Sicily

get the travel guide to start from your local library or buy one online to determine where you might be interested going and what you might want to do.

Here is a great link for all things Sicily.
I used it for tons of info for my trip.
Best of Sicily

Lots of info at BestofSicily site. How much time do you have for Sicilia?

To get you started, here is my VERY detailed trip report from April-May 2014: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina

How to get there? - fly.

Where to go? - how long do you have?

Things to do? - what are your interests?

Will this trip just be Sicily or will you be seeing other parts of Italy? Who is going on the trip? Have you been to Italy before? Etc. Etc.

If you give us more details, we can start guiding you. Help us help you!

Plan lots of time there. Sicily is large. Even for folks without a family connection, it's good to have about 2 weeks. Longer would be better. When you start reading a guide book, you will understand!

I urge you to fly. I made the mistake of taking the night train, and it was a miserable experience. The tracks are not smooth, and the train jerked constantly from side to side. I didn't sleep a wink, making for a miserable first day in Sicily.

I am going to Sicily soon on a guided two week tour and from what I have heard, Sicily is not easy to get around by yourself. With regard to visiting Mussomelli smack dab in the middle of the island, you may want to rethink that unless you still have family there you will be staying with. Once you go off the beaten path, there are little to no services for tourists - no hotels, etc. Also, in the middle of the island they are less likely to speak English or even Italian. Rather, they speak a Sicilian dialect.

Sicilia is not difficult to get around on your own, a car would be useful for your trip.

All Italians learn the national dialect in school, just as all Americans do. Italy has many dialects in each region; some people prefer to converse in their own dialect.

Caltanisetta is the provincial capital for Mussomeli, about 45 minutes' drive by car or taxi. You will find plenty of accommodations there.

Edit: a quick search on booking.com shows some accommodations in Mussomeli itself.

I found this web page with a bit of info on Mussomelli.

It appears that one can get to Mussomelli by public transportation if one absolutely must and is flexible about the timing, but it would be handy to have a rental car for that part of your trip to Sicily. Otherwise, you will likely be pinned down in that town due to the infrequency of outbound buses. Unless you want to spring for a taxi, that is.

I spent 18 days in Sicily in 2015, using only public transportation. It was workable for the places I wanted to go but does cost a bit of extra time, especially when traveling in the interior. Be aware that there is little bus service on Sundays, so plan that day carefully.

Isobel, unfortunately you have been misinformed.

Sicily is still Italy. So, everyone learns standard Italian in school and hears it on TV. Do they often speak a local dialect instead of standard Italian when speaking among themselves? Sure - as do many Italians all over the country. We found a fair amount of English, and when we didn't, our "tourist Italian" was just as useful as elsewhere in the country. We had no more difficulty understanding basic communication from Sicilians than from other Italians.

Getting around Sicily isn't hard. As everywhere, buses and trains connect larger centers; a car is useful for rural areas. Train routes in Sicily are sparser than in northern Italy, but buses fill in the gaps. Having a rental car isn't difficult except in large cities like Palermo - again, just like the mainland. And there seem to be far fewer ZTL's in Sicily than on the mainland (although Taormina has one, and Siracusa has one for mainly weekends).

Small towns have fewer accommodation options than large cities - the world over. Sicily is no different. But there are agriturismi in the countryside and guest houses in small towns. As a bonus, we found accommodation outside of Taormina to be quite inexpensive and good value for money.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with taking a tour. But I don't want anyone else to be scared off and think that one can't, or worse, shouldn't, see Sicily on their own - they can.