Syracuse to Agrigento stops

Near Erice , i is the incredible site of Segesta, ancient temple and a theatre on a hill, very evocative. Don't miss! I would rank it above Erice, Cefalu and Scopello.
Most travellers to Sicily would rank Villa Romana Casale and it's mosaics ahead of the Baroque towns of Noto, Ragusa and Modica.
Stay in Ortigia two nights and do a day trip( 30 minutes) to Noto by car( mostly on Autostrada), bus, or train. Then when driving from Ortigia to Agrigento, stop at Villa Romana for a few hours( we did the reverse). There was an attendant in the parking lot as well as many bus drivers so we did not hesitate to park our car hidden luggage in the trunk there.
Ortigia- There are several excellent restaurants there. We recently spent a week there and could have easily spent another week.

Great ideas!!! Thank you so much!

I think you've got insufficient time in Siracusa as well.

I hate for you to miss Noto and especially Ragusa. Modica and Scicli are also worthwhile. Among those four, I thought only Ragusa needed considerable time.

It seems to me you've allotted comparatively too much time in the west and not enough in the east (or do you have multiple days in Taormina--I'd cut back to one if that's the case),

I don't know where you're staying during the second part of the Sicilian itinerary, but perhaps you could squeeze in Piazza Armerina then. It will take some significant driving (over 2 hours from Palermo), but the interior of the island is interesting, and in truth P.A. is close to a 2-hour drive from Siracusa, Agrigento and Cefalu as well. For an out-and-back trip, I think it works best from Catania, but that's still over 3 hours in a car, round-trip.

This is why several of us keep saying Sicily needs a minimum of two weeks even when you have a car--the cuts to the itinerary are really painful even when you have 14 days. And I say that as someone with very little interest in classical Greek sites.

Acravan, I agree with much of what you said. Our friends are from the west, so that is why we are spending so much time there. Our original flight was cancelled, and the airline gave us the option of flying into Catania, so we're trying to make the best of it.

I like the idea of staying 2 nights in Ortigia: See Ortigia, a day trip to Noto, back to Ortigia for another night, then off to Villa Romana del Casale.

What are your thoughts of one night in Ortigia, one night in Caltagirone (after seeing Noto and Ragusa). Then go see Romana del Casale and stay one night near Valley of the Temples? That makes for 2 1/2 hours of driving each day, but is that doable to see the sights?

Maybe add another night in Siracusa and make a day trip to Noto. Noto only takes 2-3 hours to see. We went directly to Agrigento where we spent 2 nights, stopping off the see the Roman villa (that took a couple hours to visit). That got us into Agrigento late afternoon. We didn’t have enough time to visit Modica or Ragusa. If driving through Piazza Armerina, watch your speed, as there are a couple places where the limit is 20kph (12mph). After Agrigento, Selinute may be somewhat of a let down, but was still interesting since you can walk in the temples, not like in Agrigento. We were in Selinute for less than 2 hours. There are few hotels in Selinunte so we continued on to Marsala where we stayed at the Carmine hotel. A few miles outside of Agrigento are some nice rock formations at Scala de Turchi. There is an overlook where you can stop for a few minutes and take some photos. Between Marsala and Erice/Trapani are the salt pans. I think the ones at Marsala are nicer to visit.

Edited: Siracusa is about a 1 hour drive from Catania airport.

I think spending just one night in Siracusa is pretty much nothing if it's your arrival night after an overnight flight from the US. I'm not clear on whether that is actually the situation.

If Catania is your European landing point, the difficulty with having even 2 nights in Siracusa--aside from the issue of your driver's fitness upon arrival--is that at least some of you will probably be close to brain-dead and barely vertical that day. Arrival day is a total write-off for me. So by my calculation/philosophy 2 nights would give you one day to see Siracusa (Day 2 of your trip). Perhaps you won't care about the archaeological museum or archaeological park in Siracusa, given the rest of your itinerary. Maybe you can rush through Ortygia and make a quick trip to Noto on that same day. But certainly not Ragusa.

Not having driven in Sicily or been to any of the classical sites aside from the Villa Romana and those in Siracusa, I don't have a good sense of how much can be done in one day. I agree that two hours is probably about right for the Villa Romana.

Caltagirone is an interesting place, but I was only there for an hour or two on a multi-stop day-trip by bus, so I didn't do much. It's an old ceramics center. I don't know whether anyone has spent enough time in both Caltagirone and Piazza Armerina to compare them.

Are you planning to return to Sicily for another visit? Or will this be your only visit?

If you're planning another visit, and based on your current allocation of days - heavily weighted to the western side - I would call this your "Sicily Trip - West" and spend your early nights in Ortigia as a teaser for your next trip. Stop in Ragusa for a few hours (another teaser; free parking at the base of town makes it easy) on your way to points inland and further west.

Then plan "Sicily Trip - East" for another time to visit Toarmina, Mt Etna, Catania, Caltagirone, stay in Ragusa, visit Modica, Noto, stay in and see more of Siracusa/Ortigia.

Then we can swap info because I'll have driven Sicily Trip - East, while you'll have driven my next visit....Sicily Trip - West!

The driving times may be longer than you expect. We encountered fog on high mountain roads.
You need to drive defensively as stop signs and traffic lights are taken as suggestions locally in many cases. We have driven all over Italy for many years and Sicily was more of a challenge.
Google Maps as a GPS was excellent.

We drove a day, in the reverse of what you might do, starting in Ragusa, lunch in Modica (and chocolate in a little hand-made chocolatier shoppe) then on to Noto to see a couple of sights before heading to Ortigia for dinner. You could spend a few hours in the morning in Ortigia, briefly visit Modica, Noto and then Ragusa, either for dinner or to stay the night. If you want to see some ceramic making shops, then stay the night in Caltagirone before continuing west.

Those distances are all very small and the roads easy to drive. If you're planning a return trip to Sicily, I do not recommend the above pace!

We stayed in Caltagirone three nights, which were too many (kind of got "stuck" with an extra night there). I would never prioritize Caltagirone (or Noto or Ragusa, where we have also stayed) over the Villa Romana Casale.

Thanks for all the tips. Yes, the pace of the first 4 days is very fast, but unfortunately, our "vacation" will be with our friends for the rest of the 2 weeks in the West and Palermo regions. I will be rested before my 8:30 AM arrival in Catania, so that is not an issue with a 1 hour flight. It's just those first 4 days....

After much consideration and your ideas, here is my plan:

Day 1: Ortigia. I should be there by 10:00 AM. I'd like more time, so yes, I will be back.

Day 2, travel to Noto and Ragusa, leave by 4 PM to get to Caltagirore. The BnB Tre Metri Sopra il Cielo was starred in the Lonely Planet Sicily book as being right next to the staircase of 142 differently tiled steps.

Day 3, visit Villa Roma, get luggage at a hotel booked just for storing luggage, head toward Agrigento and see the temples!

Day 4, start heading west and see Scala dei Turchi and sights along the way to Selinunte.

Day 5-week 2, slow down and enjoy the region!

Any other must see stops on the way to Selinunte? Thank you to all for helping me! I decided to divide up the driving with stops every 1- 1 1/2 hours like RS does.