Add-on to RS Sicily Tour - looking to tour the boot on our own.

7 to 10 days gives you some possibilities.

This past spring after our RS Sicily Tour, we first went to Puglia for 11 days, which included an "8 day" (seven night) "self-guided" e-bike tour. From what I am reading and other bits of evidence, it seems Puglia is becoming somewhat crowded with tourists during shoulder and summer months, though April '24 was not too bad. Puglia was much less crowded than Naples.

We then rented a car for three days to drive from Lecce to the Cilento region, via Matera; we spent two lovely nights in Pisciotta at the Hotel Marulivo, on the Cilento coast, before we headed up to Naples. There are both coastal and mountain areas that comprise the Cilento. We saw very few tourists in the Cilento in April. Given your stated interest in small villages and country views, you might want to look into the area.

We wrapped up our trip with four nights in Naples - hardly a small village - but with our last full day on the island of Ischia. That could be a very nice place for you to spend a few days. FWIW, our trip report is at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/southern-italy-30-days-three-ways-to-travel. We did not get to Calabria at all.

You can search the RS Italy forum for "Puglia," "Cilento," and "Ischia" and see what others say, including posts by folks who travel to sourthern Italy with some frequency. Lonely Planet has a couple of regional guidebooks ... one for Puglia & Basilicata and one for Naples, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast and which also includes sections on the Cilento, as well as the islands of Ischia & Procida (as well as Capri, of course).

Buon Viagge

Thank you!

We were just in Calabria. We especially enjoyed Tropea, Sapri and Cirella (just south of Sapri). We spent 5 nights in Naples then ended up taking the 9 hour train from Naples to Palermo which was quite the adventure when they put the ntrain on the ferry.
The Cilento coast south of Paestum has many lovely villages.