Rome to Palermo, most efficient way?

Check out Google Flights. It looks like there are lots of roundtrip options for under $120. Be aware that you absolutely need to fly back to Rome at least the day before your flight home on Delta. If you miss your flight, you'll have to pay a lot to book a one-way ticket home.

Your best bet would be to B&B for the night in Fiumicino and take an early morning flight with RyanAir the next day. Try B&B Letterario (booking.com) - the owner will pick you up & drop you back off for a small fee.

Where do you go next? There is an overnight sleeper train (with Excelsior cabins) from Palermo to Roma Termini. That can take care of your return & minimize lost time... There are also cheap flights to Italian cities other than Rome as well (Pisa, Milan, Florence, Venice, Bari, etc.).

wayne,

Given your very short time frame, I'd suggest keeping transportation times as short as possible. From Rome to Palermo, I'd probably use a budget flight with Vueling. For mid-January, they currently have flights listed as low as €24.99 (plus a few fees of course) with a flight time of 1H:10M. They appear to have some flights in the evening, so a connection might be possible with your Delta flight.

I would not book a flight on a separate ticket and hope to make the connection that evening. Nor would I hope to connect from Palermo to a flight out of FCO. There are just too many ways you could be delayed, though if you only have carry-on luggage, that eliminates one of them.

Have you tried calling Delta and using a combination of miles and money? I did this a few years ago, I don't know if they still permit this.

If not, I would fly into Catania or Palermo and out of the other, if you plan to travel quickly across the northern part of the island. I would not take an overnight train unless I could sleep through frequent stops.

Wayne, just curious since I use Delta miles quite often. Did you choose the flight that arrived at noon and did Delta just change your reservation? If this is the case, I'd try to find a resolution with customer service. The only time I've had a major change was when they discontinued a flight or changed departure times for a booked flight - but never to another flight when the ticketed one still existed. It annoys me that quite often they charge substantially more miles for a more convenient flight.

Philip,
Delta for months post flights that are available, but when you try to actually book it it will not accept it. This was the instance in 2 of my 6 legs. They blamed this on a last minute change where the system was not updated yet. This is not true whereas the same situation is still present months later. They later blamed it on partner airlines not updating. They did however solve 1 problem leg, when customer service called from Singapore offering an air france (not even listed in their point system as a possibility) which was great. The remaining problem leg is from MPL to FCO. They list a direct flight, 1 1/2 hours, but they cant complete the transaction. Instead they route you thru CDG, taking most of a day. I may end up booking this leg thru Ryanair to save a day.

I've found that AlItalia has the most flights from Rome to either Palermo or Catania. A very few dollars more than the discount airlines, but more reliable and no baggage fees. If there isn't a flight from Rome to either Palermo or Catania after 7pm, then do what the poster above suggested re the BnB at FCO and take an early flight to either Palermo or Catania the next AM depending on what sites in Sicily you want to see. If you're planning on the "East side" Taormina, Syracuse, Messina, etc., go to Catania. Last time I did an open jaw flying into Catania and back out of Palermo because the husband wanted to see Palermo. We have friends in Taormina and have been several times. Can't help going back every time.