Sicily or mainland Italy

That is a very broad question.

I suggest you do some research on guidebooks (paper or online) to help you decide between Sicily and mainland Italy. You can also use resources on this website, like the section about Italy and also the tours, even up just to see the places tours tend to go to.

Once you decide, you can give us more detail, like when, how many nights, transportation (rental car, public transportation, or a combination of both) and specific questions. You can also use the search function above to find stuff in this website including past posts from others.

I am a hiker and have hiked all over Italy. Hiking is not a major tourist draw in a lot of places. I don’t think that you need to settle on Sicily to avoid tourists so that you can hike without company as there are so many regions all over Italy that are amazing to hike in.
Cinque Terre is not one of those places as it was discovered many years ago.
Look into the Abruzzo region, the Dolomite’s,
Tuscany (avoiding the main tourist towns) Chianti, Basilicata, and yes, the Amalfi Coast. Not many people go there to hike! Pick a place you have never heard of and you may be surprised.
Edit- None of my trips have been in the summer only in the off season.

We went to Sicily after we had visited most of Italy. It was a nice change and we have returned there several more times.

What time of year are you considering? We’ve now been to parts of Italy several times, and places with more visitors have changed over time. Three earlier trips that included Venice were all fantastic, but it sounds like Venice has now had to take lots of measures to manage overtourism. Tough to get a lot of excitement to go back, although if you’ve never been …

We also first went to the Cinque Terre back in 2001, and it was magical. Going back 20 years later, in October, not exactly the height of tourist season, it was absolutely mobbed. I certainly wouldn’t go in July or August, and probably will never go again. Again, if you’ve never been there even once, you may feel differently.

Rome, Florence, and Naples are justifiably popular, but can be quite crowded as a result. If you’re looking for places not overrun, here are some suggestions:

Sicily - we first went at Christmastime in 2012. Western parts, including Segesta and Erice, were fabulous. We also stayed in Agrigento and it wasn’t mobbed. Same with Caltagirone and Modica. The amazing ancient mosaics at the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armarena are a must-see in Sicily, and there weren’t many people when we were there in the off season, but walking from the basically empty lot where we parked the rental car to the actual Villa site involved passing lots of shuttered-up sheds and huts, which I suspected were souvenir and food stands in the high season. I can only imagine how crowded it would be in high season. when the parking lot is full of cars and tour buses, and all those shacks are doing a brisk business.

An island alternative to Sicily would be Sardinia. We went there in April 2024, and stayed to the south and west sides. Delightful, with an ancient history dating before the Romans and Etruscans on the mainland. Highlights included Bosa, Sant’Antioco, and the capital, Cagliari, as well as Nuragi archaeological sites.

Another option could be Sicily and mainland, but stay south. On that Christmas trip, after we’d toured some of Sicily, we made our way to Taormina (close to Mt. Etna) for one night, then caught the car ferry at Messina on Sicily to Reggio Calabria on the mainland. We rented our car (from Europcar) at the Palermo airport and worked our way counter-clockwise through Sicily, then after to ferry to Reggio Calabria, went north through Caltagirone (highly recommended), the Greek ruins at Segesta, Salerno, and to Sorrento, where we turned in the rental car. From Sorrento, you can visit, Naples, Pompeii, or potentially climb Mt. Vesuvius, by car or train.

Another possibility is some distance south of Cinque Terre, in the Bolgheri (Super Tuscan) wine region. We’ve taken in-person and Online cooking classes from Chicca Maione, originally from Naples, who settled into her place by the Tuscan coast, in Castagneto Carducci. She rents out apartments above her home, and we’ve done a lot of hiking in the area. She also does wine tasting tours, or can recommend places to visit on your own. Her Website is https://cookingintuscany.cc/casa-toscana/

Last, we visited Puglia, the heel of the Italian “boot,” this past fall. Stays included Lecce and Martina Franca. These weren’t crowded, especially later in the year. It appears this previously “undiscovered “ part of Italy draws lots of people, maybe mostly other Italians, to beach and seaside destinations over the summer, but we were more inland. We’re going back again this fall, and plan to so sone hiking in the Gargano National Park, where we haven’t yet been.