We are going to Sicily for 2 weeks in April, arriving in Palermo, where we'll spend 2 nights. Our flight home leaves out of Catagna. I'm wondering if it's worth a night or two in Catagna for our last stop.. From what I've been reading, Catagna seems quite similar to Palermo - lots of baroque architecture, busy city, some grunge to both. Would appreciate experiences and opinions on Catagna. Would be be wiser to use our last few nights in Sicily someplace besides Catagna? Thanks.

You may want to read this recent thread.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...of-catania.cfm

Thanks so much. Very helpful. Not sure Catania will be worth what we'd have to give up to see it. Also not sure it's going to be all that different from Palermo.

Catania and Palermo are day and night. Catania is an elegant planned city, while Palermo has the charm of chaos.

FWIW, I loved Palermo! But I didn't visit Catania.

I spent 24 hours in Catania two weeks ago, and loved it.

I posted some comments about the city on the thread linked above.

I would say it's definitely worth a few hours of your time before your flight.

I would add a day to Palermo and spend only one day in Catania. We loved Palermo but didn't really get much of a kick out of Catania. Be sure ti visit Monreale while in Palermo - it was my favorite destination in Sicily.

If you're leaving from Catania, you might like to have a couple of nights in Taormina. It can get busy if there's a cruise ship in at Messina, but in April you might be lucky. In any case it's lovely in the evenings when the day trippers have left.

Taormina is often even busier with people from cruises that stop in Giardini Naxos! I found it far too crowded for comfort during the day, but at Rubicund said, it can be lovely in the evening once the day trippers have departed.