Heading South

We had been hoping to get down to Southern Italy at some stage during our stay. There wasn’t a lot of snow forecast so we decided to head down for a week after leaving our flat in Milan. Ged came down on the train to join us and we headed off around lunch on Saturday. We drove through to Tuscany and spent the night at the delightful hill town of Montepulciano. We stayed in a hotel with a very effusive owner who when talking about heating and showers understands something very different to me by the word “warm”.

It is a well preserved town that is still very much in use by locals. It was quiet on Sunday morning and we enjoyed a walk around the old town as it slowly came to life. It also had a beautiful coffee shop that had been open since the 1800’s. We drove further south again and got to Sorrento (just south of Naples) before sunset. It took us a few goes but we eventually found a nice hotel that had a view of the ocean and was near the main street.

Next morning on our second attempt we caught a ferry to Naples. We had misread the timetable so missed the first boat but in the end we had enough time in the city. It is a very lively and vibrant place – full of people, crazy parking and good food. We wandered around some of the main areas and had lunch at a fantastic pizza place called Da Michele that is reputed to be one of the best in Italy. The restaurant was very small and simple but the pizza was exceptional. We spent the afternoon in the very cold Archaeological Museum. They had many artifacts from Pompeii and some great sculpture from the Farnese Collection (a pope who had a fine eye for art). By nightfall we were exhausted so came back to Sorrento for dinner.

Next day we caught the train up to Pompeii and looked around the ruins. It was a very interesting place but I think it would be good it they returned some of mosaics and frescos (most of these have been moved wholesale into the museum in Naples). The body casts are a powerful reminder of how life in the town suddenly stopped. That afternoon we drove down south from Sorrento along the scenic Amalfi coastline.

We stayed a little to the south in Agropoli so that we could see the ruins at Paestum. This was another Roman ruin but in contrast to Pompeii there are three incredible temples still standing. It was a fantastic spot and we looked around for several hours. We then crossed up through the central spine of Italy via some great mountain scenery (getting very lost along the way and only being saved by the GPS and laptop). We dropped down to the plain on the west coast and stayed the night in Venosa. This was very pleasant stay – our hotel was a restored family palace and we had an excellent meal at a local restaurant.