Are you absolutely set on a guided tour of some sort? We visited Sicily for a week some time ago and relied on the island's bus service. We arrived in Sicily on a ferry from Naples (a wonderful trip in itself which I highly recommend) which stopped in Messina for a few hours, and then on to Palermo. We visited, by bus, Trapani, Agrigento, Taormina, Catania, and Syracusa. In between we saw a lot of the countryside.

BTW, we found Trapani to be depressing but I now know that it is a stepping off point for the off-shore islands; Catania just another big town; and enjoyed Syracusa and Taormina. May have been just our mood at the time.

One thing we found "interesting" were the photos of people who had recently died, posted on the walls of village buildings. In many cases, they were listed as murdered. This was a while ago, as I said, when there was a lot of local gang (Mafia?) activity. Gave us a start.

Depending on how you want to travel, consider local transportation, which in our experience was very good. I think this is because many Sicilians didn't have cars at the time. This may have changed.

Lucy, Toronto (weatherman keeps promising snow; where is it?)