Rome to Sicily- is this possible?

I took a night ferry from Naples to Palermo with a 4 person room, it was nice I would do it again. On the way back a night train from Messina to Roma also nice, 4 person first class cabin. The train rocked and rolled a lot and arrived in Roma about an hour ahead of schedule. The ferry was a much smoother ride than the train. I think a car rental is a good option of Sicily as the road are nice and the sights spread out. J

That's encouraging! Is there more than one ferry company? I think we would do a day train. Does anyone know if you can ferry to Rome?

With a car in Sicily, you could do something like this:

Days 4-5 Taormina (Mt. Etna drive)

Day 6-7 Ortigia

Day 8 Ragusa

Day 9 Agrigento (Valley of the Temples)

Days 10-11 Palermo (Monreale en route)

I had thought of only getting the car after Ortigia, but I guess it would be nice to have it for a mount Etna drive. We like to have mostly 3 night stays, so I worry we are fitting in a lot. Are Ragusa and Agrigento worth cutting Ortigia short? Would you priortize that over Taormina? I had picked Taormina partly because it would shorten up the train ride, I think

Maybe this could potentially help: https://www.directferries.com/ferries_from_sicily_to_rome.htm

It's a tough one, because you lose so much time traveling that you could really use on the ground in Sicily, but no great solution without two plane changes to get to Sicily from Canada.

So, I think that I erred in my previous post…apologies. We spent two nights in Taormina, the first on arrival. We thoroughly enjoyed the Greek theatre with the marvelous views but absolutely loved the Etna drive. Our first wine tasting was at Emilio Sciacca, a small, relatively new, organic winery with a great view of Mt. Etna. It was exceptional. Our second tasting was at Gambino Winery, recommended by our hosts. Gambino is a large scale operation with a lovely view over Taormina. The food and wine were good but the experience was impersonal…and we had been spoiled by Emilio Sciacca. We spent just one day/night in Ortigia which, for us, was plenty of time to explore the island and find good food. Ragusa was nice and a good base for driving to the smaller towns: We especially liked Modica. We stopped at Villa Roma del Casales en route to Agrigento which has fabulous Roman mosaics. Then, spent two nights in Agrigento. Agrigento itself is not impressive but the food was great, nearby beach is lovely and The Valley of the Temples at dusk is magical and, for us, was a highlight of Sicily. Then spent one night in Cefalu where we would not return. The stop at Monreale en route to Palermo was impressive. Two nights in Palermo were relaxing and full of great food. If you go to Sicily, and choose to drive, you will have an unforgettable trip.

You can ferry on GNV from Palermo to Civitavecchia each Sunday night (the same port as the cruise ships go to, just a different part of the same port complex) for Rome- it is a 14 1/2 hour passage plus the transfer to Rome-
https://www.gnv.it/en/ferries-destinations/sicily/civitavecchia-palermo

Leaves at 6pm, arrives next day at 8.30am.

New Rolling stock has been ordered this week for the sleeper trains from Sicily, which will include double beds- obviously several years down the line before it's in service.

Thanks very much for the ferry link. I don't see any dates available yet, but suspect I'm too early. It looks like it would be possible though.

MMI, you are giving me food for thought. I was leaning towards just public transport, but with our limited time, perhaps a car rental will give us a better experience.

A rental car will be helpful for part of your time in Sicily. There are no fast trains there, and many connections are by bus, which can be rather slow as well as infrequent. But don't drive in Palermo!

You need to rent a car. We spent two and a half weeks in Sicily. Give the least amount of time to Taormina; we were glad we weren’t there long.
We spent a week on Ortigia, also stayed in Noto, Agrigento , Selinunte, and Palermo, used them as bases to explore more.