jb

The group we're traveling with has an "Optional" you can take from Rome to Naples, Capri & Pompeii. After doing a bit of research, I'm wondering if it is even possible to spend more than a hour in each place in & still be back in Rome that evening (especially in August when traffic will be a problem). We'd like to see Pompeii and some countryside. Any suggestions? Maybe skip Capri? Whatever the case, we have to go back to Rome for the night. Thanks!

Ross

It would be pretty tough indeed to do all this and be back in Rome the same day. You could "see" each place, true, but not spend any quality time at each. For my money (and experience), Pompeii and/or Capri would be the best to experience on limited time. Naples is OK but the other two are much more interesting and worth visiting.<BR>Have fun!

jb

Thanks, Ross. I'm checking out other options.

landwlkr

Hi There<BR><BR>I would skip the optional your company offers and do it on your own-- choosing either Pompeii or Capri (I love both). You can take the train to Naples, and the local train to Pompeii from there, or the ferry to Capri from there. It is all very easy and I bet a lot cheaper than your other option. If you choose Pompeii, you could also stop at Herculeum (sp?) which is a similar site on the way to Pompeii. <BR><BR>Have fun!<BR><BR>

John

You could skip Pompeii and just do Herculeum (similar to Pompeii) and Capri or I understand that there's a museum in Naples where they have moved some of the most unique findings from Pompeii to - you could take a train to Naples, see the museum and then take the hydrofoil to Capri.

jodi

I just returned from Rome last night. We took the train to Naples for the day. The city has a good museum, but it very crowded (not with tourists). We did find some good shopping there, but everywhere we went, we were warned to watch our belongings. The city is filled with pick-pockets. I would skip Naples--nice, but not worth it! I heard Pompei is nice, but all the art, etc has been moved to Naples. COnsider a trip to Ostia Antica--about a half hour from Rome. We took a Tour Bus "stop and go tours" they just gave us a ride there, for 12 euros, and you are on your own for 2 hours. Bus meets outside of the Termini--at 9:30 AMtour leaves get the audio guise. Very interesting place.

Amy

I would not recommend an optional trip combining the three. You would not see enough of any of them in a day trip to even justify it. Naples, we spent 5 hours at, followed a basic walking tour in our tour guide, then tracked down some other things we saw in a book I bought at the gift shop that we wanted to see in person. And we hardly scratched the surface. Capri, we were there from 10-6 and wished we spent the night. Neither one can be "seen" fully in a day, let alone combined with anything else. I skipped Naples entirely, but doubt that it's sites can be covered in a day either. Pick what interests you and go on your own (Rome to Naples is easy by train) so you can cover things in a manner comfortable for you.

jb

Thanks for the help. We're travelling with my parents who have always taken the organized tours, but are fine with independent day trips as long as I figure out how to do them. With so much to choose from and so little time, it's hard to pick. Thanks again!

Mario

The headline news Monday was sadly familiar for most Italians -- a high speed car chase in southern Italy ends in a deadly shootout between rival Mafia families. But these were not the usual suspects.<BR>The gun-toting clan leaders Sunday night were 50-something Italian mamas and teenage girls, police said.<BR><BR>"Obviously things are changing even in these feuds," the Corriere della Sera newspaper wrote Monday.<BR><BR>The protagonists in Sunday's bloodbath were the wives and granddaughters of Camorra gangster families, the Mafia organization that operates in and around the southern Italian city of Naples.<BR><BR>One car full of Cava family women and another car with Camorra boss Salvatore Graziano, his granddaughters and their mother showered each other with bullets in the prolonged shootout in Lauro, a town east of Naples. Two middle-aged mothers and a 16-year-old girl were killed.<BR><BR>"Yesterday's incident shows that not only bosses and their 'soldiers' have the duty to eliminate members of rival families; now the women, the bosses' wives and even the daughters participate," Corriere wrote.<BR><BR>Mafia women, especially in Sicily's "Cosa Nostra," are traditionally not allowed to get mixed up in men's business. Instead, the black-skirted women shuttle between the kitchen and the church, selflessly grieving for their fallen loved ones.<BR><BR>But in Naples, the battle of the sexes has taken on new meaning with the "madrina," or godmother, muscling in on territory of the traditional godfather.<BR><BR>One woman even allegedly ran one of Naples' most powerful criminal families while her brother was in prison.<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>