Taormina

Taormina needs 2 days: touring the Ancient Theater, a 3rd-century BC Greek theater rebuilt by the Romans with direct views of Mount Etna and the Ionian Sea, on one, and heading down to Isola Bella, an islet connected to the beach by a sandbar, on the other. April-June and September-October bring the mildest weather. It's expensive, among Sicily's most exclusive towns since European aristocracy discovered it in the 19th century. Its theater is considered one of the best preserved of antiquity and one of the few in the world with simultaneous views of an active volcano and the sea, a combination that has made it a venue for concerts and film festivals for decades.