Intriguing Italy

Enjoying a 17 day train and drive trip through Southern Italy and Sicily, I have a beautifully planned itinerary for anyone. New haunts in Rome, charming villages in Calabria, and Greek ruins in Sicily set the stage for a delightful trip with our great travel buddies, Sue and Steve Lundgren.

Let’s begin.

Day 1 – Fly into Rome. With an afternoon arrival, we assumed we would just have the evening to stroll and eat in Rome. But, a cancelled flight the day before we left, had American place us all on an early flight so we got into Rome with a FULL day to explore. And we did all of our favorite haunts like St. Peter’s Basilica and the Pantheon, even strolling through Piazza Navona and Campo d’fiori.

Trevi Fountain – we have taken photos and thrown in pennies into this fountain at least 6 times, BUT we discovered a great secret. If you walk to the Fountain and head to the right side, you will walk to a stone basin with two shoots of water flowing into it. This is the Lover’s Fountain. If two people drink from these waters, they will remain in love forever. We did it!

 

 

Hotel Modigliani – This hotel, about one mile from the Termini train station, was situated on a quiet street and featured decent size rooms and a big breakfast spread which included eggs. That can sometimes be a rarity in Italy. The location was excellent. We would definitely stay here again.

Via della Purificazione, 42

Ristorante Rossini – Sitting on the rooftop balcony and watching the lights twinkle over Rome, we ate one of our favorite meals of the whole trip. Their warm focaccia bread was amazing – we had two orders! We noshed on sea bream and fresh cypress salad.

Via dei Cappuccini, 17

Day 2 – Take an early train from Termini into Naples Centrale. We took our bags and headed to the famous pizza spot, L’Antica da Michelle. Unfortunately, the flimsy crust and runny sauce was not the best pizza we had ever eaten! Nix that foodie spot!

We took the Circumvesuviana train out of Porta Nolana instead of the main Naples terminal after learning that the train can fill up if you wait for the main terminal. The train itself was much nicer than all of the negative postings we had heard about this local subway type of rail. And rode right into Sorrento where we took a taxi right to Hotel Minerva. I love this hotel with its expansive balconies, amazing breakfasts, and fabulous views over the Bay.

Via Capo, 30

 

Day 3 – Ride the Circumvesuviana train into Pompeii Scavi to visit Pompeii. We booked a 20 euro tour with sharedtours.com and met our guide right at the entrance where we had received explicit email directions. We truly enjoyed our 2 hour tour through the ruins of the town which was devastated by Mt. Vesuvius in 79 BC. The train takes you right back into Sorrento, where we wandered the alleys.

 

Day 4 – Take the early morning ferry into Capri. Book your ferry ahead of time at ferryhopper.com. Simone at Aquamarine Capri Suites had us store our bags at Il Gabbiano at the port. We walked up the path to Capritown and took the walk to Arco Naturale. Then, at Le Grottelle Restaurant, take the path towards the water. The sign will state “Pizzalungo Coastal Hike”. This lovely trail around the southern end of Capri takes you right into Belvedere Tragara. From here, you can walk right back into town. We walked back down to the port and had one of our favorite lunches at Il Gabbiano before dropping our bags at our B&B. After relaxing on our lovely balcony, we walked to the Augustus Gardens and watched the sunset over the Via Krupp which has now opened after years of reconstruction.

 

Day 5 – Ride the bus up to Anacapri to visit Villa San Michelle. The photo op is lovely here around the back side of the Villa. You don’t need to pay to visit. Then enjoy the chairlift up Monte Solaro to view the I Faraglioni Rocks. Take time to relax at the cafe before hiking down or riding the chairlift. Walk Anacapri, popping into the cute boutiques and the San Michelle Church before taking the topless taxis back down to Capri. Book the last ferry of the day into Positano. We rode the 6 pm ferry.

 

Day 6 – We dropped our bags at Hotel California. Our rooms were large and the breakfast on the terrace overlooking Positano was heavenly. Today we took the bus up to Nocelle from the town bus stop just down the street from our hotel. This is where we began our Path of the Gods hike. We hiked for two hours and then turned around and rode the bus back into Positano. Pizza at La Pergola on the beach was our delish dinner as we watched the sunset.

 

Day 7 – Ride the ferry – buy tickets at the water the night before – to Amalfi. We loved St. Andrews Church which has the body of St. Andrews in the crypt and houses a reliquary with a thorn from Jususs’ crown of thorns. Take the bus at the water up to Ravello. The views are lovely and we took a visit to Mamma Agata’s Cooking School to see Chiara. Hiking the path back down to Amalfi with steps into Atrani and into Amalfi. Ride the ferry back to Positano. We ate the best lasagna at Osteria Le Tre Sorelle on the water. The lasagna cheese was toasted and just delectable.

 

Day 8 – Ferry to Salerno – buy tickets on ferryhopper.com – and walk right to Europcar to pick up a rental, a VW Tipo Wagon. This was the perfect size for the 4 of us. We drove to the cave city of Matera where Viscenzo met us to take us to our La Dolce Vita. Our rooms were built right into the caves of the city! We devoured Orecchiette with pumpkin at La Grotta del Gusto. Yum!!

 

Day 9 – A visit to Alberobello was so much fun. These trulli homes were originally built for food storage. We took tons of photos. Then we wandered the town of Matera and visited some of the 170 churches in town. We devoured the exact same meal at Gusto again tonight.

 

Day 10 – We drove the four hours down the toe of Italy into Tropea. From the rocky flat area around Matera, we began to drive through thick green forested hills. Our hotel with a lovely beach balcony was Hotel Rocco Della Sena. We took the stairs down to the beach and walked and swam in the ocean. It was so clear and we had sand. Unlike the Amalfi Coast, this beach town was a delight. No crowds! Then we walked a couple blocks into the Old Town to eat outside in the courtyard of Vechio Granaio. From Piazza Ercole, we watched the sunset over the Santa Maria dell’Isola di Tropea on the cliff, and then walked the alleys of town. We were so surprised by the lovely town! This is one of my favorite towns in Campania.

 

Day 11 – We drove down to the ferry to cross into Sicily over the Strait of Messina. We bought tickets ahead of time on carontetourist.it. The tickets are good for any time of the day. This area of Sicily is hilly and green too. We drove into Taormina and went directly to the Greek Theater when we saw the signs and found a parking lot. This was our first Theater and it was massive. Built in the third century BC, the theater is still used as a concert venue today. We drove to our fabulous hotel, Villa Le Terrazze Suites with another massive balcony to relax on. Even the breakfast was delish and large! We took the steps down into the town and walked Via Umberto where all of the shops and restaurants are located. We enjoyed another lasagna meal at Le Quattro Fontane before wandering the streets.

 

Day 12 – After a great breakfast on the terrace over Mt. Etna, we walked to our cooking class at Port Messina Restaurant. They took us to the market and then we proceeded to drink wine and eat prosciutto and cheese as we made homemade past, sea bream and sea bass covered in salt, beef rolled with mozzarella, swordfish an mozzarella, and an eggplant lasagna. Then we ate and drank wine with two other couples who we cooked with. Tonight we walked up to Cheese Rocca Church cut into the mountain with views over the twinkling lights of Taormina.

 

Day 13 – After a fabulous breakfast, we drove up to the mountain town of Savoca where some scenes from The Godfather were filmed. We took photos outside of Bar Vitelli and the San Nicolo Church.

 

And then we began the 2 hour trip down to Siracusa and into our B&B Le Saline where Stephano greeted us with drinks and told us where to park to visit Ortigia. Heading into town, we posed at the Archimedes Statue, before heading to the Museum of Archimedes and Da Vinci. We saw the Temple of Apollo from 600 BC and the Duomo Church. And drank cappucinos at an outdoor cafe.

 

Day 14 – After a fun breakfast from Stephano, we drove into the small town of Scicli before heading to Modica. We visited the oldest chocolate factory in Sicily, Antica Dolceria Bonajuto. We found our outstanding Torre Don Virgilio Country Resort amid the miles of low stone walls surrounding acres of olive trees. The grounds were lovely and well manicured and we were well taken care of with a great breakfast spread. Tonight, we ate here at Torre Don.

 

Day 15 – Relaxing at the pool, we leisurely drove away from this resort for the hill town of Ragusa which is split into two areas, Ragusa Ibla and Ragusa Superiore. Our glutes were burning after walking the 250 steps up and down between the two sections of town. Then we drove to our final Sicilian hotel, Artemisia Resort where we played ping pong.

 

Day 16 – We drove the rental car into the Catania airport and dropped it off before flying from Sicily into the FCO airport. We stayed by the airport across from the train station. So we rode it into Trastavere and had a final Italian meal of cacio e pepe. Yum!