Sicily/Calabria

Catania to Reggio Calabria is fairly straightforward by train/bus, but you will need a car to get to the village. Decide of you want to stay there or do a day trip first, as that will determine if you should rent a car or hire a driver. Then you can return to the vicinity of Catania (maybe the southeast) to finish up the trip,

Driving in Sicily is no problem. If you find yourself on curvy hills just take your time and ignore the crazy drivers passing you.

From Catania you can go by train to Reggio, Calabria. This does require a change of train in San Giovanni. Fossato Ionico does not have a train station. If you do not have a rental car look up bus routes from Reggio to Fossato. Or consider hiring a driver. Search for NCC driver/cars based out of Reggio, Calabria. They can give you a cost estimate for your itinerary or your transfer to the ancestral town, or see if your relatives or hotel can recommend a driver. If interested in a driver, ask here on the forum if anyone has a recommendation for that area. I usually also check tripadvisor for any recs or reviews. On the Sicilian side I suggest basing right in Catania since you fly in and out of there. I like Catania and you will probably have just two or for Sicily. Maybe devote one day to Catania sites and one day to a daytrip - could be Etna, Taormina or Siracusa. There are lots of tours available from Catania to Etna and its surrounding wine country or the Aci towns, or take an easy bus or train ride to either Taormina or Siracusa/ Ortigia from Catania.

Thank you all, for the responses!!!

I guess you mean, to take a ferry from Catania and then a train to Reggio.

We are now considering staying in Scilla as a base. Good idea? Is it easy to get around without a car? And I think the train ride to Reggio should be reliable. I guess it should still be nice in October

“I guess you mean, to take a ferry from Catania and then a train to Reggio.”

No. That is incorrect.

The fastest way from Catania to Reggio di Calabria is to first go to Messina in Sicily (by train or bus), THEN take a fast hydrofoil from Messina straight to Reggio di Calabria, with Liberty Lines. There is no need to take a ferry to Villa SG then the train down to Reggio, there are fast ferries directly to Reggio.
www.libertylines.it

There are no ferries directly from Catania to Reggio, first you need to go to Messina. If you go directly from the Catania airport there are also buses (FlixBus) from the CTA airport to Messina, but probably not super frequent. Check the FlixBus website.

Thank you !!!
How about if we would leave from Ortigia to Scilla?
Trying different options
Thanks