Small car rented at airport and driven around Sicily - good idea? suggestions?

We had no problems parking in the interior. Ortygia is essentially closed to traffic, with the ZTL sign, but has large parking structures for visitors. You don't want to drive in Palermo. Taormina has underground parking down the hill from the town itself, and all traffic is directed there; there's a free shuttle bus to the town. We rented a car through the broker www.Economycarrentals.com, which gave us the best price, and picked it up in Palermo and returned it there.

We have not done this in many years, but once you get into the swing of things, driving in an anarachistic manner can be fun. I took off someone's rear view accidently at the Palermo airport and my niece was very concerned. I told her this is Palermo and we do not know who is atatched to the car. People will make u-turns in front of you, cars pull away from the curb and is your reponsibility to know which one and when, and a red light is a mere suggestion and when they do stop it is like the beginning of a race without lanes when it turns green.

And I remember trying to find our hotel in Taormina and every time I made a wrong turn and would up at the bottom of the hill.

Then just to be contradictory, they obey all rules on the autostradas.

Ya gotta do it at least once.

I agree. Driving in Sicily is an experience not to be missed.

I even drove in Palermo. In Palermo, they don't double park - they triple park, and the noise of the horns is deafening. I did it 8 years ago, so today maybe the situation is even worse.
You can read about our visit to Sicily here:
http://www.travel.stv77.com/sicily/sicily.htm