Southern Italy - things to do?

[Table 5]

Well since the New Orleans thread was a huge help.....

The lady friend and I are going to be heading to southern Italy this fall to meet up with some family for a week....we're probably going to land in Naples, and head south towards the Amalfi coast, and perhaps all the way down towards Sicily if time allows.

Has anyone ever been to this part of the country? Any tips of things to see (and things to miss)? Is the drive down south to the top of the boot worth it, or should we just stick to the region around Naples/Amafli? Is it worth going to the island of Capri? Should I bring really dark shades so she can't see me checking out the art?

We drove around the north coast of Spain last year without many solid plans and it was fantastic, but I'd like to be able to put together a loose itinerary if possible.

[wpgflamesfan]

I hear Sbarro's makes some good pizza. Don't forget to try Papa John's either.

[Table 5]

No worries guys, I'm bringing Pizza Pops.

[FunkMasterFlame]

If you are ever in Florence, you have to visit this mediocre Trattoria I know

See, if there's one problem with Florence, it's that it's slightly overrun with quaint eateries and culinary marvels, which is what makes this middling little trattoria such a treat. The building dates back to 2004, so it's got a nice modern feel to it, and it's ideal if you want to avoid all of the old-world charm that's lurking off the main drag. You can soak in the atmosphere with about a dozen other Americans and enjoy some truly pedestrian Italian fare in a highly manufactured and impersonal setting. It's quite magical, really.

And the food? Mamma mia, is it acceptable! Here's the best way I can describe the dining experience at this place: Have you ever been really hungry after walking around all day and just needed something heavy and starchy to fill your stomach with? And you honestly didn't even care that the food you were stuffing down your throat wasn't very good because you were starving and didn't want to go through the whole routine of finding a well- respected restaurant in a nice neighborhood? Well, it's just like that. Only it's in Florence!

[Jimmy Stang]

Oh man. You'll love it. My wife and I did this a couple of years ago as she has family near Cosenza (Calabria). We drove from Rome, through Naples, stayed in Sorrento for a couple of nights, and continuted along the Amalfi coast and then down to Cosenza. From there we went on a daytrip to Sicily and that was fantastic.

The Amalfi drive is amazing but a bit difficult to enjoy the views as a driver. It isn't as scary as people will have you believe - there are solid concrete barriers on the side to prevent you from going over. But we saw a rental car ahead of us clip one. Not me though. Trying to stop and vew things is also tricky as there is often nowhere to park. And occasionally you'll have to stop and even back up as a tour bus tries to navigate the corner coming the other way.

Sorrento is a cool place. I'd try and park the car and walk, and if you're staying in the hills near the city, some of the hotels have shuttles. The scooters and motorbikes are crazy in Italy, but they're especially scary in Sorrento. Guys will pass you in the centre when there's absolutely no room to do so, but they squeeze through.

The place that we stayed at near Sorrento was called Il Nido, and it was great. They had a free shuttle every hour to the city and back (for the reasons in the paragraph above!). The place is family run and isn't five stars by any stretch, but the family also does the cooking in the restaurant. I had some pasta with cream sauce, zucchini, and shrimp and it was nearly a religious experience.

The autostradas there are fast an efficient. The cities, on the other hand, are often crazy. If you go to Sicily, you'll know what I mean when you get to Messina. There are lanes painted on the road, but nobody uses them. People turning left in the straight lane, people going straight in the turning lane. Every man for himself. It was the most stressful driving experience of my life, and I loved it. You just have to play along and get your game face on. Messina itself is a bit busy and not all that pretty, so we continued on to Taromina for lunch which was nice.

Pompeii is really close to Naples (pretty much a suburb). There is a train there from Sorrento and it was dirt cheap. The actual ruins are pretty cool, but they are huge and there aren't many artifacts there. In hindsight, we learned that most of the artifacts are in the museum in Naples, and not going there is one of my regrets.

You'll find that as you head further South the use of English drops off quite a bit. Sorrento you'll get by fine, but when you're in rural southern Italy, good luck. But everyone is happy to help and you can usually figure it out with hand gestures. Italians love it is you make an effort before jumping straight into "Parla Inglese?", so learn your simple phrases.

One other word of advice is to take along a GPS with European maps. That thing was amazing. Set your "home" point as where your home base is, and go and get lost in the countryside. Vineyards, olive farms, random encounters. It is funner if you aren't trying to remember your way back, and when you're done, push a button and you'll get exactly where you need to be.

Sorry for the wordiness... I have been to a few places around the world, and I think that I enjoyed Southern Italy the most. Can you tell?

[Jimmy Stang]

And a funny side note... when we first got to Rome we decided that we'd have a quick bite and went into a little take out place for pizza. We were ordering in Italian and the guy interrupts us and asks in perfect English: "Where are you guys from?". We told him Canada, and he said "I know, but where?". So we told him that we were from Calgary. "My brother lives in Okotoks!" Small world.

[Table 5]

Thanks for the advice Jimmy. I'm not too worried about the driving.....actually, I'm looking forward to it. It sounds a lot like the driving experience in Spain (especially with the scooters), and I came through that one alive and loving it. The first 20 minutes out of Barcelona was pretty nutty. Not understanding what the lane markers meant i drove into wrong lane of a 8 lane toll highway, and because it was an unmanned gate meant only for pass holders, I had to BACK UP out of it, enraging half of Barcelona behind me....if my heart can survive that, I'll be fine in Italy).

Driving is half the fun of Europe imo. There's nothing like driving on the side on a tiny, windy road in a nice sporty car, with the mountains on one side, and an ocean drop on the other.

[CaptainCrunch]

Force the surrender of their army?

[simmer2]

Hey there, I toured around Amalfi coast for 9 days and it is truly spectacular. We started in Salerno where a lot of WWII Canadians landed when invading Italy. We visited Paestum which is about an hour south and is a very well preserved Roman ruin.

Heading north from there we stayed in a town called Atrani, just outside of Amalfi (there's a town called Amalfi along with the coast). It was quaint and about a 15min walk to the hustle and bustle of Amalfi Town....but man was it amazing. We used that as our hub and took a boat trip to the Isle of Capri (which is spectacular), saw the blue grotto, and just enjoyed the area. The boat trips are definitely worth it as the view from the water up to the towns is spectacular.

We finished our Amalfi tour in Sorrento which is a more touristy but still gorgeous city. From there its not too far to get to Pompeii or Mt. Vesuvius.

Either way, you are going to absolutely love it....the road is pretty damn scary but quite the feat of engineering.

If you want any further info, let me know and I'll try and access my memory banks...ha.

[Table 5]

Thank simmer. I sure have some more questions....a little on the logistical side.

I like the idea of using one town as a base and exploring from there. Was Altrani ideal for this, or did you think another town (ie Sorrento) would've been more ideal as a hub?

How was it having a car? Considering the terrain it seems like there isn't that much space for parking etc. Did the hotels you stayed at have onsite parking, or was it a free-for-all street thing? I ask as the car question from above is somewhat relevant....I'm totally fine with walking places if it makes sense, but it would be nice if the car parking wasn't something we'd need to think about too much.

Also, was Capri a day-trip sort of place, or would you recommend staying there overnight?

[gargamel]

I was over there for my honeymoon last August and I loved it. We didn't spend much time in Naples, but we were less than impressed while we were there. Don't let me scare you off from it if you were hoping to spend some time there because I'm sure there are nice areas of the city, but we didn't see them.

Amalfi was great though. The whole coast is somewhat touristy, but it's beautiful enough that you won't care. We stayed in Furore and drove around from there. The views are amazing from Furore, but you'll have to drive 20 minutes to get to good restaurants and hike down 1000 steps (literally) to get to the beach. The beach is tiny, but it's a lot nicer than the beaches in the town. If you aren't renting a car though, Atrani would be a better base. Like simmer said, it's a short walk from Amalfi town (though you want nothing to do with that place when the cruise ships are in town), but it's a lot nicer. The beach isn't quite as crowded there (though it's still crowded) and the restaurants are better.

As for whether or not to rent a car, that's a tough call. Most of the roads in Italy aren't that scary, but the roads along the coast have barriers along the sides and you'll be within inches of scraping them anytime another car comes by. So if you do rent a car, get the smallest one that you can fit into.

If you end up in Ravello, you have to go to Cumpa Cosimo for at least one meal. The old lady who runs the place is great and the food is amazing.

We did Capri for a few hours and thought that was plenty of time. It was really pretty, but like Amalfi town when the cruise ships are there, it's overrun with tourists. If you decide to take a private boat over there, your hotel will try to set you up with an overpriced package. If you just walk into town around noon on the day that you want to go and bargain with the guys with the boats, you should be able to get well over half off of the pre-booking rate.

I haven't been to the bottom of the boot, but if you have the time to make that drive, I'd seriously consider driving up to Florence for a day or 2 instead. Don't even try to do Rome on a short visit though because you wouldn't do the city justice (not that you can do Florence justice in 2 days either, but I think it's more managable in that timeframe).

[simmer2]

gargamel hit most of the points I was going to comment on. Amalfi Town is really busy so one of the other towns to stay in would be worthwhile. You may want to look at Atrani if you want a bit quieter place, and the other one to consider would be Positano. I forgot about Ravello, that's up on the hill if I recall and you would want a car for that.

That whole area we did via bus because I didn't want to drive on the road...parking is a bit of an issue based on space but I don't know how bad because again I didn't drive there. And honestly driving in Italy in some spots is kinda scary; you just close your eyes and assume you'll make it past the other car. You can take ferries all along the Amalfi Coast so that is a good way to travel, and you can train it from Naples to Sorrento. You may even be able to take a ferry from Naples to Sorrento or further, not sure. You may want to check that out.

And I agree with gargamel, the Isle of Capri is beautiful but can be done in a day. It's really pricey there if I recall correctly but a ferry only takes 45min I think to get there.

I wouldn't use Sorrento as your hub because it is further away from all the really nice sites of the Amalfi Coast.

Umm...that's about all I can think of right now.

[rawr]

Naples is the birthplace of pizza so trying it there is a must.

We went to a place called Di Matteo and the pizza was exquisite and it was dirt cheap to boot! Ask the locals for a good pizza place and I'm sure they'll be able to direct you. You won't regret it.

[Suzles]

I can only advise on the Sicily bit. You just have to try some Arancini - sold as street food. Basically a bolognese middle, surrounded by buttery rice, rolled in golden breadcrumbs and deep fried. Little balls of heaven!

[1stLand]

I went to Italy last July. Visited Sorrento, Naples, the Amalfi coast as well as the Island of Capri. I went on a guided bus tour so everything was kind of laid out and well planned.
The experience is the food, the historical sights, the street scapes and landscapes and the beaches.

I stayed in Sicily for 2 weeks with family after the tour and we pretty much went down to the beach every day. There are beautiful beaches by the town of Sciacca.
The weather was amazing, the water was clear and warm and the food even better.
Also got to see some ancient temples built by the greeks, old churches, and ate at some great restaurants.

Had some ice cream sandwhiches as well. More or less gelato scooped into a sandwhich bun. Thats what they call an icecream sandwhich!

[Table 5]

Okay, if you ever want to be able to eat another pizza anywhere else again, do not have one in Naples.

[Sliver]

Suzles mentioned some balls of heaven, Table5 - you had a chance to enjoy those yet?

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Sliver

Suzles mentioned some balls of heaven, Table5 - you had a chance to enjoy those yet?

I had some balls of heaven, but they were of the mozzarella kind. I could tea bag those babies all day long.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by fotze

Thats what I've been saying mofo. It is really unbelievable how pizza has morphed into the ball of gooey ship that they sell over here. Take something that is really easy, cheap, fast and light and over the decades turn it into a thick, labor intensive, slow cooking, greasy disc of fatty crayy tasting garbage. there is no reason that I can figure out why it got that way, no business case, no taste reason, no laziness justification.

I think it's mostly our obsession with "more is more". If a little cheese is great, more cheese has to be better. Why have only one or two ingredients when we can pile on a whole deli counter? The Italians are pretty lazy cooks....none of it is complicated. It's just that the ingredients are amazingly top notch, and when you have good ingredients you'd be stupid to complicate it.

The funny thing is that we showed up at the one of the more well-known places, didnt really want to wait 2 hours to get in, so we went to the place next door (the same place that the guidebook told us NOT to confuse the well-known place with) and it was still the best pizza I ever had.

[Table 5]

Oh to top it all off, the pizza was all around 3-4 euros (5 if you wanted to get fancy). Wtf, I have a pie like that in NY, and I'm paying 15 bucks easy.