What are the most worthwhile things to do in Taormina on a first visit?

The Parco archeologico Naxos Taormina is not a single enclosure. Its nine managed sites also take in the archaeological area at Capo di Giardini Naxos, Castello Schisò, the church of Santi Pietro e Paolo d'Agrò at Casalvecchio and a dig at Contrada Fantarilli in Francavilla di Sicilia, inland up the Alcantara valley. Its administrative headquarters is in Taormina at Via Luigi Pirandello 105, with a second office on the Lungomare Schisò at Giardini Naxos. That spread is the real shape of a first visit: the interesting material is strung along a coast and up a river valley, not stacked in one old town.

Isola Bella is the one that rewards the most attention. Its protected status came from a decree of the Sicilian Assessore al Territorio ed Ambiente dated 4 November 1998, issued under regional law 14/88 and published in the regional gazette, G.U.R.S. n. 17 of 9 April 1999. The associated Site of Community Importance, coded ITA030031, covers 21 hectares. Botanical survey work recorded 284 native plant taxa at specific and infraspecific rank on and around the islet, plus 26 naturalized species — an unusual density for a rock you can walk to.

Management of the islet is shared. The Region's May 2021 announcement on access improvements names the University of Catania and the archaeological park as joint managers, with the university's CUTGANA research center involved, and describes a project to create a botanical garden and a multimedia museum with trails on the islet, funded under PO-FESR Sicilia 2014-2020. The same release notes that Sicily established Italy's first protected area under a regional law of 1981 and that over 20 percent of Sicilian territory is now covered by parks, reserves and sites of community importance.

The reserve's seabed carries Posidonia oceanica meadows, listed as a priority habitat, so the water around the islet is the clear, dark green of seagrass rather than the pale sand-bottom blue of an open beach.

Mount Etna is the standard excursion from Taormina, and it is worth knowing exactly what you are visiting. The World Heritage Committee inscribed it at its 37th session in Phnom Penh under Decision 37 COM 8B.15. It is a property in its own right and not an extension of anything in Taormina, which matters when you are comparing what a tour includes: a guided trip up the volcano and a ticket to the regional sites in town are two unrelated transactions under two different authorities.

• Up on the hill — Monte Tauro and Palazzo Ciampoli are both regional sites, so one visit to the park service's ticketing covers the town's core.
• Down at the water — Isola Bella's 21-hectare designated area is the smallest and most fragile thing on the list; go early and go slowly.
• Out of town — Naxos, Casalvecchio and Francavilla di Sicilia show the same park service's reach inland and down the coast.

Nine sites under one service does not mean nine sites on one timetable; each has its own staffing and its own access, and the inland dig at Contrada Fantarilli is a different proposition from a town palazzo. The islet's access works have been in progress since at least 2021, so trails and the planned museum may not be in the state a guidebook describes. The reserve's strict zone is tiny, which means closures for conservation are both likely and reasonable. And the volcano excursion depends on operators and conditions above the town rather than on anything Taormina controls.

The when-to-visit question in this group explains the regional free-admission and reduction rules that decide what all of this costs; the food question covers the protected products of this stretch of the Messina coast.