Thank you so much for all the feedback!

So here is what I think is our new and improved plan:

21st arrive at 9:50am and drive right to Agrigento (2hr) to see valley of temple and temple of concord, stay over night one night.

22nd - drive 2hr27m to Siracusa/ortigia stay 3 nights visit villa romana del casale and park of Syracuse, day trip to Taormina/barone do villagrande, noto

25th drive 2hr45min to Palermo on the way stop for lunch/visit Enna (castle). Day trip to Monreale and cooking class.

27th fly out at 2000

Gives us 1 day exploring argrigento, 3 days for ortigia area and 3 days for Palermo area. We are cutting out mt Edna and hopefully adding a bit more authentic experience by visiting smaller towns. Now to look for apartments!

Much better itinerary! Buon viaggio!

Much better, but.. One reason to stay on Ortigia is to enjoy the place itself. Don't short change it for the day trips.

Thanks for all the help! I'll make sure to make some time to explore ortigia itself.

kja's interpretation of my less than well-written sentence is correct.

I think much better too. My hunch if you drive (carefully as kja said) straight to Agrigento, you can briefly nap and try to get to the ruins on the later side of the afternoon when it will be less crowded.

I join (if I haven't already) everyone else who has dissed Taormina and suggest you spend that day enjoying the island with what the italians say

Il piacere di fare niente.
The pleasure of doing nothing.

The Greek theatre of Taormina was great--but we were there at dawn...

I also think your plan is much improved -- particularly if you leave plenty of time for Ortygia.

BTW, I'm not sure how you define "town," but I'm not sure you are planning to visit any that are all that small. I wouldn't recommend any changes to include any though -- your time is already quite limited!

(@ cmstraf -- glad I read you correctly!)

Another vote for Monreale.

Personally,staying outside of Ortigia is missing the magic! The city with the wall around the ocean is wonderful and the puppet show on Weds. nights;the harbor with over 4000 ships that have sunk in classical times;the only place outside of Egypt that grows papyrus only makes you want to stay.