We are planning Italy next year. Thinking of flying into Venice around 25th March, a couple of nights in Venice, fly Venice to Catania, and about six or seven nights there.
Then back to Venice for a month, 5th April to 5th May.

Question - what is Catania like. We are pretty ignorant re Sicily.

Catania has a really nice tiny old centre and an ancient garden/plant collection. The outer part of town is really not so nice.

I'd look at Siracusa or Palermo as a first base.

The island has a train system and a very good bus system.

We haven't been to Catania (except for the airport) but really enjoyed Siracusa which is nearby. There are many places in Sicily we found worth visiting. We felt we only scratched the surface by also visiting Palermo and Agrigento.

We only saw Catania briefly, not memorable. I find looking at google images can be helpful. We loved Lipari, one of the islands, also enjoyed Taormina which has some wonderful vistas. Malta is close by, have you visited? An absolute gem that is overlooked.

Didn't get to Catania itself on our Sicily driving tour though we flew in there and hired a car for our week exploring ( first time visit.)

Our bases were Syracuse (though Ortigia is nicer, walkable from Syracuse and worth a visit); then a tour of the Val di Noto towns (Noto, Ragusa, Modica.) We also visited the coast at Marzamemi which has a very lovely, tiny core lined with pretty restaurants lapped by the sea.

We drove cross country (generally finding driving very straightforward though friends on another trip hired a driver and there are organised tour options too) and visited the outstanding Roman villa mosaics at Villa Romana del Casale.We had an overnight in an old mountain villa (simple, memorable ) to break up our journey across the mountains to Cefalu. I wasn't hugely taken by the countryside itself , I must say.Nothing special nor was Cefalu with the exception of the superb World Heritage listed Cathedral.

Our next base was just outside Bagheria (truly awful town in itself) in a pretty development which gave us easy access to the train into Palermo.

Don't miss Palermo! It's superb - the Cappella Palatina and Monreale (outside Palermo and easily reached by bus) are out of this world.I wished we'd had more time in Palermo.Great atmosphere too.

We then headed back east , driving initially for an overnight in the resort at Mount Etna.Seeing the volcanic slopes was great but the resort area was not attractive at all; rather than overnight here as we'd planned we made for Taormina a day early.Another place not to miss! It's gorgeous! Loved it.

As a big fan of The Godfather films, we also drove to Savoca, a tiny hillside village not too far away and another wonderful place which we will never forget.Used extensively in the films and no wonder.
We were then a short drive to Catania airport.

I cannot get enough of Catania..the relatively small size, the arhiteciture, the people, the food...I would include it on any visit to Sicily......please do discount the comments on garbage and graffiti..

We've been twice in the last two years and hope to return soon..if you ar thinking of going I am happy to expand more on that I like it so much:

https://www.hungryonion.org/t/catani...icily/40294/12



For now, from last month: Notte that I walked around after midnight as a solo foreign female and felt welcomed and had no fear........

The Roman villa mosaics would be up the top of my list to visit. But like all these things, it depends on what interests each individual.

what KayF says
The Palermo/Monreal mosaics on walls are stunning, the Agrigento line of temples is wonderful but can be busy, try for an early morning or evening visit and save the musuem for the day time. If you do stay in Catania, some of the airbnbs are in wall painted palaces and outside high summer are relatively cheap. Palermo city has great public transport, the 24 hour ticket is better than the route to route. Finding a place to park in Palermo or Catania is beyond tricky, not so bad in Agrigento, while Siracusa is a mixed bag with the island having a ZTL and a large car park at the entrance.
Food especially fruit and veg is very very fresh
The dialect is tough though.