Sicily - 15 days itinerary from Catania to Palermo

You could have a look at the RS tour itinerary and tweak it to fit you needs/preferences.
https://www.ricksteves.com/tours/italy/sicily

I normally share your preference for fewer destinations. The sites are spread across Sicily, so during my 2 weeks last spring, 11 of which we spent in east/southeast Sicily, we stayed in 4 locations. Building on LIZinPA’s suggestion to use the Rick Steves itinerary as a starting point, I’ll put them in that order, though it’s not the order we traveled:

2N Catania
4N Giardini Naxos – stayed in a villa with free car park; used as a base for Taormina, Castelmola, Mt Etna
3N Ortigia/Siracusa
- visit Modica and Noto on the way to ….
2N Ragusa – free car park at base of town; our hotel picked us up and brought us to the hotel
My friends also traveled to Agrigento (1 or 2N) and Palermo (2N, worth more.) I did not as I plan to make a separate trip to central/western Sicily.

If you wanted to reduce the number of locations on the east/southeast, you could:

Visit Catania as a day trip from Giardini Naxos
Visit Modica and Noto as day trips from Ortigia (increase Ortigia by 1N)
Visit Ragusa as a day trip from Ortigia (increase Ortigia by 1N)
- I actually don’t recommend this one because Ragusa, quite easy by car, is so lovely and deserves more than a day trip and because you have to travel that direction anyway and would do a lot of back-track driving.

Despite offering these suggestions to reduce destinations, I don’t actually recommend it. Some of the best experiences were the slow-paced evenings and outdoor dinners in Catania, Ragusa (and everywhere in Sicily.) Perhaps you choose 1 or 2 locations to stay for 3 or even 4 nights to enjoy the magic of the destination, balancing those with some 1 and 2 night stays to keep you moving across Sicily.

Depending on exactly how many days/nights you have in Sicily, you can continue to adjust to your preferences.

Thank you very much for the very useful suggestions! I'll start making reservations now. Much appreciated

This was my itinerary (no jetlag):

• Palermo 2N
• Cefalu 2N (left luggage in Palermo, late afternoon train to Cefalu w/small overnight bag, morning train back to Palermo to get car)
• Castellamare del Golfo 3N -coastal towns, Selinunte, Segesta, Zingaro Reserve
• Piazza Armerina 1N - drove to Agrigento for the day, then to Piazza Armerina for the night
• Syracusa/Ortigia 6N - morning in Piazza Armerina, drove to Villa Romana del Casale, then to Ortigia. During the time in Ortigia, day trip to Etna (my one bad/wasted day - though the coast was sunny, the mountain was fogged in), Catania for the WWII museum (excellent, worth sitting in Catania's traffic). Due to a bad knee I skipped Taormina, also skipped the Baroque towns (not a priority). On the last day, I dropped the car at the Catania airport first thing in the morning and flew to Bologna.

I didn't go to any beaches, except Cefalu. I love ancient, tried to see all the Greek ruins (wonderful, wonderful) and the top Roman ones. Be aware that Sunday is not a good day for small towns! Most everything is closed. I like to drive and the main roads are good. I was happy to drive an hour or two each way for day trips. I had no traffic except in Palermo and Catania. I felt my time was suitable. 1-1/2 days in Palermo was perfect for me. Cefalu was the most expensive place to stay, but I really liked it in the evening, one full day was enough for the sights. The 1-nighter was unavoidable because Agrigento and Villa Romana were among my must-sees. Had my knee not gone out on me mid-trip, I would have done more day trips from Ortigia, but it was so beautiful, I was happy to slow down and enjoy it.

Hope this helps.

This was our itinerary. We too had a car.
3N Catania area (Catania, Syracusa, Noto)
2N Agrigento (stopped at Villa Romana Casale en route)
1N Marsala (stopped at Scala dei Turchi and Selinunte)
3N Erice area (visited salt farms at Trapani and Marsala)
2N Monreale (took the bus into Palermo)
1N Cefalu (stopped at Caccamo Castle en route)
2N Taormina
1N Catania before flying back
If we had to do it again, we would drop one day each from Erice and Catania and add Modica and Ragusa.

As you can see from the earlier responses, a lot of us have decided that Sicily works better with more, rather than fewer, bases. I based in Catania (for Taormina and the interior), Siracusa (for the Baroque towns), Palermo (for Cefalu), and Trapani (for Erice). There would have been at least one more base if I had wanted to see any of the Greek sites other than the arena in Siracusa, and I didn't have time for the Aeolian islands, which would have necessitated another base. If I repeated that itinerary, I would add a base in the interior.

You can use ViaMichelin.com to check estimated driving times from your proposed bases to day-trip destinations. Those times won't include stopping, getting lost, looking for parking, or walking from your parking spot to what you want to see.

Do not try to drive in Palermo, but the car will be handy (though not required) for getting to Monreale.

thank you so very much! I greatly appreciate everyone's valuable responses.

Yelena, are you more of a wine and food girl or more of an ancient ruins girl? That will help with suggestions.

Actually we have finalized our itinerary with the help of the very useful suggestions in the thread. So much looking forward to our upcoming trip! Thanks again everyone