Sicily - 1 week tour. Cool towns and food...Help!

Help, you say! We need help , too.

Are you travelling solo?
What is your budget for hotels?
What makes a town "cool" in your opinion?
Interested in museums and ancient ruins?
Is 1 week 7 days on the ground in Sicily?
Do you have a Sicily guide book?
Are you physically fit?

EDIT. Will you have a car?

To add to Norma's excellent questionnaire, how do you like to travel? Hit and run or really see some things?

Here is site I used for info on Sicily. There are hundreds of links on this site and you can find just about anything you need to know about Sicily.
Best of Sicily

Traveling with 1-3 people
Will be renting a car
I like old rustic towns with awesome food.
I want to visit a Winery or some Farm-type place.
I like to stay a night or so in a town to use as a base.
I'm a photographer so i want awesome pics.
Mt.etna is a huge interest to me.

For Etna, stay in Taormina (lots of photo ops) and hope for good weather and road conditions. Erice, near Trapani, has great views. Other photo highlights are Cefalu, Agrigento, Segesta, Palermo, Siracusa. These places are all over the island, you may have to pick just a few.

Post again when you choose your cities for restaurant recs.

April 30th:

http://www.eavsrl.it/web/it

Train from Naples to Sorrento

May 1st:
Visit Pompeii/ (Bus/train)
May 2nd:
Positano/Amalfi/Ravello (bus)
May 3rd:
Capri(boat)
May 4th:
Naples to Sardinia (Plane) (Algerho) Rent Car.
Drive to Neptunes Grotto (2 Hours)
May 5th:
Visit Bosa (1 hr drive)

May 6th:
Need idea, based out of Alghero

May 7th:
Fly to Palermo
Sight see in Palermo
May 8th:
Rent Car
Drive to Cefalu (1 Hour)
Drive to Bar Vitelli (2 hours)
Drive to Taormina (45 mins)

May 9th:
Vist Mt.Etna
May 10th:
Drive to Syracuse (1.5 Hours)
Sight See

May 11th:
Drive to Noto (45 Minutes)
Drive to Ragusa (1.5 Hours)
Drive back to Catania? (1.5 Hour)
May 12th:
Fly to Naples or spend time in Sicily
May 13th:
Naples?
May 14th:
Fly Home

ANy more ideas?

One place you might consider visiting for great wine is the Barone de Villagrande winery. You may be able to have lunch there, but you'll have to check with them (they serve an awesome lunch).

I was in Sicily last summer, a first visit. I flew into Palermo, stayed in Palermo for the weekend and then picked up a car for week. Personally, we did not like Palermo. We day tripped to Cefalu by train and had a great day. Its beautiful, great architecture, sights, food and a beach too! I would spend more than an hour or two there. With a car, we headed to Agrigento as a base for several days and then to Selinunte, Marsala, Trapani, Erice, Segesta and also lots of beach and scenic stops returning our car to Palermo airport. We had a great trip and really only saw a small portion of Sicly, the eastern half of the island had to wait for another trip. I don't think you've really left enough time to make it worth your while to go to Sicily, try to plan a few more days. I also found that everything, driving included took much longer at times than we thought it would take. That said, I did not find it hard to drive in Sicily like others have suggested just slow. Donnafugata is a great winery to visit if you are near Marsala.

I agree that it would be better to spend more time in Sicily to make the trip worthwhile. It looks like you only plan 5 or 6 nights. Sicily is a big island with lots of beautiful countryside between many wonderful cities, towns, ruins, beaches, and other sights. You might consider, maybe you already have, visiting either Sicily or Sardinia this trip, and the other island the next time. Your itemized itinerary looks good, given the time crunch, although I fear that you would be "seeing" various places without really experiencing them, which would take more time in some places. Also, I thought Taormina was a very beautiful and enjoyable spot, and you don't give yourself too much time there, just one full day when you will mostly be going out to Mt. Etha.

I figure ill make another trip back to Sicily so I want to save some places.