2015 trip, and the heat was exhausting.

I think the way you have your trip planned out will work well, since you want to visit Tropea.

Fly into Rome and book the first available flight to Palermo.
Read Nico’s blog. It’s funny and very informative.

https://wearepalermo.com/best-palermo-tours/

You won’t need a car immediately. See everything Palermo. Then rent.

Head toward Syracuse, then drive to Catania. Lots of interesting towns along the way. From Catania, ferry/drive to Tropea. I’d drop the car here and train to Salerno (3H17m). You won’t want a car anywhere along the Amalfi Coast. Ferry from Salerno to the Amalfi coast towns of Cetara, (my favorite) Maiori/Minori or Amalfi, (transportation hub) ferry ride is 15-35 minutes.

I much prefer the ferry to the crowded long bus rides.

If Capri or Ischia are of interest, they are both accessible by ferry, and an hour from Naples by the same. You’ll have an easy taxi to Napoli Centrale and a short (1H17m) train ride to Rome.

Thank you for some suggestions, fly into Rome and flying out from Rome is more flights and cheaper. I definately want to spend beach time in San Vito Lo Capo, so Im guessing renting a car after our stay in Palermo, drive south around Sicily and head to Syrecuse and then head back up, leave car there and take bus to Catania then Taoromina and then ferry to Calabria.
Places I will base at in Sicily, Palermo, Cefalu, San vito lo Capo the Oritgia then end off in Taoromina.
Just wondering if I'm should be staying somewhere in between. Most likely at least 3 or 4 nights in each base.
Thank you,

While you’re in the southeast corner of Sicily, consider a night or more in Modica. It’s known for its chocolate, and is a wonderful town. We stayed in the lower town.

We rented from Europcar on Sicily, and after we were done on Sicily, took it on the car ferry from Messina on Sicily to Reggio Calabria on the mainland. We then drove north (you could take the coastal route to Tropea), and turned in the car after we reached the Amalfi Coast.

We finished, reaching Rome by train.

Cefalu's 42 to 58 minutes by train from Palermo, so you really don't need to change hotels there.

Whether you need an additional overnight base really depends on where you want to go in Sicily. You might need one for Agrigento, or for Trapani/Erice. Or of course if you wanted to go to one of the offshore islands.