Eastern Sicily's three best cities are within 60km of each other. Here is the complete 3-5 day itinerary.
Plan my Italy trip →Eastern Sicily's three essential cities form a natural circuit of 60km radius from Catania: Catania (the Baroque city on the Etna lava plain — use as the base for the circuit), Taormina (45 minutes north by bus or car — the cliff-top Greek theatre above the Ionian Sea with the most dramatic Mediterranean view), and Siracusa (1h05 south by direct train — Ortigia island, the Neapolis archaeological park). Here is the complete 3-day and 5-day itinerary.
Day 1 — Catania: the Baroque lava city: Catania (Catania Centrale station — Catania Fontanarossa Airport is 5km from the center, accessible by Alibus shuttle in 20 min for €4 or taxi for €15-20) is the logical base for the eastern Sicily circuit: the cheapest accommodation, the best transport connections (trains to Siracusa every hour; buses to Taormina every 30 min; the Circumetnea railway to Etna departing from Catania), and Catania Fontanarossa as the most-used Sicily airport. The specific Catania visit: (1) La Pescheria (the fish market — off Via Garibaldi behind the Fontana dell'Amenano; open Monday-Saturday 7am-2pm; the specific chaos and color of the Sicilian fish market with the specific "abbanniari" — the market cries in Catania dialect — of the fishmongers announcing their catch); (2) The Catania Duomo (Piazza del Duomo — the Cathedral of Sant'Agata, rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake in the specific "Sicilian Baroque" style by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini; the Fontana dell'Elefante at the center of the piazza, the lava elephant as the symbol of Catania); (3) Via dei Crociferi (the specific Baroque street — the most concentrated Baroque architectural streetscape in Catania, with the Baroque facades of the churches and palaces lining both sides; the filming location of multiple Italian television dramas and films set in Sicily). Evening in Catania: the Piazza del Duomo and the Via Etnea are the evening passeggiata circuit; the Catania fish restaurant evening (the specific seafood pasta — pasta con le sarde (sardine pasta), rigatoni con tonno (tuna pasta), and the swordfish of the Strait of Messina — at the restaurants around the Pescheria area). Day 2 — Taormina: the cliff-top theatre above the Ionian: Transport from Catania: (1) Interbus/SAIS bus from Catania bus terminal (Piazza Borsellino, adjacent to Catania Centrale) to Taormina — 45 minutes, €4.90, runs every 30 minutes in peak season; arrives at Taormina bus stop on Via Pirandello, then cable car (funiculare) to the Taormina centro storico (€3 return, runs every 15 minutes); (2) Train from Catania Centrale to Taormina-Giardini station — 50 minutes, €3.90; the station is at sea level in Giardini Naxos, then cable car from Via Luigi Pirandello to the Taormina upper town. The specific Taormina visit: (1) Teatro Antico (the Greek Theatre — 3rd century BC, subsequently expanded and modified by the Romans in the 2nd century AD; €15 entry; the specific Taormina theatre quality: the stage is open at the back rather than closed by a scaena wall, so the view from the cavea includes the Sicilian coastline and Etna behind the stage — the only ancient theatre in the world with this specific theatrical composition); (2) Corso Umberto (the main street — the specific 1km of boutiques, cafés, and viewpoint terraces that has made Taormina the most visited Sicilian town; best experienced at golden hour, 5-7pm, when the light on the Etna snowcap and the Ionic coast turns the standard tourist shopping street into something genuinely beautiful); (3) The Mazzarò cable car descend (the cable car from the Taormina center to the small beach of Mazzarò below — €3 return; the beach is small and crowded in summer but the azure water and the sea cave of Isola Bella adjacent make it worth the descent for swimming). Day 3 — Siracusa: the Greek-Roman-Byzantine city: Transport from Catania: direct train from Catania Centrale to Siracusa (1h05, €8.60, every hour). The specific Siracusa visit (full guide in the dedicated Catania-to-Siracusa article): (1) Morning: Ortigia island (walk from the Siracusa station south across the Ortigia bridge — 15 minutes — to the Piazza del Duomo; the Cathedral built inside the Greek Temple of Athena, the Fonte Aretusa spring, the Baroque Ortigia streets); (2) Afternoon: the Neapolis Archaeological Park (3km north of the Siracusa station by taxi €8-10; the Greek Theatre 475 BC, the Ear of Dionysius cave, the Roman Amphitheatre; €15 combined ticket; allow 2.5-3 hours). The 5-day extension — adding the Alcantara Gorge and the coast: A 5-day eastern Sicily trip adds: (1) Alcantara Gorge day trip (the specific basalt lava gorge carved by the Alcantara river between Catania and Taormina — rent a car or take the Interbus from Catania to Francavilla di Sicilia, 45 minutes; the gorge entrance at the Gole dell'Alcantara park is 5km from the town; the specific experience: wading through the ice-cold river water between 25m basalt walls); (2) A second Siracusa day (for the Cripta del Peccato Originale cave church 9km from Siracusa — see the dedicated guide; and the Ortygia island evening, when the Baroque streetscape is at its most atmospheric).
Il terremoto del Val di Noto (l'evento sismico del 9-11 gennaio 1693 — la sequenza sismica iniziata con la scossa del 9 gennaio e culminata con quella devastante dell'11 gennaio, momento 7.4 della scala Richter, la più forte scossa nella storia sismica italiana) distrusse o danneggiò gravemente 54 città della Sicilia orientale e uccise tra le 60.000 e le 100.000 persone (circa un terzo della popolazione della Sicilia orientale dell'epoca). Le città completamente distrutte e ricostruite ex novo (tra le quali Catania, Noto, Ragusa, Modica, Palazzolo Acreide) furono ricostruite nei decenni successivi (1693-1750 circa) secondo i principi del Barocco tardivo che i progettisti e gli architetti siciliani (Giovanni Battista Vaccarini a Catania; Rosario Gagliardi a Noto e Ragusa; Paolo Labisi) tradussero in una specificità architettonica locale: il Barocco siciliano. La specificità del Barocco siciliano post-1693: le città ricostruite non seguirono il modello del Barocco romano (il modello di Bernini e Borromini, basato sulle grandi piazze ellittiche e le facciate concave e convesse) ma svilupparono una versione propria basata sulle facciate di pietra calcarea gialla della Sicilia sudorientale (la "pietra leccese" locale, tecnicamente il calcare nummulítico della Val di Noto — più dorata del calcare leccese) e su una decorazione particolarmente ricca di mascheroni, cariatidi, e fiori stilizzati. Il risultato: le 8 città del Val di Noto Barocco (Caltagirone, Militello in Val di Catania, Catania, Modica, Noto, Palazzolo Acreide, Ragusa, e Scicli) furono iscritte nella Lista del Patrimonio Mondiale UNESCO nel 2002 come "Il Barocco Tardivo del Val di Noto (Sicilia Sud-Orientale)" — l'unico sito UNESCO costruito come conseguenza diretta di un terremoto.
Ten insights from travelers on their second or third Italy trip: (1) The early morning city is the real city: Italian cities between 6:30am and 9am are a completely different experience from the tourist-hours city. The Piazza San Marco at 7am (before the cruise passengers arrive) has 20 people; at 11am it has 5,000. The Trevi Fountain at 6:30am has 10 people; at 10am, 300. The Uffizi opening queue at 8:10am has 50 people; at 11am, 500. The practical consequence: building the first hour of each day around the specific tourist sight you most want to experience uncrowded — then moving to less-visited sites during peak hours — is the single most effective Italy itinerary optimization strategy. (2) The Italian church organ concert: Many Italian historic churches (particularly in Rome, Florence, and Venice) host free or low-cost organ or chamber music concerts in the evening (typically starting at 8pm). The combination of the acoustic quality of Baroque church architecture and the specific organ repertoire (Bach, Buxtehude, Froberger — the specific composers whose music was written for the church organ) is an experience available in Italy for €10-20 per concert (or free for some concerts sponsored by the municipality or church). The specific churches with regular concerts: Santa Maria in Aracoeli (Rome), Santo Spirito (Florence), the Frari (Venice), Santa Maria della Vittoria (Rome). (3) The agriturismo breakfast: The Italian agriturismo (farm accommodation) breakfast is frequently the finest breakfast available in any Italian category of accommodation: the specific combination of home-produced eggs, home-baked bread, local honey, farm cheese, and seasonal fruit represents the actual Italian rural morning food culture that the hotel buffet industrializes. (4) The Italian pharmacy cosmetics: The Italian farmacia sells a specific category of "farmaceutical cosmetics" (cosmeceuticals — skincare products with pharmaceutical-grade active ingredients) that are not available in standard European pharmacies: the Bioderma, Caudalie, La Roche-Posay lines available at Italian farmacie are at Italian prices (typically 15-25% cheaper than equivalent products at French pharmacies). (5) The Italian Sunday market vs the weekly market: The Sunday flea market (Porta Portese in Rome, the Navigli in Milan) has more variety and more character than the weekday market but higher prices (the tourist proportion is higher on Sunday); the Tuesday or Thursday weekly market in any Italian city's residential neighbourhood has lower prices and zero tourist pricing but more food and household goods than antiques and vintage. (6) The Italian train first class upgrade: On Italian Frecciarossa trains, upgrading from Standard to Business or Executive class at the station (the "upgrade" — purchasing a supplemento at the ticket window) is sometimes available at significant discounts when the business class carriages are not full; the specific timing: the 30 minutes before departure at the station. (7) The regional wine by the glass at Italian enoteca: The Italian enoteca (wine bar) serves local and regional wines by the glass (al bicchiere) at prices significantly below the bottle markup of restaurants — the specific enoteca wine-by-the-glass experience (€4-8 per glass of quality Barolo, Brunello, or Amarone) is the most cost-effective way to drink genuinely good Italian wine. (8) The Italian supermarket wine section: The wine section of Italian supermarkets (particularly Esselunga and Conad) stocks local wines at wholesale-adjacent prices — the specific Chianti Classico DOCG that costs €25 in a restaurant is available at €9-14 in the supermarket wine section. (9) The Italian tabacchi lottery: Italian tabacchi sell lottery tickets for the Lotto, the SuperEnalotto, and the various scratch cards (Gratta e Vinci) — the specific Italian cultural experience of watching locals choose and scratch lottery tickets at the tabacchi counter is a piece of daily Italian life that tourist areas never show. (10) The Trenitalia CartaFRECCIA: The Trenitalia loyalty program (CartaFRECCIA — free to join at any Trenitalia ticket window or at trenitalia.com) accumulates points on every Frecciarossa, Frecciargento, and Frecciabianca ticket. The points accumulate by journey even for single tickets — if you are taking more than 4-5 Frecciarossa journeys on a single Italy trip, the CartaFRECCIA registration is worthwhile.
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