We are flying into Sicily on Good Friday and out on Easter Monday. We have a choice of flying into Palermo or Catania, and will not have a car. Opinions, please, on around which of these two locations it will be better to build a brief visit. Many thanks!

Palermo !

Ditto. You might want to read images TR -they had their luggage stolen in Catania. Also, Monreale, Erice, Trapani, besides Palermo.

Agree - Palermo. Don't miss the cathedral in Monreale.

Thanks everyone. Still in the decision making process, but if it is Easter in Sicily it will definitely be in Palermo! Thanks!

The cathedral in Monreale maybe closed for services most of Easter weekend. My concern would be what will be open in Palermo or any city.

I would at least check out the possibility of flying into Catania and get a transfer to Taormina. Everything there will be open for the tourist/holiday trade. You can probably join a day trip tour of Mt. Etna over the holiday as well.

There are some very important religious processions in Sicily, some of they may be reachable by public transportation from Palermo.

I suggest you ask your question the TripAdvisor forum for Sicily because a poster there named Vagabonda lives in Sicily (and other regular poster whose name escapes me lives in Palermo).

Here is a link to the festivals around Palermo I was referring to. I don't know how many of them are reachable by public transportation but that might be worth checking out.

http://www.thethinkingtraveller.com/...in-sicily.aspx

Palermo is a wonderful city and I don't want to discourage you from going to it. I actually don't much care for Taormina. But the Easter weekend can often mean a lot of closures of sights and shops in Italian cities, especially in the south, so it all depends on what you want to enjoy.