5 week itinerary

What are your travel dates?

For Juve they are home on March 8, then they are on the road in Palermo on March 15, then home on March 22 vs Genoa and home on April 4. If soccer fans you can also try to see a game in Rome. You are there for 5 days and being 2 teams in Rome (Roma and Lazio) you have pretty good odds there will be a home game while you are there too. I've done some soccer games in the past and I have always bought my ticket from the team store when I arrived in town. If you do that bring you passport to the store with you for ID. They put your name on the ticket. For Rome I had to go back the next day to pickup the tickets. Unless it's a big game like Juve-Inter or Roma-Lazio you shouldnt' have any issues getting tickets.

I like the rest of it. What cities are you thinking about in Umbria? Orvieto and Civita are in Rick's Books. Gubbio is nice. I also enjoyed a brief stop in Citta Della Pieve which doesn't see many tourists.

That one thing I would change would be the one night in Matera. I'm not a huge fan of 1 night stays having done some in the past. If you are only an hour and half from your destination the next day I would just head down to there and stay the extra night there.

Also not too far from Martina Franca is the old town of Polignano a Mare. A friend in Italy recomended this place to eat me for a visit next time I'm in that area. http://www.grottapalazzese.it/en/i-ristoranti/

Unfortunately there are no games in Rome on our travel dates. We get in the morning after Roma play. Hoping to see the Turin v Genoa game on 22 March but whether we get tickets I dont know. They only seem to be for sale a week or 10 days ahead of the match unless you pay the outrageous prices resellers like viagoggo charge! We may also see a Bologna game as they are playing when we are there.

The Matera night is so we dont have to do it as a day trip from Martina Franca but rather visit it as it is in the general direction of the Amalfi. But I do take your point.

And thank you for the restaurant recommendation. We are likely to visit Poligno.

In Umbria we figure a day in Assisi. A day doing a walk from Spello along an old aquaduct to a local town. A visit to Gubbio for the funicular which the kids will enjoy. A day visiting Norcia and the surrounding countryside. A day visiting some of the other towns. Not sure if we will get to Orvieto but do you think the underground tour could be good with the kids?

You've already seen a good portion of Italy, so this may be the right time to include a day in Bologna, which is new to you. Note that the old town area is quite compact and closely surrounded by less attractive new town. So you may feel less pressure to visit any major sites, but the opportunity for "just wandering" is not necessarily better than anywhere else on your list. With a third night in Bologna, you might day trip from to the Ferrari museums at Maranello, about a 1-hour drive each way if traffic is not bad. In Umbria, I give another vote in favor of including Gubbio.

Thanks Laura!

Looks like a well-thought-out plan! I loved Martina Franca and Lecce and Polignano -- oh the food!

Train ride from Rome to Torino is very nice. The Museo Nazionale dell'Automobile is fabulous. Spello is also a favorite for us. Casa Spello might be of interest to you for lodging.

thanks Laurel. We are thinking about one of the automobile museum, Egyptian museum and film museum in Turin. I am not sure what the film museum would be like for non Italian speakers though?

we thought the Film Museum dull, although it is in a beautiful building and within that building, the Mole Antonelliana, there is an elevator to a cupola with a fabulous view of the city (so we are told as we were there at night and did not ascend). I would do the elevator if you have time. The museum itself focuses more on very old movies, paraphernalia, optics, etc.

Maters is magical at night. The sassi are lighted, and the town still does the passeggiata in the late evening. Definitely spend the night.

The rest of your trip sounds great. I haven't done the Orvieto underground tour but have heard it's excellent. While you are in Orvieto, go to the museum across the street from the Duomo; you can see the mosaics of the facade very clearly from the upper floors of the museum.

We are in the process of planning a trip to Puglia, also. One attraction I've discovered near Martina Franca is Castellana Grotte. The caves are supposed to be quite impressive, and there are guided tours.

Hi Rosalyn. We have that on our list too!