I don’t recall when and how we came up with the idea to go on a trip to Italy with our friends the Cornejos and Corrigans. I suspect it happened during JC’s surprise birthday party in Las Vegas in early 2025. There was some debate on when we should go and what the trip would look like. I thought RV’ing through Italy would be a good idea. The Cornejos wanted to book a few Airbnbs in a few cities and the Corrigans were open to anything. Right around the first of the year, we picked some dates and started planning.
I pressed for southern Italy as Mandy and I have been to northern Italy a few times and while I love that part of Italy, I thought this was a chance for me to see something new. There was group buy-in for the most part, and the planning commenced.
We decided to go late April and early May to avoid the summer heat and hopefully the crowds. I liked the idea of flying directly into Rome since I had never been south of Rome. Also flying direct and avoiding some of the travel struggles of other trips to Europe was very appealing. I thought we could drive directly east toward the Adriatic Sea and then follow the coast clockwise for two weeks, returning to Rome at the end. The Cornejos wanted to go to Florence which was going to throw a wrench in my plans but they said maybe they would go there first and meet us. So we then all agreed we would buy tickets and we were really going to do this.
Late in the planning, I got a call from Rick Cornejo on a Sunday to say that he and Julie were not going to be able to go because he had a state audit at work that he would need to deal with and was going to be during our selected time. We tried coming up with a few other options so they could be included, but it just wasn’t going to happen. I then suggested that maybe we invite our other mutual friends the Reeves. They expressed interest, but there were going to be some challenges for them, and they were unsure. The Corrigans had some friends from Sarasota who had gone to JC’s 60th birthday in Las Vegas and thought they might be interested. That didn’t work out either. So relatively quickly, we realized it was just going to be the Farquhars and the Corrigans. I wondered if that was going to be less fun and if we would tire of each other after two weeks. The short answer is that a group of six created some logistical issues that became apparent during the trip, and the four of had a grand time with no issues.
Here is a link to our original itinerary and the map we intended to follow. We did not adhere to it exactly, but pretty close. I offer it up as a good starting point for anyone else who might like a head start in planning. The map below is where we really went.
Click the image to go the the Google map of the places we actually went. We tagged them all but two.
As a basic summary, this was a tremendous trip. It will probably be a ‘top 5’ in my life, and I have been lucky enough to have been on some good ones so far. The scenery, culture and companionship were great. The following is A LOT of detail, mostly for my own reference in the future so I can reminisce.
Sunday 4/26: Mandy and I arrived in Rome a little before noon, met the Corrigans in the baggage area. We then got our rental car. They gave us a new Volkswagen T-Roc, which was nice and just big enough. We drove through Rome heading East toward Sulmona where we had an Airbnb reservation. We drove through most of Rome since the airport is in West side of the city. Finally we started to hit some rural areas and could see the mountains we were going to be entering. There were lots of mountain towns which were perched high on a hill with generally a church and castle at the top and the rest of the town surrounding it. They were picturesque and JC was particularly impressed by them. This was his firt time in Italy. Our first stop was at an Autogrill which are gas stations and a store. The stores have quite a reputation for being unlike the American experience and this one did not disappoint. I had an Espresso and an ‘Americano e Latte ToGo’ which I really started to need as I was beginning to hit a wall from effectively a red-eye flight. Another interesting thing was that the urinals were placed quite high, which was noteworthy in the moment, but I would soon discover over the next two weeks that it was a rule and not an exception.
We had just finished our three-hour drive from Rome and began exploring Sulmona. This is their famous aqueduct that was on the edge of their Piazza. It would prove to be a really good beginning of our grand journey.
We continued on through the Abruzzo region through the mountainous landscape that is the Sirente-Velino Natural Park and Parco Nazionale del Gargano. After about three hours, we could see Sulmona in the distance and made our way down into the valley and into Sulmona’s Piazza Garibaldi, which is quite lovely. We arrived at roughly 4 PM. The town is surrounded by beautiful mountains which are in the Della Maiella National Park, and the city itself is at the foot of the Majella. We parked and walked around the piazza and the local shops. Sulmona is the City of Love and is known for its Confetti which is sugar-coated almonds. We stopped at an outdoor cafe called JAMM’ mo and had some drinks. The waiter gave us mountain spring water from the city aqueduct and a public fountain. He also gave us a dinner recommendation, which we walked to, but found that they did not open until 8 PM. We made a reservation.
We stopped to have drinks at essentially the first place we found called JAMM’ mo. The waiter brought a great little tray of bread and prosciutto. He was very proud of his town and made a wonderful suggestion for dinner. This was the start of quite a bit of eating and drinking for the next two weeks.
Our Airbnb, the Blue Owl wasn’t available until six and so we drove over after doing a little more walking. It was a lovely apartment hosted by Franca and Nello. We got settled in and made sure we could make it through all three locked doors to get back in. We then returned to the piazza and went to another outdoor cafe called Bar Piazza Maggiore for more drinks. The waiter insisted on a meat platter which we agreed to. It was impressively big and could have been dinner itself. We had another round of wine and did some damage on the sausage, prosciutto, cheese paninis and something that looked like small hot dogs. We went to another cafe called the Italian Bar down one of the main thoroughfares, which was across from the church. We people watched which included a of Italian men on the church steps. We surmised they must be part of the ‘almond mafia’ since that was an important local commodity. We also recognized a couple from the Budget Rent-A-Car line in Rome, which we thought was very surprising.
This was a great start to a lot of good food. We also really tested my theory that there is no hangover with Italian wine.
It was now essentially 8 PM, so we made our way to the recommended restaurant Pizzeria Ristorante Il Vecchio Muro. We had lots of wine and the meal started with a complimentary fire-roasted potato spinach appetizer which was a surprise and awesome. We then shared pasta with white pepper lemon sauce in a bowl made of cheesy pasta and a fabulous meat tray. The atmosphere was great and the restaurant really filled up by the time we left. We wanted gelato but were too full from dinner, not to mention all the gelato spots we had spotted earlier were now already closed. We made our way back to the Airbnb, managed to get back in through the three locked doors and went to bed pretty quickly as it had been a long day with little sleep the night before.
There was a really big balcony on our Airbnb with a great view of Sulmona and the mountains. When we woke up in the morning, there was a lot of sun and we enjoyed coffee as we began to get ready to continue our journey East.
Monday 4/27: We woke up at a pretty reasonable time in the morning all things considered. No hangover from the abundant amount of wine consumed the night before. My theory that Italian wine doesn’t come with hangovers continues to be supported!
We had a nice little breakfast provided by our host Franca which included bread, pastries and fruit. The coffee pod machine was a challenge and we could not seem to make it work. We ended up making coffee in a pot which worked but was not ideal. After spending some time enjoying the view and the sun on the balcony, we showered in a typically very small Italian shower, packed up and hit the road for the East Coast to see the Adriatic Sea.
The first town we went to was Termoli. The drive through the town was not particularly scenic and the town was a little rough. We did find a section that seemed more historic and tried to find parking which was challenging. We found a spot but it was “merchant only” parking, and a policeman nearby said we couldn’t park there. We looked around a little more without much luck. The portion of the town we saw was not a very scenic place, so we decided to hit the road and skip Termoli.
What we would find in a lot of these towns is that, as you drove in, there were newer sections that were not particularly interesting or attractive. However, Italy being really old, the towns all had older historic areas that were generally nice and interesting. The challenge would be getting to those spots by car. In some towns, this was easier than in others.
We had gotten our recommended wine from the owner. The red was not great. The wine order you see in this picture repeated itself throughout the trip. JC and I ordered red, and Yvonne and Mandy would get white. Ristorante Pizzeria Bistró fed us, but it was maybe our second-worst meal on this trip.
We started heading south and traveled to Lesina, which was the next coastal town on the map. It was early afternoon and we were getting hungry. We did find the older part of the town and parked. We started to walk around looking for a restaurant. Lesina was very quiet and there was hardly anyone around. It was a bit of a ‘ghost town’ and in retrospect, some towns we visited really embraced the siesta and that could have also been the issue when we were there. We were struggling to find a restaurant but traveling to the next town was going to take too long so we were determined to find something. Lesina sits on a large lagoon and has some history around this body of water. They are famous for the eel dishes apparently. We walked around looking for places we could see on Google maps. We saw a Nonna cooking down the alley which was close to a listed pizzeria. We approached and her to aks where the pizzeria was but a dog on the balcony scared us away before we could get close. We then walked towards the lagoon but still no people to be found. We saw a cafe on the lagoon called Ristorante Pizzeria Bistró. It was empty but we asked if they were open and they said yes, even though in retrospect they really were not. We ordered some wine, a salad and a couple of pizzas. The food was not great. The salad was all iceberg lettuce and fennel. The pizzas were very average and the wine was not so good despite being recommended by the owner. It filled us up which was half the battle. We presumed the town would be busier in the summer.
We left Lesina and headed to Vieste. We would look for places to stay as we headed to our final town each night. Yvonne found one called the Pizzomunno Vieste Palace Hotel which looked a bit high-end and we thought we would splurge a little. The hotel was not in the city of Vieste but down the main drag a little in a beach area, which seemed fine. We asked for their rates and it was a bit overpriced for what you were getting. We decided to move on.
We made it down to the harbor and Vieste was quite nice.
We want back toward the city and found some other hotel options. We asked for availability and pricing in a few of them and ended up staying at the Hotel La Caravelle. The price was good, the hotel was reasonably nice and they suggested there were water views from the rooms balconies. They were technically correct but you really had to lean out to see it. This was clearly a family-owned hotel. The hostess was very helpful and her two brothers drove us to the off-site parking which was not particularly close and a bit of an effort to make that all happen. We settled in, rested a little and then after getting a restaurant recommendation, headed into the ‘centro’. We walked through a bunch of alleys and down to the water. Vieste is full of alleys with stores and restaurants. We checked out the church right on the water. On the way there, I think there was church housing for kids and we heard someone being smacked by what I presume was a nun; Hail Mary! We continued exploring and I found the pergola called Bar Gelateria Maggiore at the top of the ‘Heart Stairs’ for the City of Love. We had spotted this earlier but did not want to walk up the stairs. We had some cocktails and enjoyed a good view of Vieste Harbor. We then proceeded down the ‘love’ stairs for dinner at Al Vaporetto Antipasteria Troccoleria di Mare which was recommended to us by the lady at the hotel. We ordered steak, whole sliced prawns, orchiaetta with mussels and tricolor pasta. The dinner was not very good. This was a bit disappointing and as time went on, meals at hotels were not as good as those at just regular restaurants. Al Vaporetta was close to the water with nice outside seating and a view of the chefs. We were optimistic, but in the end, I think it was mostly a tourist spot. We did have good gelato at one of the many stores selling it on our way back to the hotel.
Tuesday 4/28: We woke up the next morning and had the complimentary breakfast in the hotel. It was pretty good and the unlimited handmade coffee drinks were quite good. The La Caravelle hotel was a very acceptable experience.
We came around the tip of Vieste to get a really good view of the cliffs that the town sits on. Shortly we would see the famed 25-meter-high Pizzomunno white limestone monolith.
We had booked a boat tour the night before to see Vieste's famous coastline that spans roughly 30 kilometers. We had packed up, left our bags in the lobby and got driven in the hotel golf cart to the harbor to get on “the love boat” for a three-hour tour of the coast. Francesco was our guide and really added a nice touch to the experience. We enjoyed the scenery which included the transition from long, golden sandy Pizzomunno Beach to the many rugged cliffs, hidden natural sea grottoes, pebble coves, including Baia di Campi, Cala della Pergola and Grotte Marine.
This is the Architiello of San Felice and really representative of a lot of the shoreline we saw. They positioned the boat perfectly so we could get the castle Torre di San Felice in the middle of the natural arch.
We headed back to the hotel to check out. Our host drove us in the golf cart to get the car. Getting it out of their underground garage was quite an adventure. We got on the road heading south for our journey to Bari. We decided we would do a little driving and then look for a place for lunch. The roads were very windy and high up on the cliffs we just saw on the boat. We came up on a roadside restaurant and quickly decided to pull off and try our luck. Monte Bamone Ristorante would turn out to be very good with a beautiful cliffside view overlooking the Adriatic. We of course ordered some drinks. We spotted an old man cooking fish over an open fire so JC decided to order fish. I ordered linguine and clams, Mandy ordered sausages that looked like hot dogs and Yvonne had a caprese. We really lucked out as this checked all the boxes. The restaurant also by chance happened to be right next to the entrance of a fabulous hotel we saw from the boat called Baia delle Zagare which seems to be a place we all agreed if we were to come back, it would deserve a visit.
Our view at Monte Bamone Ristorante was awesome along with the food.
After lunch, we had about another hour of windy roads until we finally got to the flat land on our way to our destination today, Bari. We decided that this agriculturally intense area was the Iowa of Puglia, despite being very close to the ocean. We thought it would be prudent to stop for some gas. We found a gas station in the middle of nowhere which was actually called Eni Station in Cerignola Campagna. We were told by the gas attendant that they only had diesel. We decided that we would use their bathroom and took the opportunity to get some coffee. Most gas stations in Italy all have coffee bars which I think is amazing. There were a bunch of pretty scraggly men in two groups, one outside and one inside killing time and shooting the breeze. I ordered an espresso and an Americano to-go. The two baristas wanted to know where we were from. I think we stood out from their usual clientele as this location was definitely not a tourist destination. We let them know we were from America and they were very impressed by this. They asked if we had US dollars and I obliged giving them some of the singles I had. We then went outside and as we were getting in the car, the gas attendant’s Cane Corso, which was quite impressive, came up to us and we gave him a lot of attention and love. We departed and pressed on. For some reason the route we took brought us inland somewhat, and because of this, we missed Barletta and Trani which is unfortunate in retrospect.
We started to get out of the agricultural area and into the outskirts of Bari. As we drove in, Yvonne and Mandy had been looking for a place to stay. We ended up booking an Airbnb that was advertised as being within easy walking distance of the city's historic area, which is obviously where we wanted to be. The drive into Bari was a little startling as the way in is filled with areas that looked a little rough. We had encountered this before and would continue to do so during the rest of the trip and began to expect it. We ended up getting to the Airbnb called The Rooftop. Before could get access to it, we needed to get them a bunch info like passports. This proved to be quite challenging. We found the actual Airbnb around 5 PM and it would not be ready until 6 PM. We drove around some to try to get a lay of the land. We saw a pretty industrial harbor area with a giant historical fort, and several high-end hotels on the water. There was an area with high-end shopping near these hotels and it looked pretty interesting, though we never ended up going to this area. We worked our way back to the Airbnb and found a temporary parking spot to finish our reservation and finally get into the apartment. It was on the top floor and Mandy went up first to make sure we could actually get in. After we confirmed that, we wheeled in our luggage to the lobby, sent it up a very small Italian elevator and got situated. They told us we could park in a public parking lot a few blocks away. Yvonne volunteered to go with me to get the car parked. We lucked out in that we spotted a space right on the busy city street where our apartment was and we grabbed it. We then tried to pay for the parking on a public app which wouldn’t work and debated how safe our car would be. Parking was free from 8 to 8 and we figured that with all the cars, it would be highly unlikely that ours would get picked out for ticketing, or much worse, towed or stolen.
The apartment was very reasonable and clean. It had a rooftop terrace which was pretty nice and had a very interesting view of the many local buildings. JC went to a wine store right down the street and bought a bottle of red and white to bring back to the apartment. We thought we would relax and sit in the rooftop terrace and kill some time waiting for Italy’s late-ish dinner time. What was strange was that you could not buy a corkscrew and the apartment didn’t have one. We ended up opening the wine bottles with a knife. JC spilled a lot of the red wine all over the kitchen in the process.
Finally it was time to venture out into the city of Bari, and it was definitely a city. We headed for the old town by foot. As advertised, it was not far from the apartment at all. We walked down along Castello Normanno-Svevo which is a 13th-century fort. When we got to the end of that we saw the entrance into ‘old-town’. Pretty quickly we were impressed by this area and it was what we were really looking for. Bari is famous for Nonna’s handmade Orichetti in the alleyways which is a specific type of pasta. We finally found a few of them and bought a couple of bags. We enjoyed watching them make it. As we were wandering around we walked into a piazza with a bunch of restaurants on the edges. One in the corner had a bunch of outside seating and they had the whole crowd singing. We watched this for a little while as it was pretty fun. We then heard the sound of church bells and walked toward it. We ran into the Basilica of St Nicholas which was built for this saint in the 11th century for the original Santa Claus. As we walked around we found another piazza for the church where they were having this big ceremony for St. Nicholas. Our timing was quite lucky and this was quite the sight. There was a big crowd of people, a band and a delegation of the church led by the father addressing the crowd. Behind him was the statue of St. Nicholas which had been carried out of the church by a bunch of parishioners. They then turned around and the procession went back into the church with the statue to do a mass. We continued to watch for a while. It was quite the spectacle.
This was our table in the alleyway at Cucina Carletto. They brought the pre-determined five-piece meal that we ate family-style. The items were a little surprising but were fantastic. This was one of our best meals with good drinks.
It was now time to find a place to eat. We wandered around for a while and finally found a little restaurant called Cucina Carletto that was in one of many tight alleys in the part of the old town. There was outside and inside seating. While we were waiting for a an outside seat, a kid on a bike was nearly run over by a guy on a motorcycle. The traffic in the old town was very curious with pedestrians dodging bikes and mopeds. We also witnessed a young shirtless boy arrive at the restaurant looking for something to drink and was given a Coke by the waitress to then scurry away to wherever he came from. We finally got a table outside and there were only about five available. The waitress was less than thrilled when we figured out it was a bit late for them. She definitely wanted to go home. The proprietor was an older man and I suspect the waitress’s father. He was great and definitely was going to take care of us. We selected a family-style meal with five parts to it that we would all share. He brought out these old carafes of red and white wine which was very good. The old man brought out eggplant, buffalo mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes and a big tray of pasta and meat sauce. We really enjoyed this meal! We left and walked around a bit and started to head back in the direction of our Airbnb. We ran into this great bakery and gelato store called Gelateria Gentile which was very popular. We bought pastries for the next morning’s breakfast. I got a very good gelato. We walked back to the apartment and drank some more wine on the rooftop terrace. We had more great conversations and finally went to bed.
Wednesday 4/29: We all woke up at a reasonable hour somewhat motivated by our understanding that car ticketing started at 8 AM. We all showered in the one bathroom, packed up and headed out. I brought the car closer to the front door and we actually were able to park right there. I wanted a coffee before we departed and went to a cafe up the street on the next corner that allowed me to pee the prior evening as we were waiting to get into the Airbnb. It was a good ‘modern’ Bari city experience.
We got back in the car and headed south towards Polignano a Mare. Yvnonne’s friend Nick had sent her a link to a hotel called Grotta Palazzese and there is an amazing restaurant in a cave at sea level looking out on the Adriatic. We arrived and found a parking lot which turned out to be south of the old city. We checked that out for a little bit but then decided to drive and park closer to the old city. We worked our way through classic Italian narrow streets and found a spot that we thought was pretty good and close to the Grotta Palazzese Hotel. Across the alley from our parking space was a very old lady hanging out her window doing what I call Italian security. She thought we needed to move our car closer to the one in front of us and so we did.
This is a view of the many options in the old city to see the Adriatic in Polignano a Mare. The cliffs are probably 40 to 60 feet above the water. It is stunning. The Grotta Palazzese Hotel was right around the corner and we could see the famed ristorante from the railing to the right.
We headed towards the Adriatic to try to get some views and there were several options that we found easily. Walking through the alleys of Polignano a Mare was very picturesque. We decided to track down the Grotta Palazzese Hotel and see if we could wrangle a lunch reservation at the famous grotto restaurant. We did find it and there was a security guy at the entrance. We asked him about getting a reservation and he said you had to do it online. The entrance was close to a sea wall and view, so there was a fair amount of pedestrian traffic and distractions. We milled around a bit and then came back. I waited until the security guy was distracted and bolted for the door to see if I could get down to the restaurant and at least see it, and maybe wrangle a reservation in person. I made it in but missed the correct stairwell down to the restaurant, and this delay allowed the security guy to track me down and tell me to get out: I was shoo-shoo’d away Italian style.
We decided we would get a coffee and pastries and landed at a nice outdoor cafe called Sporcamus Bakery. We then continued to explore and found our way to Lama Monachile which is the visual highlight. We spent a good amount of time soaking in the beauty and activity. We then decided to walk to the other side of Lama Monachile. We could see an interesting long cliff walk we wanted to check out and maybe find a lunch option with a great view. We found a nice hotel and restaurant, but they were not open. We bumped into a Chicago couple who told us about a hotel in Matera which was a potential spot to stay at in the next few days; it turned out to be not available. We returned to the other side of Lama Monachile. There was a great rooftop terrace at a restaurant called Acquamarea right next to the picture we took below. The view was great as was the wine. Lots of fish options which is a problem for the ladies. The food ended up being very acceptable. Polignano a Mare was only a point of intrigue on our itinerary and it turned out to be one of the best places on this trip. It would be a place I would return to for a couple of days.
This is Lama Monachile which is the most photographed part of Polignano a Mare. It was pretty amazing and lives up to the hype. I would have really liked to go down and swim but I started to catch a cold and couldn’t muster up the energy to do it. My loss.
We returned to the car to head to Monopoli. Our old lady security guard was no longer at her post: it must have been her siesta time. We arrived at the outskirts of Monopoli and the rugged experience we had earlier in other cities was true for Monopoli. We had put in the hotel I identified on the itinerary into the navigation and had a few directional misses. We then found the entrance to the old city. We saw the ZTL signs which mean you really shouldn’t drive in. There was a narrow alley that we thought we should head down, but there were cars coming out. We tried another alley and the car did not like this and when things got really tight, the car auto-braked really hard a couple of times. It was very startling, and everyone else was thrown off by this and thought we should move on. I thought we should try harder but got outvoted and so we got out of Monopoli and started to head south. l took a quick look at the map and there appeared to be long beaches just a little south with big hotels and so I thought this might be a good alternative to the hotel in the heart of old town Monopoli. We checked it out and it was okay but they were closed for the season. In retrospect, I think we missed out by not staying in Monopoli, as I have seen a number of videos showing how nice it is.
After we settled into our L’Angola Ostuni Airbnb, we explored the streets of Ostuni armed with many recommendations from our super host Massimo.
We decided to move on to Ostuni which was going to be part of a day trip the following day. This turned out to be a very good decision! Yvonne hopped on Airbnb and the first recommendation was a listing called the L’Angola Ostuni. We decided to pull the trigger. The host Massimo responded almost immediately and said he would meet us after he stopped at the laundry for fresh towels. We could see the white city on the hill which was pretty spectacular. Before we knew it, we were working our way up to the city and heading to our new home on 81 Corso Giuseppe Garibaldi. We found the location, although we were a bit unsure if it was right. We found a parking spot relatively close on this narrow street and saw Massimo waiting for us with fresh towels and a bottle of cold white wine. Massimo opened a narrow door which was the entrance to reveal the steepest set of stairs I have ever seen. The home was two stories and the stairs were effectively a ladder. That being said, the place was very nice and Massimo showed off this beautifully restored apartment. He told us he was studying to be an engineer and did all the renovation work himself. The Corrigans defaulted to the lower bedroom because of Yvonne’s giant purple suitcase. Mandy and I took the loft at the top which was also the living room. This stay had the best bathrooms of our trip. As Massimo left, he said he would offer us an extra night at half the price if we paid him directly. We thought about it for a little while and decided to take him up on his offer.
This was on the patio of the La Sommità Relais Hotel which we spotted and decided to explore. What a find! Maybe the best view in Ostuni not to mention great drinks and service.
Massimo proceeded to give us numerous recommendations for dinner and cocktails with a view. Before going out, JC stopped into the mercato a few steps away from our Airbnb and picked up a couple of bottles of wine. He spotted a very local social club in a back room and we wondered what really goes on in there. We then proceeded to walk down the hill to the piazza and head towards the church we saw from our rooftop terrace which seemed to be the high point of the city. We found our way to Massimo’s first recommendation for drinks with a view. The place with a view had no availability and so we moved on and wandered around a bit. We stumbled upon a nightclub called Ricardo’s which was quite nice and a bit unexpected for me. It seemed incongruent to have a nightclub in a very old historic city. We came upon a small cafe/bar called Bar Perso with a very interesting feature of beanbag chairs in an alley with a nice view. We had a cocktail on beanbag chairs and chopped it up with some locals. We moved on and decided to climb up to discover a beautiful hotel called La Sommità Relais. I asked if they had a bar and they offered up a terrace with the most amazing view of the agricultural land below Ostuni and all the way to the Adriatic. This was considerably better than Massimo’s recommendation. We had a round of drinks on the patio and watched an amazing sunset. We then moved into a nice room for a second round of drinks. We met a couple from Baltimore on their honeymoon and had a lovely conversation with them. We finally moved on and tracked down a restaurant we had spotted earlier which appeared to be in a cave. Osteria del Tempo Perso looked very nice and had a table. The atmosphere was great and this made up for our miss earlier in the day in Polignano a Mare. The meal was quite good highlighted by JC’s Octopus order. We also met an American man who was a former professional volleyball player. We left and wandered home. There in the living room, we had a long conversation about how each of us met our significant others and our many adventures in San Francisco all fueled by the wine JC had gotten earlier.
Our resident red wine sommelier JC gives the offering from Osteria del Tempo Perso in a cave a test. Very good!
Thursday 4/30: We woke up the next morning in pretty good shape. My theory of no hangover with Italian wine was still holding true. Unfortunately, I had caught a cold and this was the peak of my sickness. Mercifully I was able to press on but not at peak powers. JC would catch it a few days later as I was hacking on my co-pilot in the car for hours every day. Up until this point, the weather had been perfect but today was going to be rainy. Our plan was to take a day trip to Lecce and the southernmost end of the heel: probably Gallipoli. Mandy and I were a bit ahead of JC and Yvonne from a schedule perspective so we wandered around a little in Ostuni along with coffee and pastries at Caffè Trieste in the piazza.
There was seemingly an infinite number of alleys and things to do in Ostuni. Mandy and I wandered around in the morning exploring and killing some time.
We were all ready and got in the car and made our way to Lecce. JC saw an archaeological museum he wanted to visit so we checked that out. It was quite interesting with all sorts of crazy ‘rooms’ dug into rock and earth many years prior. We had worked up a little bit of an appetite and we wandered around a bit and found a nice restaurant called Osteria 203. It took a little effort and some luck to wrangle a table. A little wine and more good Italian food. We departed and Yvonne fell out of her chair on the way out.
We then found more destinations and walked to Palazzo del Seggio o Sedile which had a number of things to look at like an old preserved colosseum or amphitheater type structure: I believe it is Le Camere dell'Anfiteatro. There was a great church so we of course peeked our heads in there as well. There was also a big sculpture behind glass which we could not figure out who they were recognizing but he clearly was important: Saint fill-in-the-blank. We continued to walk the alleys of Lecce. We found an area that mixed high-end stores in the historic section of the city. We were thinking we were heading back to the car, but we had overshot it by a bunch. At long last we found the main road we had parked on and walked back towards the car.
We found a nod to my wife’s maiden name in Lecce.
We got on the road to head south to Gallipoli which was made famous in the First World War, I believe the Trojan horse, the Ionian Sea and the westernmost point of Italy’s heel. We worked through the newer part of the town to the old town which I think is technically an island. We found some parking in the harbor area. There was definitely real fishing and other seafaring activities going on here. Yvonne and I needed to use a bathroom and there was a cafe in this industrial harbor area which seemed a little strange but we got some coffee in exchange for use of their bathroom. That hit the spot but Yvonne said she would buy it and then proceeded to walk out without paying. The proprietor tracked us down and we paid. It was raining off and on, but not too hard. We proceeded to the centro after a stop at the ‘pharmacia’ to get cough drops. We then went to the Olive Oil Press Museum. Apparently in Gallipoli there were approximately two thousand of these operations. They were dug underground and the whole thing was enlightening and very curious. We then saw this nativity exhibit where you walk through and it recreates the nativity scene. This was quite interesting: it was like a ‘Small World’ at Disney only for Jesus. It started to rain and there was a gentleman outside a bar that waived us in and we took him up on his offer which was good since it started to pour shortly after. I don’t recall the name of it but it was very interesting with horse carriages and an open atrium area. The cocktails and conversation were good. The rain let up and we then walked to the most western point of Gallipoli and checked out the Ionian Sea. We proceeded to walk around the entire seawall and back to the car. We got another coffee on the way out of Gallipoli at the cafe we went to earlier. And use their facilities! We got in the car and returned to Ostuni. I wish we were able to spend a little more time in the heel but this trip worked.
Getting the lay of the land as we planned our walk through Gallipoli.
Upon our return to Ostuni, we tried to find a parking spot near our Airbnb and there was nothing. There was a park close by and we found a spot there. This sort of allowed us to see that there was a whole other side of Ostuni that we had not gone to. We returned to our Airbnb and drank some of our ‘house wine’. We then left and walked around looking for a dinner spot based on Massimo’s recommendations. We struck out a few times as these higher-end restaurants wanted reservations, but we had not made any. We ended up eating at Hosteria Pizzeria Regina which had a nice atmosphere and the food was good. We talked about the best movies and shows that night which was an interesting conversation. I had a gelato on the way home. A little more wine at home and we went to bed.
We really enjoyed coffee and pastries at Caffè Trieste in the Ostuni Piazza.
Friday 5/1: Woke up in Ostuni and got ready to leave. I went to get the car at the park and initially I couldn’t find it. I hadn’t walked far enough but had a big oh-oh moment thinking the car was gone. I was able to find a spot relatively close to the house and we packed the car up and were ready to leave. I had spotted a small farmer’s market getting the car so we went and checked that out first and then returned to Caffè Trieste in the piazza for coffee and pastries. We people watched and there was some sort of entertainment being set up. Now that we were fed and caffeinated, we headed back to the car for our trip to Alberobello and the Trulli houses.
We made our way to Alberobello on a pleasant drive through the countryside. As we got to Alberobello, the traffic picked up considerably and it quickly became clear that everyone was there to see the Trulli houses. We worked our way as close to the start of the walk as possible to find a pay-for-parking area in a tired-looking olive orchard. The proprietor was a very intimidating man who felt as though he should be a part of Hell’s Angels in the States. He was a no-joke tough guy made clear by his cauliflowered ears. Don’t judge a book by its cover as he turned out to be quite delightful.
We were working our way up through the many Trulli Houses. This area is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
We started walking towards the Trulli houses, which were packed with a lot of people. We were oblivious that today was the beginning of a three-day May Day holiday. The basic story on these unique dwellings is that the local people would build their houses with ‘loose’ stones to avoid being taxed by the government. They would disassemble the houses leaving nothing to tax before the tax man would come around. As we were wandering around, I saw a rooftop deck that I was certain would have great views of the area. We tried to get up there but the viewing deck was above a store and you had to buy something to get entrance. So we bought tchotchkes and went up. It was worth the price of admission. We continued to wander around the Trulli houses and relatively quickly decided that we had the experience and proceeded back to the car to get out of all the people.
This was one of the views from the pay-to-play viewing deck. We had someone take a picture of all of us and try to get the houses in the picture and the results were not great. This one of Mandy turned out to be the best one.
We got on the road and decided to stop for lunch in a town called Puntignano. This was your typical town on a hill and was a small to medium-sized. We found a good parking space before the ZTL area which was right next to a public bathroom which was a plus as well. Things were very quiet which I suspect was some combination of siesta time and the holiday we just discovered. We walked toward the centro and quickly came across a group of Gen Z’ers partying it up at a bar and in the sun for what was a cool-ish day. We decided we wouldn’t raise the average age at this Gen Z’er party. Shortly after we came upon the Piazza Plebiscito which looked interesting. There was a church on one side, and on the other side there was a bunch of tables outside in front of a ristorante called Grieco - I think. As stated earlier it was a bit cool and windy so we went inside to a small room with about four tables. We met our waiter Massimo who encouraged us to come in as we were debating what to do. We took him up on his offer and went in. We decided to call him Massimo II and immediately liked him. He had great suggestions on everything. He told us his life story and was well-versed in all things food and wine with a worldly history to support his recommendations. We ended up having a great meal and the wine recommendations were awesome. His mother has a small olive oil farm and he gave us a can of his family’s olive oil. We became fast friends.
A picture of our new best friend Massio II after our great meal and conversation. You will also see the can of his family’s olive oil he gave us. We have subsequently ordered more because it was so good!
During lunch, we indicated we wanted to visit a winery and Massimo recommended a few. The one he really pushed was run by three sisters but it was in the wrong direction and too far away. We proceeded on a beautiful drive to one of Massimo’s other recommendations called Tenute Girolamo Winery. Massimo called the owner to let him know we were coming. Our timing was pretty perfect as they were just starting a tour. This was done by a young man who really knew his stuff and gave us a complete overview of the entire process. The highlight was down in the basement which was quite large and deep where they processed the wine and then below that, put it in lots of barrels for aging.
The underground aging room was very impressive, cool and damp.
After the tour we went to their tasting room and ended up tasting I believe nine different wines. It was a lot. Mandy hit her drinking limit about halfway through and JC started drinking her wine in addition to his. He would consume a lot of wine this day and absolutely tested the limits of my no-hangover theory for Italian wine. We were here until about 5 PM and we needed to start thinking about a place to stay.
We started tasting a whole bunch of wine after the tour. This was the beginning of a long day of drinking for JC in particular. By the end of the night, he was in rare form!
I had booked an Airbnb called Corte Lirice Paradiso through Booking.com in a town called Gioia del Colle. We drove into town following the GPS which was going to take us right to the Airbnb. We entered the old part of the town which means a lot of narrow alleys. We got to one point where there was a very subtle and quick left and right which was quite narrow. I got pretty good at working our way through narrow spots, but this was too narrow. The car literally got wedged between the two walls. I was convinced we could get through. JC got out to guide me and Mandy and Yvonne were in the back peppering me with suggestions. There was an old man who walked by shaking his head. Then there was a younger man who showed up and was willing to help us but his basic recommendation was to back up and not go forward. I really thought we could get through and how else are we going to get to the Airbnb? However it became obvious we were not going to make it through and so we backed out, which was not easy considering the wedge issue we found ourselves in. After some considerable effort, we got the car unwedged and were able to turn around after about a 40-point turn. This may have been the highlight and lowlight all at once, and probably the most memorable part of the trip.
We were able to find a parking space on one of the larger streets pretty close to the Airbnb but it required some walking. The Airbnb was not on a street but in a side alley and there was also some construction going on in the piazza that would have provided easier access. We finally found the Corte Lirice Paradiso Airbnb. We were provided a code to open the lock box but it didn’t work. I tried calling Booking.com, messaging them, calling the Airbnb directly but we couldn’t get a hold of anyone as it was later in the evening. We tried the code again and again, and it just would not work. We tried and tried and waited and waited, and nothing. Mandy and Yvonne had to pee so they went to a pizzeria/restaurant a couple of blocks away. Mandy and Yvonne started asking the girls in the pizza place called La Vecchia Gioia where we could go. Their recommendation was the Svevo Hotel. So we made our way there and unfortunately it ended up being a bust because there was an entire football (soccer) team that had taken all the rooms. The young man at the front desk arranged for us to go to a hotel in the next town San Basilio. We got back in the car and headed to Hotel Cecere. We were greeted by a gentleman at the front desk who looked a lot like Kramer from Seinfeld. We apparently got the last two rooms in the hotel. These rooms were quite large and they had these extremely large patios with nothing on them. We settled in and went down to the lobby where Kramer greeted us with complimentary wine. At this point, JC was feeling no pain from the two gallons of wine he had at the winery. We finished our wine and headed to a restaurant called La Finestra sul Cielo recommended by Karmer in Mottola. It was more modern than anything we had been to previously. We sat down and it took a while to get served. The food was alright. There was a good view because Mottola sits on a hill which most towns in Italy do. On the way out JC had a funny fall where he was walking behind us one moment and then had fallen behind a car and seemingly disappeared. We made it back to the hotel and put JC to sleep!
Saturday 5/2: We all got up at a reasonable hour which was impressive for JC. They had a breakfast and coffee bar downstairs which was surprisingly impressive. We also noticed the hotel had a very large wedding ballroom that was quite dated but pretty impressive nonetheless. They must have hosted every event in the area. We said our good-byes to Kramer, packed up and headed out.
This vantage point greeted us as we got to the old part of Matera The whole thing was very impressive. The old part of the city sits in a hole and as we walked around we learned more about the colorful history of the third-oldest city in the world.
Today’s destination was Matera. To get there we drove through beautiful rolling hills and countryside. We worked our way into the town and this too seemed busy so we found a parking spot and took it. Turns out we should have gone further as we had parked a bit too far from the old city. After our long walk, we finally made it to the main attraction. Matera visually lived up to the hype and definitely felt like the third-oldest city in the world. From our initial view of the city we could see the Cathedral Basilica on the other side and decided we would walk around the top right edge of the city to the cathedral. It was stunning and at least on this side, the modern city had crept right to the edge of the old city. We went down a little into the old portion of the city and walked the alleys. We spotted a very interesting restaurant that was dug into the stone and essentially in a cave. I decided we should try to come back to that if we could.
This was the most ornate church we saw on our trip and we saw a lot of churches. I found it interesting that given Matera’s history of extreme poverty, its church was so magnificent.
We finally made it to the Cathedral Basilica which had a museum as well so we decided to check it out. We generally poked our heads into every church to check them out, but this one was particularly stunning. The history was impressive particularly because of the age of the city. We spent a decent amount of time in both the museum and the actual church which were quite interesting in different ways.
After finishing the church and museum, we debated if we should work our way down into the bottom of ‘the hole’ that is Matera but opted to enjoy the view from the top. Instead, we decided to work our way back to the restaurant we saw earlier for lunch. More wine and another great meal with very unique atmosphere that is an underground cave: even though we had sort of done it already in Ostuni.
The whole restaurant was dug deep into Mater rock creating a cave environment. There was a very large dining room at the bottom that was quite deep. We had a good meal and it was a memorable stop even though it was our second meal in a cave.
We had a long walk back to the car because of our earlier parking mistake. I had paid particular attention to the way we got there so we could find our way back. However, we pretty quickly hit territory that I did not recognize. We found ourselves on the main drag and I was pretty certain that if we stayed on it we would find the car. However as time went on, we thought we were one block off and mercifully we were correct and located the car which was a relief.
We got on the road and headed for Potenza. The rolling hills and mountains were beautiful as we made our way west toward the Mediterranean. We stopped for gas and I had hoped they had a coffee bar like every other gas station in Italy, but no. They did have a bathroom which was a good consolation prize. Yvonne and Mandy started to look for a place to stay. Pretty quickly they found an interesting listing which was a two-bedroom, two-bath Airbnb in the next town over called Pignola. We decided to pull the trigger and Marco the host was helpful with various details. Pignola is a beautiful small ski village next to Potenza. We drove by Potenza and took the next exit after and started driving up some windy roads and we were really gaining some altitude. We were getting close and went up a very steep street. When we arrived at the address, we went to turn into the driveway and I thought the car was going to roll over. There was a gate and two houses that were not looking great. We messaged Marco and he said his parents were looking out of their balcony and couldn’t see us. We finally figured out we were on the wrong street. With a little effort, we found the right address.
We were checking out the balcony with Marco’s dad. There was a great view out over the valley with mountains in the distance covered with windmills.
We were greeted by Marco’s dad who showed us to our apartment. This was a three-story house with a garage and storage on the first floor, Marco’s parents lived on the second floor and we stayed on the top floor. The home was quaint and they had a washer and dryer which we took advantage of. Marco’s Mom gave us an overview of everything we would need including a detailed how-to on another espresso machine. There was a koi pond in the back with a pretty sizeable patio. We got settled in and then poured some wine from the winery we visited yesterday. There was a sitting area out in front of the house with a fantastic view over the valley. Katy called Yvonne and we all had a long fun FaceTime session with her.
Le Fiamme was a very local restaurant recommended by Marco. This was the charcuterie board recommended by the owner. It was a lot of food and quite good. This was the beginning of a large meal.
Marco made us a reservation for dinner at 8 PM at Le Fiamme which was a local family-style restaurant. We showed up right on time after accidentally parking in the employee lot which made the entrance a bit concerning. When we got inside it was really nice. They took us upstairs which was a really big room that was a little bit austere. We were the only ones up there. The owner came up to greet us which was really nice. He suggested a bunch of things and we got a little swept up in his enthusiasm. After he left we realized we ordered too much. The wine came and then a huge charcuterie board showed up. There were a bunch of different things and we tested them all. It was all quite good! It became obvious that we could have just ordered that but we had ordered much more. The rest of the meal showed up which included a huge amount of ribs for Mandy. Yvonne had pistachio pasta and JC and I split a big meat tray and a pasta ravioli with cod! It was all really good but way too much. As we went down to pay, we decided to have some after-dinner drinks. We had a great conversation with the bar staff. There was a young man who greeted us early in our meal and liked that we spoke English. We saw 18-year-old Valentino again and we encouraged him to visit us in the States. It was a great deal of fun. After one last after-dinner drink, we went back to the house, finished our laundry and spent a bunch of time debating which bands were the best and showing each other what we each thought were amazing performances on YouTube. Yvonne had the craziest notion that the Eagles were the best American rock band!
Sunday 5/3: We woke up and started to get ready. Despite the detailed training on the coffee maker, we couldn’t make this one work either. JC was starting to feel bad after finally getting my cold. We lugged our luggage down and packed up the car. We said our good-byes to Marco’s parents.
We found a nice little coffee shop in Potenza. We were enjoying the sun and listening to the locals chat and greet each other. They also had Halls cough drops, which we bought a bunch of for JC and my colds.
Since I thought we were going to stay in Potenza for the night, and it looked pretty interesting as we drove by the day before, I suggested that we should go get some coffee and drugs for JC. Potenza like most cities in Italy was perched on a hill. We worked our way to the top and found a good parking spot. We had spotted a coffee shop right before we parked and so we headed there. This was a very small shop called Bar Caffeteria Vittoria. We ordered our customary Americanos and Cappuccinos, which were good but all their pastries were gone. There were a bunch of locals and we enjoyed watching the post-church activities of the town. There was a gentleman who understood English but he had not disclosed this until the end so hopefully we didn’t say anything stupid. Mandy really didn’t understand his Italian and he would later convey that he speaks a Naples dialect. We walked around the town a little and then got on our way to Salerno and the Mediterranean.
The coast and harbor area of Salerno was picturesque and impressive. We walked up and down the ‘promenade’ checking the city our and trying to get our bearings.
We worked our way into the city and got to the coast. We drove around a little to get the lay of the land and finally parked in a public parking lot right on the water. There was a long walkway and an ‘avenue’ right on the water. We decided we would walk down it and then move into the city to find a hotel. We wandered around quite a bit trying a bunch of options without much luck. I had seen a somewhat modern hotel when we drove in called the Grand Salerno which was just south of the old part of the city. Despite my earlier bad experience with Booking.com, I thought I would roll the dice again and try to get a reservation through them for the Grand Salerno as their pricing was quite good. We pulled the trigger and went back to the car to check in. Getting out of the public parking lot was a little tricky but we found our way to the hotel. We were instructed to park in the garage below and after doing so, finally got checked in. The hotel was very acceptable but it had clearly peaked sometime late in the last century. We decided we would nap a little before venturing out.
We started to walk towards the old part of Salerno and stopped at this open bar on the waterfront called Madegra. Interestingly enough, this is the first place we paid a tip for a meal or drinks.
We started walking North towards the old section of Salerno from our hotel down the promenade which had lots of restaurants on one side and the harbor and Mediterranean on the other. There was a nice outside bar about halfway down so we stopped to have some drinks. Today was our day to have a long chat with our daughter and so we FaceTimed with Sara while having drinks at Madegra. This restaurant was our first tipping experience meaning they asked for a tip and we hadn’t had that happen previously. I believe this was an indication that we were in a more touristy area than we had been in previously. We left and worked our way to the older section of the town which meant moving inland some. There was a great pedestrian promenade called Corso Vittorio Emanuele. We happened on a Renaissance performance which had a lot of people dressed up in historical costumes performing music and dancing. We moved on and checked out another large church which was not far away from the performances. When we were done checking it out, the celebration came to the church and so we watched a little bit more. We then moved on and started walking through the many tight alleys of Salerno and found this ‘hole in the wall’ wine bar with great prosciutto called Dolci Ricordi. We got a little table on the street and enjoyed the offering. While we were there, a gentleman sat at the table next to us who turned out to be a Norwegian mathematician. Shortly thereafter, a lady and her dog grabbed a table. She was a biologist now living in Rome and visiting her parents in Salerno. We all started talking and they seemed to hit it off. When we left, we wondered if a connection had been made.
The ‘local’ lady made a restaurant recommendation called Cici Rinella. She gave us the owner’s name and told us to ask for him. We did and were welcomed with open arms. This restaurant was sort of a cave as well. We met a bunch of other people in there one of whom was an American couple, Renee and her husband Bob. They were from upstate NY and Florida. The restaurant was good but not amazing. We left and took a leisurely walk back through the promenade, people watching and looking at the many stores and restaurants. We did stop for gelato and dessert cocktails at bakery and gelato cafe with outside tables. While we were eating, these really young African kids were trying to sell necklaces and other tchotchkes. We just gave them money. We walked back to the Grand Salerno and called it a night.
Monday 5/4: We woke up and went downstairs to the free breakfast at the Grand. It was a decent offering in a very big room but the whole thing was a blast from the past. We got packed up, checked out and made our way down to the garage to venture to the Amalfi coast.
This was right off the main dag looking into Maoiri. We really liked this town and had one of our best lunches.
Getting out of Salerno was pretty easy and we quite quickly entered the narrow, windy roads that would be our experience for the next few days. Our first stop was the coastal town of Maiori. The trip here was visually amazing and very exciting from a driving experience. Yvonne has a friend in Sarasota named Masood who had a house in Maiori for quite a while and had provided Yvonne with lots of travel advice prior to the trip. We found a parking spot right on the main drag and grabbed it. We walked around the water area and then headed inland up the main boulevard. This was a really nice little town full of shops and restaurants. We stopped in the local church as we did in every town and there was a great garden with these deep pools full of fish, which was quite impressive and a bit surprising. It was getting close to lunch so we stopped at a deli called La Tramontina. We ate at their outside tables. Mandy ordered a focaccia sandwich with prosciutto and mortadella, JC ordered lasagna and Yvonne got a huge bruschetta. This lunch was really good and supported my theory that the best food was in the little establishments. We returned to the car and continued with the goal of getting to Ravello.
One of the stores in Maoiri just sold pork and it was out for inspection! Give me the prosciutto!
We almost missed the turn to Ravello. There was a split that came real quick and I froze a bit but at the very last minute went up the right way to Ravello. We climbed and climbed up a very twisty road. This was our first introduction to one-way roads. We got to the top and there were two choices and I opted to go through a tunnel as it seemed that would take us higher, and being high is good when traveling in Italy. This brought us to a dead end which was full of vehicles. Trying to turn around was a challenge. I then proceeded down the way we came but this was going the wrong way on a one-way raod. We were told in Italian that we were idiots. I managed to back up and go the right way. We went back through the tunnel and I parked right on the other side of it where the other turn was. The parking spot was on the side of the road and marginally legal, but my thought was we should walk up particularly after the car struggle we just had. There was a gentleman helping with traffic that I had walked over to ask if he thought my parking spot was okay. He said there were seven more spaces up above. We scrambled back to the car while four cars went by and motored to the promised parking. Sure enough, there was a public parking. We got our space but it was super tight.
This is the Piazza Centrale in Ravello which was quite the revelation as we walked up some stairs and were greeted by the very picturesque public square. This was just the beginning of our love for Ravello.
Our plan was to check out Ravello and pursue an Airbnb we had seen in Furore that touted great views and a hot tub. We had an issue with a car on the other side of the parking and we let them out and then reparked. While all this was going on, Mandy and Yvonne noticed a hotel right near the public parking. They walked around looking for someone to talk to and found the cleaning lady. She told us ‘uno momento’ and our new friend Pietro arrived within minutes on his Vespa. He was very welcoming and gave us two rooms at a great rate at Il Ducato Di Ravello. One room had a really great view that JC and Yvonne got. The room we had was quite nice as well, and these were some of the best rooms we had to date. There were two little dogs that roamed around and provided ‘security’. They were both in kind of rough shape but very friendly. We settled in and relaxed a little bit and then walked up the stairs to the Piazza Centrale and wow! We were amazed at the beauty of it!
This was our perfect table at the Hotel Rufalo. This would be a nice place to stay if I came back.
We walked across the piazza and saw the Hotel Rufalo which was really nice so we checked it out. There was a great patio that overlooked the Mediterranean. The view was amazing and there were plenty of tables. They gave, we asked for, the perfect table in the corner with a view that could stop time! We had cocktails and drinks there. Honestly I could have stayed there all day. During our drinks, we noticed a tower and we could see people on top. It turned out to be the Fondazione Ravello. So we headed over to check it out and it was a museum with a bunch of history and of course the view at the top of the tower. We checked everything out and climbed to the top. On the way up, there were a bunch of displays and the stairway up through the tower was steel and glass which was a nice aesthetic. The top was more of the great view we had already seen, just a little higher and quite impressive. After we went to a beautiful garden. We saw a bride and groom and realized this has got to be the prettiest place to have a wedding.
I found my perfect store in Ravello!
We continued to explore and ended up at the Hotel Giordano which looked nice. Down some stairs we spotted a pool and bar so we headed there. This was a nice setting. Our waiter was Tomosso and we became fast friends. He was showering us with pleasantries including JC looking like Sean Connery. At the end we asked for a dinner recommendation and Tomosso suggested to Hotel Maria which was a sister hotel. We would take his advice, but headed back to our rooms first at Il Ducato Di Ravello. We got some wine we still had from the winery and other acquisitions along the way. JC and Yvonne’s room had a ‘vista veranda’ perched up high with a terrific view of the parking lot. We spent some time there before heading out to dinner.
Our new friend Tommoso at the Hotel Giordano.
We worked our way to Hotel Maria. It was a very nice establishment. They had great outdoor dining with a great view looking north with the Mediterranean in view. There was a row of tables right on the edge but they were all taken so we got the next row over. The prices here were definitely a notch higher than what we typically had seen thus far. Welcome to Amalfi! We struggled a little with the menu but ended up with a good, but not great meal and some really good wine. All in all, it was a very nice experience. We took a leisurely walk back to the Il Ducato and went to bed.
Tuesday 5/5: We woke up at Pietro’s place to a very early farmer’s market setup at a crazy hour. The two ‘guard’ dogs were doing their job by barking quite a bit as well. Pietro served us a delicious breakfast with “the best coffee in all of Italy.” He told us about the celebrity weddings that had taken place in Ravello, including John Legend and Usher! After breakfast, we separately returned to the Piazza Centrale and checked out the eastern end of the town which we had not visited the day before. We returned to the Il Ducato and Pietro pulled our car out of their private parking which was just a grass patch below the public parking. He got us out of the public parking for free and we were on to Positano!
Holy cow! The trip into Positano was even more exciting from a driving perspective. It was certainly a test of nerves with endless tight squeezes! We drove by two young men in a bad scooter accident. As we closed in on Positano, there was a turn we needed to make to head into Positano that we missed. We continued on that road for a while and then there was a fork which allowed for a pretty daring U-turn that allowed us to head back and make the correct turn into Positano. We made our way down to the Hotel La Bougainville where we had a reservation for the next three days. When we planned this trip, we only made two hotel reservations: Salmona and Positano. There was a private parking lot right across the street which was very easy and pretty reasonable from a price perspective. One complaint I see about Positano is the work to get your luggage to wherever you are staying and this was quite easy for us.
Positano was/is a feast for the eyes! And a bustling Disney World of sorts! We could only imagine what it was like in the summer. We walked up the stairs to the hotel lobby and finally got to meet Salvatore who had helped out Yvonne quite a bit with her booking a couple of months earlier. Salvatore arranged for our luggage to go up their elevator from the street level to our rooms. Mandy and I got a room with a balcony and a view, whereas JC and Yvonne’s room was not as nice. This is why I defaulted to the lesser rooms for a few of our previous stays.
This was our view at the Rada Beach Ristorante and was perfect place to kick off our next few days in Positano.
Positano loves lemons and we were greeted with at least a couple of stores right outside of our hotel that had every possible version of lemon-themed housewares and clothing. It became clear that Positano is very touristy! We had lunch a few doors down from the hotel at a restaurant called Ohima Brasserie. We had a very nice meal and were now primed to explore. Right by the hotel is the main walking thoroughfare to the beach which we headed down. We touched the Mediterranean for the first time. I saw a restaurant at the very end of the beach and thought we should check it out. The establishment was called the Rada Beach Ristorante. There were two couples talking to the hostess and it was clear they were going to be there for a while. I just walked past and headed up to a terrace I could see from below figuring they must be serving drinks with a great view. Sure enough, I was right. We got a great seat and ordered. The two couples showed up a little biut after us as well and we had a conversation with the ‘annoying’ dog lady and the rest of their crew. We would bump into them a few times in the next couple of days. As we were enjoying the view, we saw at least one marriage proposal on a boat and people in boats taking ‘couples’ pictures. It was quite entertaining. Young love!
This was our table at Da Vinzenzo the first night in Positano. The location, view and food was excellent. Maybe our best meal in Positano.
We received a dinner recommendation of Da Vincenzo from our new friends from the Rada. After checking out the beach and the harbor, we decided we would make our way to Da Vincenzo. This required climbing A LOT of stairs, which we knew coming into Positano that you are either ascending or descending. We finally found it and we were able to get a nice table right on the road with a great view. The local traffic goes right by you on this one-way street. The whole thing was awesome and it ended up being maybe our best meal in Positano. Our waiter was the son of the proprietor and the whole thing was owned by the Rafaella family. I forgot his name but he was great and passed on a lot of interesting info. He did not like the way we pronounced ‘Grazie’ and said real Italians put more emphasis on the ‘e’ at the end. We corrected ourselves accordingly.
We walked down the hill back to our hotel via Yummy’s for a gelato stop. JC was still struggling a little with the cold I gave him and he and Yvonne went back to their room for a little rest. Mandy and I thought we would go up Cristoforo Colombo which was the road outside our hotel and the main drag in Positano. We found an outside deck that was nicely decorated and served drinks called Franco’s. The drinks were very fancy along with their price. We each ordered something and they were quite good. There was a couple to my left that was roughly our age from Boston and a young couple to my right from San Jose. We had a great conversation with them both. JC and Yvonne showed up and we had another round of drinks and more conversation. It was a great way to cap off the night.
There is no doubt that Positano is unique and VERY picturesque.
Wednesday 5/6: We had a lovely breakfast at our hotel Bougainville. We got bus tickets to go up to Nocelle which is at the top of Positano. This bus ride was one for the ages. I had to stand and Mandy got to sit. The bus driver drove very quickly which was crazy and the road was full of really steep drops which seemed more extreme than our drive in, which is hard to believe. On the ride up Mandy made friends with a fellow passenger named Cida who was from Brazil. She was going to work and wanted to show us the restaurant she was working at. She told us to follow her which would prove to be a fair way down the Path of the Gods stairs. We noticed at the top of the stairs before heading down, that there was a mule tied to a wall. We would later find out that you can ride it up or down the many stairs which is the Path of the Gods.
She took us to La Fresella Ristorante owned by Vincenzo. This was a family affair as we saw his Mom and daughter along with a bunch of workers. We got the full tour which consisted of a pizza oven, outdoor dining room and table on the roof of a building with a spectacular view of Positano. It was looking a little rough but we got swept up in enthusiasm by our newfound friendship with Cida and now Vinzenzo and could ‘see the possibilities’. I thought we were going to eat there but it turns out we just got a tour. They showed us their Instagram page (La Fresella Ristorante). I followed them and they really have cleaned things up and made it quite nice.
Our new friends Cida and Vinzenzo from La Fresella Ristorante, we made our way down a lot of stairs for the lower half of the Path of the Gods.
After saying our goodbyes, we started down the 1,000 steps of the Path of the Gods as we didn’t want to climb back up to where we started. The end result is we never really got to see the town of Nocelle which is a little disappointing not knowing what we missed. The trip down was long and of course full of stairs. JC struggled some but after a while, we finally made it down. It ends on the road which was a good way south of Poistano. In light of JC’s struggle down, we elected to flag down a taxi and get driven back in to Positano. After a little effort we found one who had to circle back to pick us up and head in the right direction. The driver’s name was also Massimo and we dubbed him “tre”. The taxi experience is exactly what you would expect in Italy and particularly in Positano. Massimo tre was no fan of our current American political situation and also thought all tourists suck except Americans and Australians. We returned to the Bougainville for a little siesta and prepared for dinner.
We made our way to the next recommendation we got which was called Ristorante Mediterraneo. We got a nice outside seat and enjoyed another good meal highlighted with a singer taking requests for Italian songs. His name is Pietro Rainone who was a lot of fun. The waiters and almost everyone in the restaurant participated and made requests. Generally I am not a fan of this type of thing but this was good. We had to dig deep for Italian songs we knew. After dinner we cabbed home to the Bougainville.
When we go to the hotel, we decided we would check out a wine tasting room very close to the hotel called Le Tre Sorelle Wine Room. We met our sommelier whose name I have now forgotten and her not-mom. She was very nice and quite helpful. Mandy and I tried some grappa to confirm that it is tough to get through. Two young couples showed up and we talked to them for a while. One was from Orange County CA and newly married. The other couple was from Jacksonville and our guess was probably going to have a proposal in the next few days. They were all in the medical field. The couples left and it seemed like our hosts were anxious to go home so we moved on as well. We returned to the hotel and had drinks on the veranda and watched the elderly manager at the front desk fall asleep at his desk.
We were returning from Capri and the ferry really gave us a great view of Positano.
Thursday 5/7: We woke up and had breakfast at Bougainville. We then walked to the port and took the ferry to Capri. It was really nice to be able to see Positano from the sea and see it in its full glory. We met a mother-daughter combination from Boston and talked to them for a while on the way over. We finally arrived, got off the boat and decided we would take the tram up to the ‘center’ of town. We walked around a bunch checking things out and scoping a place for lunch. We of course went to look at a church which got us into a back alley that was off of one of the main roads and perched up high. I thought this might be a place where we could find a restaurant with a view, and I was right. We selected a place called Capri Capri which had a covered outside patio up high with a perfect view toward Italy and out over the harbor. This place is apparently the outpost of a famous pizzeria in Naples. Yvonne liked the young male waiters. We had another good meal.
This was our view at Capri Capri Pizzeria in Capri. Another good meal with another great view.
We decided we would check out the area toward the other side of the island and happened on a very posh section with high-end hotels and shops. Sort the Rodeo Drive of Capri. We checked out all the stores and decided that when we win the lottery, we could return and camp out at one of the hotels for a few days.
We got a nice view leaving Capri. You definitely could make an entire visit out of Capri, and maybe one day we will. We met a couple who also recommended Isola d’Ischia, which apparently is a lesser-known and just as beautiful island.
We had two ferry options to return to Positano, which were either 3 or 6 PM, and decided that we had gotten a good feel for Capri and would elect to take the 3 PM ferry, particularly since this was our last day. We took the tram back down to the port. We killed a little time at one of the cafes right at the port, which had these huge ‘franken-lemons’ on the table. Mandy and I thought we found someone’s ticket, and in point of fact, it was one of ours to return to Positano on the ferry, which I stupidly put down and almost didn’t get on the ferry back. The ferry ride both ways was very nice with lots of Mediterranean views.
This is JC at the top of Cristoforo Colombo looking for a last great restaurant for our Positano visit. It would also show us what our drive was going to look like the next day.
We returned to home base at the Bougainville. We got dressed in some fancier clothes for a last hoorah fancy dinner, despite not really having a firm destination. We met in the balcony and our hosts at the Bougainville, Rosa and Antonella served us preseco on the veranda. We then ventured out for our last dinner in Positano with a shaky reservation at Don Giovanni’s. I went to see if we could really get in there and they only had a table indoors. I really wanted this meal to be at a memorable location, so we pushed on heading up Cristoforo Colombo. We struggled a bit finding something. At the top of the road we found a couple of places but the location was not perfect. One called the ROC which was a bit of a hike and only served uncooked meat which you had to cook yourself.
The last supper in Positano at the Terrazza Celè restaurant.
We headed back down Cristoforo Colombo. Walking on the outside sidewalk which showed us a good view of everything below, we could see a patio restaurant that looked to be a part of a hotel. It appeared to be very high-end so we presumed we could not get in without a reservation. You had to take an elevator down so I volunteered to check it out. Sure enough, they would seat us so I texted everyone to come on down to Terrazza Celè at the Hotel Marincanto. The atmosphere was a ten but the meal was a six. The last confirmation that meals at hotel restaurants were not as good as those at regular restaurants. We walked back to Le Tre Sorelle Wine Room and talked to our favorite sommelier, whose name we still can’t remember. She told us her life story which was interesting and an insight into life on the Amalfi Coast. There was an Austrian couple that walked in and we thought we were going to have a repeat of the night before with good conversation with other tourists, but no, as I think we scared them and they left. Mandy and I had some excellent port wine. It had gotten pretty late and we eventually went to bed.
We got a great view of the northern end of Positano on our walk home.
Friday 5/8: We woke up and went down to our last breakfast at the Bougainville. The hotel was perfect and an ideal spot for our three days in Positano. We checked out and said goodbye to Salvatore. We got everything in the car and pulled out of the parking spot and were ready to leave. After Yvonne and Mandy bought some Positano tchotchkes and ornaments. Goodbye Positano!
We hit the road and headed north to eventually get to Rome and the airport. We first drove through Sorrento which seemed to be pretty nice. It was a fairly sizeable city. Then we drove through Napoli where the Pope was planning to visit that same day. We were hoping to miss any additional traffic he may be creating and for the most part, it was clear sailing. Napoli was a decidedly big city and came with a reputation of being hardscrabble, poor and Mafia-influenced. We did not stop. We also could see Mount Vesuvius and debated whether we should stop and also see the Lost City of Pompeii. We really didn’t have a lot of time and so that was a somewhat easy decision.
We debated whether we should head straight to Rome, which would take us inland or we should go around Naples and head to the coast and drive the highway that hugs the Mediterranean. We opted for the latter and made our way to Pozzuoli. We worked our way in town towards the harbor where we ended up parking. We got out and walked through a nice but a bit rugged old town and ended up at the Piazza della Repubblica. We stopped at Mapò Wine & Food for some coffee. Afterwards, we headed back to the car and JC found what appeared to be a really authentic Napoli pizza. He was upset he did not get a slice, as this was one of the few places we found in Italy that sold pizza by the slice.
We continued up the coast and came upon Mondragone, which was a small, sleepy beach town that was very deserted. We drove around a bit going right to the water. We did eventually find an open restaurant called Ristorante e Pizzeria Cielo e Mare, which was a bit of a challenge as no one was around and it was siesta time as well. We were the only ones in there and they said we could come in. We got a good table right on the edge of the beach. This was clearly a family restaurant, and there was a Nona who was doing the cooking. There were some other relatives who were working which we guess was an effort to get ready for the summer. The meals were surprisingly good. JC ordered a mystery seafood dish. The family was very nice and we talked with them a bit.
We returned to the car and headed for Rome. We opted to go inland and abandon the coastal drive. We arrived around 5 PM. We had a reservation at the Hilton, which was right at the airport. We dropped our bags off and got our hotel rooms. The hotel was quite busy. I drove the car back to the rental return. Some kid inspected it and did not see any damage from our wedge situation in Gioia del Colle.
JC and Yvonne went to the executive lounge for free drinks. We met them there and decided we should have dinner as Mandy and I needed to get up relatively early to catch our flight. The meal was very average and it was like we were not in Italy anymore. This is why I ended up ordering a burger, as getting Italian food didn’t seem appropriate! We said our goodbyes on the 5th floor executive wing of the Hilton hotel!
And with that, the journey was officially over. Hard to believe! What an amazing two weeks it was! It really could not have worked out better. Southern Italy was a combination of ancient beauty, warm and generous people, all delivered through our spontaneous itinerary.
And again, the purpose of this accounting of the trip is selfishly for my own reference when I have forgotten the details of what really was a trip of a lifetime, filled with discovery, amazing views, wrong turns, characters, food and wine, and most importantly, good friends!
A few of the standout recurring themes:
Italian towns require a hill to build a church and a fort at the top with a town to surround it
Italians love convening in public areas to catch up and pass the time
The search for locals and authentically Italian spots
Ching ching - lots of food, wine and good conversation
Lucky a number of times to run into a few cultural events
Unexpected kindness from locals
Narrow roads, alleys and some interesting parking
