Sicily: Take2 16 night itinerary

I'd recommend renting a car on your way out of Palermo and returning it when you arrive Siracusa/Ortygia.

Villa Romana is pretty special. We visited it between Ragusa and Agrigento.

We really liked staying in Ragusa.

can we do Villa Romana as a day trip from….Ragusa? or Modica? Or, if we decide it is a. must, should we stay there?

You could do the villa as a day trip from Ragusa though it looks like it'd be at least 1 hour 45 minutes each way. Like I said, we did it en route from Ragusa to Agrigento. The disadvantage there is that your luggage will be in your car. There is a parking lot, you pay for so I feel like it is somewhat secure?? It was a chance we were willing to take. The drive time between Ragusa and Agrigento via Villa Romana is about 3 hours.

I thought Catania, the center, was a lot less chaotic than Naples. Very easy to walk around and explore. See if you can stay near the Duomo or Via Etnea. In that general area.

I walked the valley twice, once during the day and once around sunset. The sunset walk was definitely nicer, try to schedule the tour around sunset, if not possible, then I would skip the tour and do it on my own around sunset. I wouldn’t spend four nights in Catania, moving can be a pain, but even so, I would split them with Taormina.

Another perspective on Catania. First for three days, there's more than enough to do, especially if you are considering a visit to Etna and another to Taormina. Taormina is by far the most expensive place to stay in Sicily, and I didn't like the snooty vibe, and it was more crowded. The theatre is beautiful.

Catania has a wonderful WWII museum. I agree that staying close to the cathedral is best. In addition to the cathedral, there are many lovely historic, baroque churches. The fish market is really fun. We did the walking tour from the RS guidebook.

If one of you is a good driver and one of you is a good navigator, you should be fine getting the car after Palermo and keeping it until you drive to the airport in Catania to fly out. Use Google Maps to guide you to the parking lot nearest your accommodations, not to the accommodation itself --- this will help keep you out of the ZTLs and mostly out of narrow medieval streets. Will you make some boo-boos? Yes, you will --- we still do after more than a year (total) of driving in Italy. Look for the red circle on a white sign and do not go past it. Also, you can ask your hotel or apartment host or B&B host how best to navigate to the best parking spot, avoiding problems.

The Villa Romana is such a great thing to visit that I would take a night from Ortigia and spend it in or near Piazza Armerina. We have found that driving on coastal roads, while it sounds scenic, is often not scenic at all, in fact rather hideous, and I wouldn't sacrifice the Villa Romana to stick to the coast. I can recommend a wonderful and not fancy B&B near Piazza Armerina --- a real B&B with actual hosts and actual breakfast, not just a self-check-in room with some packaged food left for you.

I did not find Naples, Palermo, or Catania chaotic --- I don't really know what people are talking about when they say that. Maybe in summer? Is it about traffic? Lots of unfamiliar stuff and unfamiliar customs (like driving assumptions about passing a slower vehicle), but you do get so that you understand what's going on and see the logic in it.

Going to the opera in Catania, too? My husband went in both Palermo and Catania, and loved it.

Your trip plan looks very reasonable and lots of fun to me!

These responses are amazing!

Here are a few things:
We are recognizing that we SHOULD go to Villa Romana (and, we think, with a guided private tour). We think that we can drop one of the following: Ragusa, Noto, Modica - and just do two of those. Suggestions?

We think we will base ourselves out of Catania for the last 5 nights and go to Taormina as well as 2 different Etna excursions: one will be a 'hike' - all volcano stuff and the other will be a day tour of winery/farm/food.

I also had the idea that, if we decide to rent a car, we could pick it up in Agrigento - meaning we'd train down from Palermo, do the museum and Valley of the Temples and the next day pick up the car. Alternately, this is where we'd hire a driver in sections for Agrigento to Piazza Amerina and the Noto section then on to Ortigia.

Lastly, any suggestions for a good cooking experience? I'm a very good home cook and don't want a beginner's class.

The "lastly' was a joke cause I'll have many more questions!
THANKS
bean