What to do on Labor Day in Sicily?

Last year while visiting Palermo I took a day trip to Cefalù on May 1st. It’s an easy one hour train journey.

You can visit the amazing cathedral, enjoy lunch, browse through the many shops, walk to the beach, eat a delicious gelato, then take the train back to Palermo.

Enjoy your trip!

Nothing to do with your question, but I was in Catania in 1978 during the papal conclave to elect Pope John Paul I. Nothing was open. I then had the misfortune to be in Catania the following month after he died and the papal conclave was electing John Paul II. Again, absolutely nothing was open.

My first thought was also Cefalu. If there are museums on your activity list, check their websites to be sure they will be closed on May 1. Maybe some will not be. Also check Monreale.

Another possibility would be a bus tour going somewhere you'd like to go that doesn't have a major pay-to-go-inside sight you'd hate to miss.

Be very, very cautious about depending on public buses to travel outside the city that day.

I was going to recommend a train jaunt to one of the interior towns where you could just walk around in a relatively non-touristy environment, but a quick look at the train schedules indicates that neither Enna nor Caltagirone is practical on May 1 because the trains are so infrequent. And Piazza Armerina has no train service at all.

Thank you all!! Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Just a thought....Since we would like to go to visit the Temple of the Gods in Agrigento, do you think that it would be a good plan via train to travel there on Labor Day? if you have traveled there, we would like to hear your feedback. As it is an UNESCO site, do you think that it would be open on a national holiday?

All other recommendations for activities on Labor Day are welcomed.
Thank you so much!

The Valley the Temples website says it is open every day from 0830 to 2000. As already pointed out, train or bus service may be an issue on a holiday.
https://www.parcovalledeitempli.it/en/

The Valley of the Temples as well as it’s Archeological Museum are both incredible.

Susan,

Since we would like to go to visit the Temple of the Gods in Agrigento, do you think that it would be a good plan via train to travel there on Labor Day?

Keep in mind that it’s 2 hours each way.
I generally avoid day trips that are over 90 minutes each way, but that’s just me.

What’s your complete itinerary?

Do you have time to spend an overnight in Agrigento, en- route to your next destination?

OK. This is really puzzling. I checked the Palermo-Agrigento schedule on the Deutsche Bahn website and found the earliest departure to be at 5:31 PM--obviously a no-go. The travel time was over 3-1/2 hours and two changes were required.

Something made me also check Trenitalia, and there I found departures at 8:43 AM, 1:43 PM, 3:43 PM, 5:43 PM and two later trains. The travel time is 2 hr. 4 min. and no transfers are required. Not only are none of the Trenitalia options listed by the Deutsche Bahn, the one train the DB has, is not on the Trenitalia schedule.

What on earth is going on here? What am I missing?

Trenitalia lists direct trains departing Agrigento for the return to Palermo at 3:15, 4:15, 5:15 and 6:15 PM, all taking 2 hr. 2 min.