Well, I am off in a few days to explore the south of Italy. I am picking up the car, staying in Morino for two nights, and then hoping to explore the remote regions of southern Italy. <BR>Have you traveled this route? What was your favorite place? Anything that I should avoid?<BR>Caio!<BR>Gigia

Gigi-- Good for you! This is a sadly overlooked area of Italy. I went a few years ago on an ancestral-finding journey. We were further south that Basilicata, all the way into Calabria and approached it from Rome and Reggio di Calabria. Now, that is an area I would avoid. Reggio is not pleasant. But we drove then over to the other coastline to Siderno. It was beautiful, very rugged and ancient. We then drove up to Sorrento several days later, traversing some white-knuckle territory. <BR><BR>The Ionian coastline is breathtaking. If you want more information on Basilicata, my brother then visited it extensively a year later and knows a lot about it. E-mail him from a website he has called www.traveljack.net. This site also has a partial account listed of the previous trip and is pretty interesting. <BR><BR>Bravo to you for going to southern Italy! The people were just wonderful to us and full of pride for their homeland. And the entire area is FULL of Greek ruins, many of them practically undiscovered. Enjoy!

Jan! Thanks for the heads up on Reggio.<BR>I am going to look at the areas you suggested. <BR>Did you find it difficult to get accomodations? I have noted many information offices scattered throughout this area. We have no set itineray as yet. <BR>I will look at your brother's website. <BR>Thanks!<BR>Gigi

Gigi - We stayed at a place in Siderno that had been booked through an agent, so I never got into the search for places. It was a very nice I'd say 3-star hotel, right across the street from the ocean and with a view of Gerace from our rooms, and as I recall the name was Hotel Presidente. Jack has more info. If you contact him directly he also has loads of info about his second trip. I know he used www.initaly for some of their accomodations, car rental, etc. and was quite pleased.

Gigi<BR><BR>we toured Basilicata, Calabria and Puglia in October 2000. We only pre-booked the first night's accommodation near the airport at Lamezia Terme but never had problems finding at least decent and more often very good hotels. In Basilicata itself Matera is not to be missed with the atmospheric Sassi. I don't agree with Jan about Reggio - the town of Reggio di Calabria has some great attractions - the Riace bronzes and the fabulous view over to Sicily and easy drives into magnificent mountains or coast. Puglia turned out to be our favorite though - with Lecce the best of all - great architecture and traditional dancing, by locals of all ages, in the main square. We also stayed in the seaside town of Trani - lots of boats in the harbour and a magnificent waterside church and Castrovilliari - high in the mountains and surrounded by Albanian villages but with a good Jolly hotel and good restaurants.<BR><BR>Driving was easy - the roads are good and not crowded out of season - the locals are friendly. It's a great place for a holiday.<BR><BR>Susan

I will have to admit, Susan, my time in Reggio was very limited. I'm going on first impressions so it may be very unfair to assume in the negative.<BR><BR>We too were there in October and we were essentially the only tourists. The hotel in Siderno was practically empty. The driving was not crowded, but like much of Italy, harrowing at times! <BR><BR>And that view in Reggio across the Straits of Messina was breathtaking!