It’s all sent, Neal–please let me know if it doesn’t arrive.
My wife and I have been to Italy several times (including five times this decade), mostly wine-centric, but sometimes our visits have included culture, history, art, etc. Also, all our visits have been limited to Northern Italy (nothing south of Rome).
I would recommend the Piedmont region (for wine and food), which can be expanded to include Turin and/or Milan and Lake Como. Other towns that we enjoyed visiting are Bergamo, Verona and Padua (done as a Milan to Venice trip).
Neal,
I was in Sicily this past October. Awesome trip. Check these two threads for some ideas if you go this way…
My trip summary:
Fly into Catania from Rome, rent car, drive to Taormina. 2 nights there. Taormina very very touristy but also very very beautiful. Stroll around the town, wade into the Mediterranean, walk up to the castle village overlooking Taormina. Good dinner 1 night at Nero d’Avola, great food at Tiramisu (really!) with a great selection of wines that aren’t on their list (on 1 day we found a '12 Valentini trebbiano for 100E at lunch that paired well with their really fresh crudo and pasta with just gathered Etna porcini and truffles. Went back for dinner and found a '99 COS Scyri from their Roman cistern cellar for 50E).
Next stayed 2 nights at winemaker Davide Bentivegna’s rural rooms on the east side of Etna in Presa. Well priced and recently built but perhaps a little too far removed from night-time dining options.
1 day drove up to Etna’s Sapienza refuge but unfortunately the entire week Etna was covered in fog and rain so it was impossible to see anything. Instead of hiking to the top of Etna, plan B was a nice drive to Randazzo which is a small town with some interesting architecture (they used the black lava stone from Etna for many old buildings), a super friendly cheese and salumi spot in the small downtown, and a good wine store (https://www.buongustaiodelletna.com/) where we picked up Terre Nere’s Don Peppino and drank with good pizza from Presa’s 1 restaurant back in the room.
The next day on Etna was spent visiting Cornelissen’s operation. An Italian from Piedmont named Giacomo took us to a vineyard and we sampled a bunch of wines - good visit for 20E. After that we drove to the “pistachio town” Bronte which was a little down-at-the-heels but had awesome gelato. Then kicked around Lingualossa which has some nice architecture and a great wine store with local selections (http://www.ilvinodellarosa.it). Dinner that night was at the well-known Cave Ox where Giacomo and Frank Cornelissen happened to be “working” sampling a bunch of wines from the proprietor’s well-stocked cellar.
Next day drove to Siracusa. The old town Ortygia is well worth a day of exploration. Dinner at a place Giacomo recommended called L’Ancora which had awesome seafood, a good selection of wines that required the waiter calling the owner to price out (no list!) where we found a Cornelissen Munjebel bianco for 50E, and a very cozy, friendly atmosphere that became a group dinner - very friendly conversation with a couple from close to Slovenia at one table and a pair of business guys from Milan at the other table, ending with multiple free samples of various Sicilian amari. Fun time.
Before driving to Modica the next day we stopped at Siracusa’s greek theater. On the way to Modica also made a pit stop at Noto which is just gorgeous. Spent a few hours strolling the main street and taking in the ornate baroqueness. Got to Modica later than planned but Noto seemed nicer to tour than Modica, although strolling through Modica’s twist and turns at twilight was not bad at all. Dinner that night at the excellent Locanda del Colonello where we had an outstanding '99 Pichon-Longueville Baron for 120E.
Early start to the next busy day. Drove to Piazza Armerina where the Roman mosaics are a jaw-dropping ~2 hour tour. Then to Agrigento’s impressive ruins. Then backtracked a bit to Licata to eat at 2 Michelin star La Madia. The dinner there, while not bad, was the most disappointing of the trip. The food was essentially gussied up and prettified versions of food every where else - but with the high quality of ingredients everywhere else, the food was not an improvement and was served by a crew who had the least English of any restaurant staff we encountered (though, strangely, it was also the only dinner where we were the only non-Italians). Highlight of the meal was an Overnoy for 90E that I was happy to try.
A better surprise was the area right around Licata - beautiful beaches to explore the next day and a cool castle at the top overlooking the sea. After that bit of exploration drove to Segesta which has a picture-perfect Greek temple situated in the valley between two ridges. Beautiful scene. From there drove to Erice, which is a small town totally given over to tourism but is absolutely beautiful. Very good and rustic dinner in Ristaurante Monte San Giuliano (their trapanese pesto is a must!).
Then drove to Palermo to drop off the car. This was the only unenjoyable drive - Palermo traffic is more hectic than we are used to in the DMV. Palermo was pretty awesome though. The cathedrals and churches are amazing with the mosaics and the combination of arab and byzantine characteristics. Best lunch food find was this joint in the old city - https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187890-d3205882-Reviews-Mina_Francesco_Paolo-Palermo_Province_of_Palermo_Sicily.html
Another vote for Amalfi, and would add that you should spend some time on Capri. Not cheap, but stunningly beautiful. Should be a little less crowded in the fall.
We took a ferry from Sorrento to Capri. After our stay we continued onto Positano, arriving near sunset. A sight we will not forget. See below.
Given sept/Oct, I’d definitely go south rather than north…
I think Capri “shuts down”the second week of October.
I’d also highly recommend the Amalfi coast - great towns to explore, close to Naples and Pompei and wonderful restaurants and seafood. We stayed just outside Positano at Il San Pietro di Positano - incredible hotel built right into the cliffs going down to the water. I understand it has gotten quite expensive since I was there in 1999 but it was truly marvelous.
A few random suggestions:
- Aeolian Islands , they are absolutely stunning
- Ischia
- Puglia, Lecce and its province
- Alto Adige
- Umbria
Neal, off the beaten path would be Abruzzo on the Adriatic side. You could visit Emidio Pepe and Eduardo Valentini and have awesome Montepulciano d’Abruzzo and Trebbiano and cerasuolo. Pepe even has agriturismo on his property.
Chae’s comment about agriturismo is worth some consideration. These days we only ever tend to stay in agriturismi or apartments. The latter gives great freedom, and allows me to graze the local food shops (which I love doing), the former gives often surprisingly classy accommodation, but with some wonderful dining - often grand yet convivial and unfussy multi course banquets for too little money, with much of the food coming from their own farm or nearby farms. It does give a different insight compared to staying in a hotel.
I dropped a PM earlier on the places you’re considering, but I didn’t mention others places. It’s just about limitless IMO, though the more you go off the beaten track, the more you’ll need some Italian language skills (or in some places on the edge - German or French).
What I would say, is if you diverge from the Roma/Napoli/Costa d’Amalfi plan, then let us know, especially if you seek options for nearby 2nd / 3rd bases, or want to explore the logistics. I’m a great fan of finding what’s interesting nearby, rather than punctuating the holiday with long transfers, so more than happy to suggest convenient nearby options.
Others posting here have much broader Italian experience than do I; nonetheless, please allow a plug for Lake Como, particularly Varenna.
If interested, see these threads:
I love Bellagio and Varenna.
Varenna is an easy day trip from Milan, you can take a boat on the lake, have a fabulous lunch in Varenna and be back in Milan for dinnertime. But I certainly enjoyed staying in Bellagio!
We were at Herculaneum last year and have been to Pompeii in the past. Each very different, but each fascinating.
Been there 3 times and I can highly recommend Lucca for a gorgeous old walled city that’s manageable. There was an art fair there when went so I could only book 2 nights in a rented apartment but I’d love to do 3 nights there.
I love the concept of your question and I’d love to explore places like the Marche and Abruzzo. Think you could throw a dart at Italy and find something fascinating and real everywhere.
Yes Marche and Abruzzo are two regions we’ve not been to, but very much on our horizon. We do have direct flights into a few airports now, which makes them much more accessible.
I’m very much of the same mindset of finding interest all over Italy.
I recall back ~ 1995 a kind gentleman in Torino walked with us to give us directions when we’d got a bit lost, and he queried why on earth as tourists we’d come to his city “It’s like me going to Coventry” he said (perhaps Detroit would be the US equivalent). Yet over the intervening years, the city has to a degree awoken to tourism, and we’ve been back ~ 10 times since.
I struggle with some overtly touristy places, for the way standards drop, the original character gets clouded, and in the worst cases the locals get pushed out and the tourists offer a complete disregard for the place beyond getting their holiday snaps of famous landmarks. Conversely we’ve rather enjoyed humdrum Italy, without any obvious sights to draw tourists in, but where there is a natural charm to the people and their own local setting / culture. Others will have a different perspective to me, evidenced by a few other locals over the years being rather surprised to find a tourist in their town or village.
If drawn by art or architecture, then some places have a specific appeal, music or nature might drive possibilities. Food is a draw for many, but difficult not to find good food all over - though there is humdrum all over as well, plus laziness in overly touristed locations.
So rather than ‘Must sees’, I would always want to know what someone’s interests were, and where they lean on the spectrum of tourist friendly & multi-lingual vs. off the beaten track and no option but to practice the language. Even then I’d never say ‘must see’ (any more than a particular wine is a ‘must buy’), but there are likely to be a multitude of places that might appeal.
I will recommend a book at this point, but not really for what you’d think. Italy for the Gourmet traveler (Fred Plotkin) is written in English, by an opera and food enthusiast. The theoretical focus is on what food is interesting across the regions of Italy, shops to buy it in, and restaurants to eat it in. In that I think it’s only moderately useful. It does have a few too many living on past reputations, or who are successful as much for their location as what they serve. It also has very few places listed (c.f. the Italian language Golosario for food shop listings). However, Plotkin has to my mind a lovely engaging writing style and I find his regional overviews & town/village descriptions to be very evocative. When starting to shape a holiday, it’s often the first source I’ll reach for to see what he has to say about a place, but also what he says about places nearby (for day trips, or for a 2nd or 3rd base within easy transfer range). Compared to more traditional guides, he’s able to convey an clearer impression of a place in much fewer words. His passion really comes through.
Regards
Ian
I am feverishly taking notes. Thanks for all the great ideas. Trying to get the bride to focus on this so I can lock in reward tix now.
Varenna is magical. And yes, we loved staying in Bellagio. We stayed at a perfect Airbnb, which was 100 feet from the ferry stop and on the best street in town: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/13661035. View was even way better than advertised.
We love Calabria and it is easily combined with a trip to Naples and the Aoelian Islands. The museum in Reggio with the Riace bronzes is well done and very good wine tasting opporunities in Ciro as well as Lamezia. I’ve only done the trip when we’ve had a car, so I’m not sure of logistics with public transportation. Bring your phrasebook as there are a lot of places where no English is spoken. It is our favorite place in Italy. Puglia is also high on our list - great cities to explore like Bari, Alberobello, etc. It’s becoming much more traveled by Americans.
If you prefer something more touristy, then the Amalfi Coast, Sorrento, Naples, Pompeii, and Herculaneum are beautiful, interesting, with lots to see and do. The Caserta palace and Montecassino are worth a detour.
We’re heading to Italy in May - Orbetello Peninsula, Umbria, and Abruzzo! Our first trip to Abruzzo to try Niko Romito’s place in Castel di Sangro and to see the reopening of the cathedral in L’Aquila.
Have a great trip!
Head to Friuli. La Subida is a fabulous place to stay and eat. Two excellent restaurants and a killer list of older wines of the region at fabulous prices. Jeremy Seysses gave us the tip to stay here and he was bang on.