Why not Sicily?

I think Sicily is just not a place most people think of visiting on a first trip to Italy. I just came back from a Sicily trip with a friend; my very detailed report is here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/sicily-palermo-caltanisetta-siracusa-taormina

Note that I had been to Italy six prior times, and my friend had been eight to ten prior times (I've lost count), and yet this was the first time either of us had been to Sicily. Part of the reason is that it's built up as a "difficult" place. As I say in my report, Palermo is made to sound like Naples on crack, and the constant drumbeat is how different the island is from the rest of Italy. Actually, we found neither of these things to be true. Palermo wasn't nearly as intense as Naples, and Sicily is still Italy; it's as different as all the regions are, but not more different. (Hawaii is more different from the mainland of the US, compared to Sicily vs the mainland of Italy).

The other issue is logistic. Since it is a distance from most of the mainland (particularly the most visited parts in northern and central Italy), it requires a LONG train ride, an overnight ferry, or a flight to reach. So, it's not easy to splice into a mainland itinerary; it's much easier to go to just Sicily, and again, that's not going to suit people who want to see Florence, Venice, Rome and other major places. And I'd actually agree that, unless one had a special situation, one shouldn't go to Sicily as one's first place in Italy - not because it's hard or because you won't have a great time, but because you'd want to see other places in Italy first. Since you've been to some of these other places, you should definitely go to Sicily - especially since you have a family connection.

Hi Debbie,
I would take a look at the itinerary for RS tours of Sicily to get general ideas for your itinerary. We are not experts on Sicily but did spend 10 days there in May 2012. Great weather BTW. We used the Lonely Planet guidebook. While we were staying in Siracusa on the east coast, we drove to Pachino because we were curious about the location where the Allied troops landed in WWII. It is a very rural area and very quiet. When we drove into the main square, we got a lot of curious stares from the locals. We drove along the winding coastline road gazing at the ocean between Sicily and Africa and enjoyed a wine tasting at the offices of a winery. Very friendly people. We didn't have any tourist info to refer to so just drove around. While we were in Roma, we enjoyed a walking/eating tour of Testaccio. The tomato growers booth featured a large variety of tomatoes all from Pachino. I hope that you can get in contact with your relatives as that would be the best way to tour the area. We still refer to Sicily as one of our favourite Italian destinations and would go back there in a hearbeat.

I used the site in this link to plan for Sicily.
Loads of info and hundreds if not thousands of links on this site.
I love Sicily and was on a RS tour the first year it was offered.

Best of Sicily

I loved Sicily - it's got everything! In addition to RS's tour have a look at the website for Andante Travel, a UK company that offer a three different itineraries in Sicily - one to Sicily in general and one concentrating on Syracuse and Ortygia - they do concentrate on the archaeology of the Island so lots of Greek temples - but there are some good ideas for routes etc. Even if you are not into rins, you should not miss the Valley of the Temples at Agreigento - a whole series of Greek temples in various states from almost complete to just a few columns, set along a ridge beneath the modern town. I think Sicily has some of the best Greek ruins anyway, even Greece!

We have visited Italy 4 times and one of these times was a 4 week visit to Sicily. We loved it!! We rented a car for most of the time, returning it before spending 4 nights in Palermo. We found Sicily to have some of the best pasta, seafood, and desserts; many interesting archaeological sights; beautiful towns and scenery; and some of the friendliest and nicest people. For help with your itinerary you could check tripadvisor.com Sicily forum. When we were planning our trip there was a Sicily specialist called Vagabonda on tripadvisor who provided some great suggestions to our tentative itinerary. We picked up a rental car at the Palermo airport and returned it there before spending time in Palermo at the end of our trip. Our itinerary was as follows:
Trapani - 4 nights; Sciacca - 3 nights; Agrigento - 2 nights; Enna - 1 night; Piazza Armerina - 1 night; Ragusa - 3 nights; Siracusa - 3 nights; Catania 2 nights; Taormina - 1 nights; Cefalu - 3 nights; Palermo - 4 nights. If we were to change anything we would probably not have stayed in Enna but visited as a day trip or not at all. We spent 1 night at an Agritourismo in Piazza Armerina and could have added the Enna night there. At each location we did day trips to sights that interested us.

Below are some of the sites we used for our research.
http://www.bestofsicily.com/; http://goitaly.about.com/od/sicilyitaly/p/sicily.htm; http://www.thethinkingtraveller.com/thinksicily/guide-to-sicily.aspx

Unfortunately, what we found is that there was more in Sicily than we could fit into our time there. We loved every minute of our trip and hope that you will too!

There's no reason not to go to Sicily, especially after you have seen the Italian mainland. In addition to online resources, I'd want to bring a guidebook specific to Sicily, such as Lonely Planet or Michelin Green Guide.

I LOVE Italy and have been half a dozen times, but two years ago I went to Sicily and she stole my heart! Agree with the poster above who stated that I also loved Palermo, Taormina, Catania, Mt. Etna, Syracuse, etc.

I started on bestofsicily.com and connected with a guide for the East Coast of Sicily who also brokered apartments, and I was so
happy with them that I returned for a second visit and took a different set of friends and did different tours on the second trip.
Legendofsicily.com

Read the previous poster's trip report that he linked you to in the above post. Check out legendofsicily.com as well. We especially enjoyed the day tour to Mt. Etna and Gambino Vini for a wine tasting. Fabulous day!

Been to Italy three times and heading to Sicily for three weeks in October. Am really looking forward to it.

We visited the week of Christmas 2012 and loved it - wish we'd had more time to stay longer. The December weather was pleasant, and historic sights were open. In addition to great places mentioned above, I'll add Erice (high above Trapani), and Modica (after the one night there, we would've stayed there another whole week if we could). We used the Lonely Planet guidebook. As for why Sicily isn't coming up on Google's travel radar . . . maybe Sicily is currently keeping a low profile so just those who put forth some extra effort, like you, can experience such a great place :-)