I have friends that moved there and we love it. for visits, depends on what you are into. for Us we always do taromina and Mt etna. I like ruins so I try to see those. It was very cool to walk in the same place Archimedes was. There are also some great beaches perfect for littles. if you are in the right place.

Read Midnight in Sicily by Peter Robb. Took me a couple of tries but then I loved it. Part history, part contemporary, part travel.

PS I think you can also do a day trip to Stromboli from Cefalu if you want

I found the hill towns to be slightly disappointing— maybe because they seemed a little empty to us? The mosaics are great but slightly out of the way (or they were for us). We skipped Palermo btw bcs we heard it was a mixed bag so we just visited Monreale on the way to Cefalu. You will get great views of Etna from Taormina so it’s just a question of whether you want to visit it up close. We did a hike plus a winery visit (we didn’t go all the way to the caldera, not sure if that’s because it was closed or it would have precluded the winery visit ).

Trapani/Erice is one place you didn’t mention that might be worth considering. Also if you want a beautiful temple closer to Palermo you could look at Segesta.

Mosaics are great but they are inside a series of glass houses which can get very hot in the summer. So bring water and consider going in the morning

We're planning a trip to Sicily, and will be staying in Palermo, Cefalu, Taormina, and Siracusa. I'm now trying to plan day trips from these places. Our time is limited, of course, so I have to make some choices. We will definitely be visiting Agrigento. If you've been to Sicily, which of the following do you think are must-sees?

-Mt Etna
-Villa Romana del Casale (the mosaics)
-southeastern hill towns like Noto and Scicli

I know this is pretty granular, so I may not get too many responses, but thanks for anyone who can offer their opinion.