We will be arriving in Rome 4-13, AM....we had anticipated taking a sleeper train down the boot en route to Sicily...i am having the hardest time booking the train for this..where will the train end in Italy and how will I get "over" to Sicily? Or should we just take the short ride to Naples and catch the ferry? Thanks...

When you are on the trenitalia.it website, just type in your destination in Sicily. I was just on the site and on April 13 there is a train that leaves Rome Termini at 11:45 and arrives in Palermo in the evening-no sleeper required. Or, there are sleeper trains at 10:20 and 11:30 pm that arrive the next morning. The trains are put onto a ferry at Villa San Giovanni, but that info isn't necessary for purchasing tickets. The trenitalia site showed availability for all three of those trains and you could purchase them online.

Why would you not fly?

we were told that flying IN ITALY would be such an inconvenience, though so cheap, we'd have to be waiting like 4 hours to catch a flight...this was from our travel agent...??? we have never flown with in italy..we are there 2 weeks and did not want to spend that ;much time in yet another airport after flying to Italy for 8+ hours..are we mislead?

You got bad input---seems to be a trend. Both Air One and Alitalia fly to both Catania and Palermo in about 1:15 from FCO. Sure beats a sleeper train and may be similar cost. We are doing that next month.

CP - The budget airline WindJet also fly Rome-Catania and Rome-Palermo.

www.volawindjet.it
www.flyairone.it

Hope this helps ...

Steve

P.S. Tell your travel agent he's in the wrong business ...

Yes sure sounds like bad info, though even if you did have to wait 4 hours for a connecting flight isn't that better than 6+ hours on a train or am I missing something?

Longer, but I must say we had fun on the overnight train...not cheap but unusual, because they do all the shifting of the rail cars on to the ferry and off, and they rehooking up and chugging off to Palermo while you are quietly slumbering.
It is a unique train experience, and since you are often knackered the first day, it is kind of an easy thing to do and you can sleep as much as you want. Probably more expensive than a budget airline, but something different...crossing the straits of Messina in a train on a boat...

and i think that is what we are interested in doing...experiencing that and using it as an opportunity to get over jetlag...where would we want to get out train ticket to? Rome to Palermo?

and i think that is what we are interested in doing...experiencing that and using it as an opportunity to get over jetlag...where would we want to get our train ticket to? Rome to Palermo?

That's right....Rome to Palermo, but you need to have a first class ticket and then buy the wagon-lit (sleeper) overnight to have a room for only 2 persons, yourselves only. You can then have a day in Rome after your flight and then leave from Stazione Termini(Rome) at night direct to Palermo. Again this is not the cheapest nor the most direct route, but for us it was cool...

You might want to look at www.raileurope.com

to see if you want to get a few rail days of unlimited first class travel, and perhaps a car renal during your stay. Cheap and practical.

Good luck. Use train sites listed earlier.