Adriatic Italy

Last year I visited Abruzzo which is due east of Rome. I thought it had some of the best scenery in Italy! It’s not touristed, people are friendly and food is spectacular.

Spending time in Rome first? How many days? Time of year? Returning to Rome?

So many great places along the way!

https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/trip-reports/italy-puglia-abruzzo-mostly-oct-nov-2025

drive east toward Pescara on the A24/A25 freeway (one of the most scenic freeways I've driven. Then take the A14 Adriatica route south.

There are many beautiful places to visit in Abruzzo and Puglia. In between there is also Molise, but that region doesn't really exist.

You can search the above regions using the search functions above, or search online for many resources.

https://www.abruzzoturismo.it/
https://www.regione.puglia.it/web/turismo-e-cultura

That's a very long coastline!
Where are you considering?

What time of year?

Early March 2027--plan to stay in Rome at an AirBnB overlooking Campo de' Fiori for 10-14 days. Yes, even in March I imagine the piazza will be quite lively into the late evening, but it's my favorite kind of white noise to fall asleep to, the crowd murmur sound reverberating off the stone buildings. It will be our 4th time staying in the area--groceries, bakeries, any number of tremendous restaurants (not necessarily the ones on the perimeter of the piazza) only steps away. During the days we'll do a deep dive into some of the forgotten art & architecture we haven't viewed on previous trips. No shortage of stuff to do in Roma!

Then we'll take a Freccia train out of Termini station direct to Lecce (1st class, no change of trains, probably about $75, 5-6 hours) all the way down on the heel of the boot. Have found (but not reserved yet) a wonderful and inexpensive AirBnB haflway between the train station and the Old Town. Will probably stay there a week. It will be our first time to Puglia and we'll explore anything and everything all the way up to Bari to Polignano a Mare to the interior towns like Manduria. Might also--with a guide--visit Matera or Alberobello.

We'll fly out of Bari back to Chicago with a Lufthansa stop at their hub in Munich. A chill trip to be sure!

There is a wonderful rails to trails initiative along the Adriatic coastline that has many kilometres of very well-paved and well-signed (and flat) biking trails. It is eventually supposed to run from Venice to Puglia. I can’t speak to how far along that is, but the Abruzzo portion is beautiful and every beach town on the route rents bikes, regular or electric. I’ve had several great outings on the Abruzzo portion.

Assuming you’re not specifically wanting to stay only on the water, Abruzzo has great mountain towns on the Adriatic side of the Apennine mountain range, easily accessible by car since you’ll have one. If you give some more details about your itinerary thoughts so far, I could recommend a few along the way.

I am not really a beach person, so I have not spent much time in Puglia. But the Gargano peninsula (and its main town Vieste) is on my list this year. For Puglia, check the trip reports section on this forum (nancys8 linked hers above, Jean has a good one here: 3-week trip to Italy Puglia), and there are others.

The short answer to “my thoughts on the east side of Italy” is I liked it so much, I moved here.

We loved our time in Abruzzo!!!! We had about two weeks and I would go back in a minute!! WE didii not get to L'Aquila and I am sorry for that omission. It's so easy to get to that region from Rome; I don't understand why more American tourists do not visit. And the food....don't even get me started on that!

Vieste is among the most beautiful coastal towns I've visited in Italy.
You could stop in Termoli on the drive south, just before heading to Vieste.