Italy Itinerary Help Needed (Puglia/Rome)
 

My husband and I will be traveling to Puglia in mid-May, with 3 nights in Ostuni, 4 nights north of Lecce, and 2 nights in Matera. Following that, we have 5 nights before we fly home from Rome. We are trying to decide if we want to spend 5 nights in Rome, or maybe have 2-3 nights somewhere else, then Rome for 2-3 nights. We have been to Rome 3 times, so we have seen (and loved) the major sites. I’m wondering if there is someplace in Puglia, or between Puglia and Rome, that would be interesting to visit. We don’t mind back-tracking a bit from Matera, and we especially like being near the water. Our interests include good food, wine, architecture, history, boating, and hiking. We’ll have a rental car, but we would consider flying to Rome from Bari or similar, if needed.
Alternatively, some suggestions for things to do in Rome would be good (we have been to Pompei).
thanks in advance for any recommendations!

I find it hard to know what you plan to see / skip or why, but FWIW, I greatly enjoyed Trani, which I think underrated. And I wish I'd made time for Bari.

Enjoy!

Rome - can take suburban train to Ostia Antica - kind of like Pompeii without huge crowds or for something weird go out to EUR - Mussolini's planned new town built in 30s - or take day trip by train or bus to Tivoli and the Villa d'Este's splish splashing water gardens and fountains and also Hadrian's Villa just outside Tivoli and with buses to from Tivoli and Rome.

These are great suggestions - thank you!

Polignano a Mare..did you consider a few nights there?

We loved the Umbria area. Here's the link to my TR from there: https://www.fodors.com/community/eur...nd-bus-769131/
If you search for maitaitom, he has a great TR with photos of that area.

As Pal mentioned above, Tivoli/Villa was a nice day trip from Rome.

Like TDudette I based in Perugia in Umbria and used trains and buses to get to several neat old towns like Assisi, Gubbio, Todi, Cortona, etc. Perugia large hill town but lively with lots of students and again great transit links.

Another vote for Polignano a Mare! Sorry I neglected that in my first post.

Thanks to all - still working on this, and I love the suggestions! Just what I was looking for.

Between Puglia and Rome there is the Amalfi Coast. If your last stop before the extra 5 days is Matera, you could drive up and leave the car in Salerno before settling in for 3 nights in Capri or Ravello or any other town on the beautiful coast.

How about the area around Paestum/Cilento. You could tour the temples and museum and visit a buffalo mozzarella farm. Then on to Rome for a few days.