We spent a Week in Santo's apartment at the beginning of February. Maybe we were lucky with the weather but we had breakfast in the sun on the terrace every morning.
There is plenty of room in the apartment for two people. Santo made sure the heating came on so we weren't cold in the morning or evening. Of course during the day we were out seeing the sights.
Santo responded amazingly quickly when we asked questions about where to go, where supermarkets were, restaurants etc. We didn't go to Etna (2000 metres is more than my lungs can cope with) but we enjoyed Taormina (just take an ordinary bus). Be sure to eat cannoli (remember the Godfather: Leave the gun, bring the cannoli).
We only cooked at home twice (swordfish). It's always fun to try local places. Trattoria Cavalieri is only about 3 minutes walk and is amazingly good value.