SOUTHERN COMFORT

 

As we boarded our plane for Rome I realized I was really nervous. In the weeks leading up to this trip, I’d immediately opened every Italian guidebook we had come across to the Safety and Security section, to see if my unease was justified. I wanted to find out if our planned trip – self-driving around southern Italy – was foolhardy.

Privately I thought it was. 

I’d even quipped to friends: “So long as we get back with our bags and passports, I’ll be happy.” Then I’d add, “And the car!”

The plan was to drive south from Rome, where (good sign) it turned out the rental company had upgraded us to a natty little navy blue Alfa Romeo, then south to Naples, heeding warnings galore about pickpockets and worse.

From there we planned a quick lap around Sicily (watch out for the Mafia, friends said) then back to the mainland, outlining ‘the boot’ of Italy and the back of the leg, crossing back from a point on the east coast, level with Rome.

Four weeks, we’d given ourselves, to do all this. That’s if we lasted the distance. Word was the locals weren’t too fussed about tourists. That was yet another thing, and I wondered why I wasn’t simply packing up and heading for Paris. My mood was as black as a Calabrian widow’s dress.

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This article continues with details of the trip, the discoveries, staying in agriturismo farm stays and  includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, things to do and see.

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(finishes…)

Highlights of the trip? Too many, but here is a fistful – Erice, a stunning medieval hilltop town on Sicily’s north-east corner, home to the best almond cakes in the world; over-touristed Alberobello in Puglia with its quaint conical-roofed houses that still manages (somehow) to be utterly captivating; Greek ruins in Selenunte and Agrigento in Sicily standing high and mighty still after two millenniums; and gelati – I tried them everywhere. 

But that’s another story.

 

©Sally Hammond 2008
Picture Credits: ©Gordon Hammond 2008

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