4 days between Rome and Palermo
 

My wife and I will be arriving at Civitavecchia via cruise ship and have booked a land tour that starts 4 days later in Palermo. This will be our 5th time in Italy, so we would rather not repeat places that we have been before (Rome, Naples, Pompeii, Positano and Amalfi Coast, northern Italy). In the 1910's, my grandparents immigrated from Calabria, so maybe that would be interesting. As far as I know, I have no relatives (at least none very close) there any more and there does not seem to be a lot of tourist information about Italy south of Campania out there.
We have not rented a car in Italy in the past, always traveling by train, though we are not totally against a car this time.
Any suggestions?

You could take a ferry from Civitavecchia to Sardinia, visit the island for three days and then take a ferry from Cagliari to Palermo (http://www.directferries.co.uk/paler...iari_ferry.htm ).

Do you know the town/village your grandparents came from? do you speak any italian?

if so, what a wonderful opportunity to go and find the places they would have known growing up. personally I'd rent a car and take off. you don't way what time of year you're going, but 2 of you shouldn't have too much trouble finding accommodation.

there are quite a few threads here about travel in southern italy, if you do a search of the forum. guide books can be useful too - amazon should be able to show you what is available.

the other alternative is to get the plane [or boat] to Palermo and spend a few days there before your tour starts but I do feel that that would be a wasted opportunity.

My family is from Calabria too! I've been researching the area for a trip of my own, and believe that there will be plenty to see and do. Some towns you might investigate are: Gerace, Soverato, Catanzaro, Stilo. I found this website:http://mybellavita.com/ which might be of interest. I like Michael's suggestion, too...sounds relaxing.

Thee is so much to see in Sicily that you might want to visit some of the places that aren't part of your tour itinerary.

annhig - From the Ellis Island website, I believe my GF came from Nicastro and my GM from Reggio. Unfortunately, I don't speak Italian.
The time frame is April 22 - 26.

I like the Sardinia idea, except that the ferry trips are fairly time consuming.

Calabria62 - that looks like a great website and might be just what I need.

Thanks....FB

<i>I like the Sardinia idea, except that the ferry trips are fairly time consuming.</i>

No overnight ferries available?

Michael - Our cruise ship docks in Civitivecchia at 7 AM, so I would waste a day there (or schlepping back and forth to Rome) to take an overnight ferry. But, I'll keep it in mind and perhaps look at flying there.

7 hours to Porto Torres or 6 hours to Caabria--I do not see much difference. But it assumes a small tour of Sardinia to get to Cagliari.

correction: Calabria -- my typing is going downhill.

Can anyone give me some insight on what the drive would be like from Rome to Calabria (stay somewhere there 3 - 4 nights) and then to Palermo?