Puglia & southern Italy itinerary
 

Next fall my wife & I will be visiting friends on the Puglia coast near Avetrana (Ionian Sea). We fly from the west coast of the USA, in & out of Rome and we have 19 days total. We like historic sights, small villages, local foods & wines, and nature. We thought about flying from Rome on to Bari or other Puglia airport, but decided that creating an itinerary that takes us from Rome down to Avetrana and back could make for a fun trip with some out-of-the-way visits. We've had visits to Rome & north so we're not looking to repeat those sights. Here's our current plan, and we'd love feedback, suggestions on day trips, or better ideas:

Land @ FCO, pick up car & drive to Nocelle, Positano for 3 nights.

Drive to Pietrapertosa and stay for 2 nights (we wanted a pretty hill town and heard this is a very nice one).

Drive to our friend's place near Avetrana and spend 8 nights with them. Visit lots of sights in "the boot."

Drive up to Termoli and stay for 2 nights. Perhaps visit Osole Tremiti if the weather is still good (very early October). Perhaps explore the Gargano peninsula.

Drive to Contrada Fontanella, near Teramo, Abruzzo. Spend 2 nights there and visit hill towns.

Last afternoon we'll drive back to Fiumicino and spend the night, since we need to check in at 4 am for our flight home.

Although our trip has a lot of driving time, we've broken it up to around 4 hours or less for the longest legs. Since those days we'll have a whole day to do the leg, we feel that we can break it up with stops, meals, and sightseeing so it'll be part of the adventure instead of a chore.

Thoughts? Suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Hey there, sounds like a great adventure!!

I would definitely try and go to Matera, really lovely pretty town (google image it to get a feel!)

beware though driving in Amalfi looked to me incredibly scary...but if this is not a problem for you then it is a great location (would look into Amalfi town/Ravello as well as Positano as imo they are slightly nicer villages).

Have fun!!!

Sounds like a superb trip!




Agree about including Matera for at least one night. (We spent two and did not have time to see all that we had planned) I wrote two trip reports about Puglia (one that includes Matera) that you might find helpful. You can find them by clicking on my name and looking at the list.

What time of year will the trip take place?

I'd be very interested in hearing about your time in Avetrana as we are considering spending a few days in the area east of Taranto on our next visit to Puglia. It looks like a well-placed location from which to do day trips to the various areas of interest...

Thanks for the replies. We'll be there in late September.

Hi alan64 I hope your trip went well. Did you make it to Pietrapertosa? A few of us here are interested in that town, but there is not much information available.

I would appreciate your feedback, whatever info you can give.

Victorex, the trip is already done, you are a bit late on that.