Going to sicily and Italy in September 2014. Are US credit cards accepted? MV and Visa?

yes

You mean MC - right?

Probably not in small towns so have a few E. in hand..Otherwise we have never had any problems but we only use the cc for larger deaings..Hotels, rail tickets, car rentals, etc.. not mom and pop places..

Where they accept credit cards, yes. However, the merchants that take credit cards of any kind in the first place, would be more limited than in the US. This includes some fair sized trattorias. Don't assume they all take cards. Additionally, there are places that take credit card that <u>you</u> would not want to use it. You do not want to use cards at places that take cards out of your sight to swipe them. This is not limited to Sicily. So people will jump in to say, "Don't you do that at home? Isn't it the same thing?" Yes, of course. But, no, a cloned card is more of an annoyance at home while the same thing would be a major PITA abroad with limited fall back options.