Can anyone suggest a company or private individual that will provide a car and driver for touring in Sicily? Thanks

I was also looking for a car and driver. I went to Sicilian.net. It seemed a little pricey. $450 a day but you ride in a mercedes. Sorry, I don't have any recommendations. We're going in May and may do the train from Taormina to Agrigento. Good luck!

Last spring I looked into this, because I knew I needed a way to go from Capo D'Orlando to a little town in the Nebrodi Mts. and back, and at first I thought I wanted to go and return in the same day, which would not be possible by bus. I was given the name and USA tel. # of some car and driver service in Italy, which I called from home. However, they operate only out of major cities. (If I'd been planning to travel between major cities, I wouldn't have needed a car and driver in the first place!) The price would have been outrageous; they would have had to charge me for their time and mileage to get to and from the pickup/drop-off point from THEIR base, which I think was quite far--Messina or Catania. I was told by people who know Sicily (including the hotel I was staying in overnight) that it would be easy to have the hotel find a car and driver for me once I arrived, but I was too anxious to have faith in this assurance, so I made plans to take the public bus and stay overnight in the little town, then take the bus back. As it turns out, things were unbelievably easy. The owner of the agriturismo place where I was going to stay was willing to pick me up, drive me around, take me anywhere, for a small fee, but a distant cousin showed up and gave me a ride to the town instead, and then other cousins appeared to take me on excursions. <BR>Conclusion: If you're going from one major town to another, it's easy enough to take public transportation (bus or train, depending where along north coast train is very easy, elsewhere bus may be the thing) so you don't need a car and driver. But if you're going into the boondocks and will not rent a car, you'll probably need a car and driver, but drivers may be easier to find once you're there. (Or maybe relatives will pop up from somewhere?)

$450 a day? Geez, I'll do it for half that! And it will be in a Mercedes. How many days? <BR> <BR>I'm serious! <BR>

P.S. <BR> I don't remember the name of the car and driver company and did not save the tel. #, so I can't give it to you. But if you think it would meet your needs, you may be able to get the name/# from a good travel agent or from a tour co. that specializes in Italy. (It was an Italy-wide car service - not specifically Sicilian. I got it from someone in the office of an American co. that specializes in Italian walking tours.)

Lee <BR>Driving in Sicily is not as bad as you hear. It is an experience you will not forget for a long time and what a great topic for a conversation back home. We drove our rental car for two weeks and returned it without any scratches. I would avoid driving in Palermo next time or drive there early morning on weekends only. We rented from Hertz and made all arrangements a few weeks before we left for Sicily. For two weeks we paid US $542 including all taxes and insurance for midsize four door Daewoo with a trunk.