This may be comparing Greek Apples with Sicilian Oranges, but we drove and visited the Peloponnese at Easter last year, April 2018. We drove and visited Sicily at Christmas 2012. So transposing locations and holidays a bit, and factoring in that Sicily 2,500 years ago was an extension of greater Ancient Greece:
We landed at the Palermo airport from Rome, picked up a car, and headed west, not even seeing Palermo itself. Stopped at the Segesta Greek temple, and the ancient theater above it, before driving to Erice for 2 nights. Erice’s perched above Trapani, a small village with impossibly narrow streets, paved with tiles. Somehow we squeezed our tiny rental car around tight corners and to our hotel. Not sure we could’ve managed with a bigger car, big enough to hold a family and their luggage. At Christmas, the tiny village had many Presepi manger scenes, a festive atmosphere. Not certain what Easter would bring in Sicily.
Or compared with the somber, all-day tolling Good Friday bell in Aeropolis, Greece. That day, with things somewhat closed in Greece, we drove the Mani Peninsula. The scenery wasn’t closed. Again, Sicily could be a different situation, and there we never drove, just for the sake of driving and seeing wonderful vistas, although the Sicilian scenery was remarkable, as we drove from one town to another. We did a lot of one-night stands in just over a week in Sicily, between a week in Rome and a week in southern Italy. Although we’d had an apartment the week in Rome, for Sicily we did mostly hotels. The special place, which I’ll get to in a moment, was an agritourismo - if they’re open at Easter, that’s the place to be.
We did a kind-of counter-clockwise route, as you suggested. After Erice, we passed thru bigger Trapani, but then headed for Agrigento. Seeing the temples the next day, pleasantly warm in December, but likely insufferably hot in summer, was magical. April hopefully avoids blistering heat,
So now the agritourismo: although Rick Steves hadn’t started offering tours to Sicily yet, and didn’t have a guidebook (Lonely Planet was our travel bible that trip), we noted a place on his one Sicily PBS show from 1999. He’d stayed at Il Vecchio Frantoio (The Old Olive Mill), an agritourismo in the north-center of Sicily. We specifically worked out staying there Christmas Eve and Christmas night. The midday Christmas dinner, a grand affair that attracted a huge gathering of people, was quite a feast! They brought course after course, all fabulous. Seemed most everyone there was Sicilian; we were one of two rooms staying there, and the large dining throng didn’t speak English. Still, if you want relaxing, on a small farm (albeit one with a pool when it’s not December), and big olive press stones and other old-time artifacts on display, that’s the place. I don’t suspect that Sicily has the big midnight candle ceremony found in Orthodox Greece at Easter, but there’s probably some observance. Maybe the folks at the agritourismo could provide details about what, and where.
We also stayed in Caltagirone, and visited the Villa Romana del Casale in Piazza Armarina. Parking lot was almost empty, and the long row of souvenir stands were all closed up. I’m guessing it’s a long, long gauntlet of sellers in high season - not sure where April fits into that. The mosaics were truly amazing!
Modica, the chocolate capitol, is also a wonderful, ornate town, with superior dining. The upper town is way up high, above the lower town, where we stayed & the incredible chocolate shops can be found. Syracusa was an afternoon visit, as we didn’t have time to stay. We did stay in Taormina on a very rainy night, then caught a car ferry over to the mainland, for our drive up to Sorrento and beyond, finishing in Rome, where we’d started. You could circle back to Palermo instead, and actually see the city. If you’re going to many short-term places by car, many apartment home bases would be difficult to fit in.
