Sicily in 1 week

We spent a full week in Ortigia, didn’t want to leave. Look at the Baroque towns near Ortigia, Noto, Modica, Ragusa too. We also stayed in Noto.

Sicily is huge; a week will not allow a wide-ranging trip. I see four basic options:

• Stay in Ortygia and take some side trips, as already suggested. I'd add Scicli to the list of Baroque towns.
• Split the week between Ortygia-plus-side trips (perhaps 5 nights) and Catania or Taormina (both relatively convenient to the Catania airport).
• Stay in Palermo, which is the most sight-rich city in Sicily but a rather hectic place (a bit like Naples). You could keep busy just in the city for most if not all of the week if you wanted to. A trip of a few hours out to Monreale to see the cathedral would be a must; there are public buses as well as tours and, of course, taxis). A day trip by train to Cefalu is something many folks have enjoyed. If you want to see some magnificent Greek ruins, Selinunte should be possible, though it might require a rental car or a tour; I haven't checked the public-transportation situation.
• Split the week between Palermo (perhaps 5 nights, to allow for the side trips to Monreale and Cefalu mentioned above) and some other location for 2 nights. That could be Agrigento (more Greek ruins), the interior (for Villa Romana del Casale and some of the nearby towns), or Trapani/Erice. It would probably be very helpful to have a car for the two nights outside Palermo, unless you just want to go to Trapani/Erice and not make additional stops in that area or along the way. A rental car should allow you to see Segesta as well as Trapani/Erice, and perhaps also Monreale (thereby avoiding the tyranny of bus schedules). There are other points of interest in that part of Sicily, between Palermo and Trapani. Others have written about where they went in that area.

Rick now has a guide book for Sicily. I highly recommend that you acquire it.

I agree with Suki. Spend the entire week in beautiful Ortigia, with day trips to nearby towns, possibly even to Agrigento although that would be a long day. Fly in & out of Catania.

This is a second for one of @acraven’s suggestions: Split the week between Palermo (including Monreale) and Agrigento (Valley of the Temples at sunset) plus, if it works out, Villa Romana del Casale. You will not be disappointed.

We did Sicily in April for one week on our own. I would not miss Palermo and the surrounding sites-Monreale Cathedral is amazing. Palermo has authentic layers of culture and conquest jammed together in a fascinating city. You can get a good train connection to Agrigento, and then rent a car for a few days to see Villa Romana des Casale-one of the best sites I have ever seen We stayed in tiny Piazza Amerina and drove east through lovely citrus orchards with a backdrop of Mount Etna smoking. Food was wonderful everywhere we went.