The poshest of the resorts on Sicily's east coast, and a nightmare to drive around, Taormina is perched on a crag that pokes out into the sea. It also boasts a spectacular theatre, dating from the Hellenistic period, but largely Roman in what remains. It plays host to concerts today.
There is also a fairly well preserved, but largely ignored, odeon near by.
The Mediterranean Cultures class visits Taormina as part of the sequence on Romanization that closes the semester.