Coastal Italian Village/town

Hello, globreisach4, and welcome to the forum,

I think some additional context will help people narrow down recommendations. Specifically what are your interests and things you want to see and do? What areas are you thinking of as "southern Italy"? Are you going be using only public transportation or are you thinking about renting a car?

One commonly discussed smaller coastal beach city south of Naples is Salerno. It gives you access to the Amalfi coast, Naples Pompeii (amazing Roman ruins) and Paestum (amazing Greek ruins) via public transportation as a start.

One the opposite coast you might look into Bari and the surrounding area. You can travel up and down the coast and visit Matera by bus and Bari has an airport for easy access.

These are just general suggestions, but if you expand on what you're looking for: a picturesque seaside village versus a city with more restaurants an sights and what you're interested in seeing and doing I'm sure people will have suggestions.

Have a great trip,
=Tod

With rental car or without?

The choices are endless, so to narrow down the option you should specify at least the Region where your itinerary will take you.

Sorrento! Just left there 3 days ago.

From my experience, Sorrento on the west coast and Monopoli on the southern east coast. Both are centrally located for exploring those regions.

Please add more details and you’ll get a much richer conversation!

Trani, Scilla, Monopoli as mentioned above...Tropea?
A pretty good selection to choose from in southern Italy, yeah?
I am done. the south

The OP is looking for a town from which one can take day trips.
Knowing whether they plan to rent a car or rely on public transportation only is crucial to advise properly.
Some great towns will offer limited choices of day trips if relying only on trains and buses.