janellelewis

Hi,

What was your favorite thing you've done in Rome or southern Italy? What hot spots would you suggest? What are the can't miss areas?

Also, this is probably crazy, but we would like to hire a local (street) artist to paint our picture at a little cafe in Rome... any suggestions?

rex

Here you go - - four times over - - though this is just Rome...

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34443219

Best wishes,

Rex

AP6380

Maratea, Basilicata- beautiful hilltown, home of the statue "Il Redentore"

Tropea, Calabria- On a sttep rock there is the Benedictine santuary of Santa Maria dell'Isola. The steps/path that lead up to Santa Maria is very scenic. The garden behind Santa Maria was full (probably purposefully for us tourists) of really cute animals and more stunning views. From here and from the town on a clear day you can see the Aeolian Islands.

Grinisa

Southern Italy is a huge area, full of wonderful places: Naples, Positano, Amalf, Capri, Pompeii, Paestum, the cave city of Matera, the Trulli of Alberobello, the Baroque city of Lecce, the "white" city of Ostuni, the medieval quarter of Bari, the gorgeous coastline of the Gargano Peninsula, the Norman castle at Andria, I could go on and on. As for your picture, at the Piazza Navona in Rome, there are several artists set up to do charcoal or pastel portraits, some of course better than others. We had our daughters' charcoal portraits done by a young man and they turned out very well. It took about 20 minutes for each girl and cost 30 Euro each. For a more formal "painted" portrait on location, you may ask one of these artists or go through your hotel conceirge.

janellelewis

Wow! Thanks for the tip Rex - that was exactly the type of posting I was looking for. I bought all of the handbooks, but there is so incredibly much to do, I'm a bit overwhelmed as to where to begin. : )

Of course, I want to try everything, but with only two weeks on this trip, I wanted to pick the absolute must sees.

nanb

The abbey at Montecassino !!!!

both our children had their portraits done at P.Navona, there are so many artists, just walk around and check out the artists' styles