Hello, I am hoping you can help to sort out the best ways to travel from Rome, Almalfi, Palermo and Sorrento.
My Mother, Aunt and myself will be in Italy in September. They are both in good shape but are 70yrs young and I will be 1 year post chemo at time of travel. The reason I mention this is because we are trying to ensure we don't wear ourselves out with the journey, and save some energy to have fun. We are planning on doing a heritage journey. Grandfather's family was from Sassano and Great grandmother was from Raculmutto. We have 16 total days but several of those days are eaten up with travel.
1. Arrive in Rome 9/7 8pm 2 nights in rome.
2. 9/9 Morning Train from Rome (We will be staying near Termini station) to Salerno. .
3. Bus or driver to Almalfi hotel 9/9, 9/10, 9/11.
On 9/10 we intend to go to Sassano for the day and hang out in the town and look into records and see if we can locate any family or points of interest.
4. 9/12 Salerno day train to Palermo. Stay there 9/12, 9/13, 9/14. Go to Raculmutto on 9/13 and same tour.
5. Plane from Palermo to Naples. Naples to Sorrento hotel for 9/15, 9/16, 9/17, 9/18.
6. 9/19 Train back to Rome. 9/19 & 9/20 stay in rome fly out 9/21 am.
Question is can we take busses to our hometowns or is that crazy with our timeline? Should we just go from Rome to Palermo and then spend our time in the Almalfi and Sorrento to save time and money on transfers to and from train stations? Should we try and drive to our heritage journeys or hire drivers? Any help or direction is appreciated.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Congratulations, Dawn!
Check Rome2rio.com for ways to get to your ancestral towns, you can compare types of transportation, including driving.
Sounds like a good plan, with enough time between travel days.
Posted by
lexington, il
4105 posts
Sounds like a fun trip.
I think the idea to go to Rome-Palermo would save time and $$$.
Try this...
9/6. Travel.
9/7. Arrive Rome.
9/8. Fly Rome-Palermo 1H10m.
Vueling air. Prices start @ 40 E.
Rent car, drive- Racalmuto, 2H10m.
9/9. Racalmuto. .
9/10Fly Palermo- Naples. 1Hour. Volotea air. Prices start @ 36 euro.
Curreri Viaggi bus-Sorrento.
1H15m. 12euro.
9/11. Sorrento.
9/12. Sorrento.
9/13. Sorrento.
9/14. Sorrento-Amalfi.
Taxi. 40 minutes. 35-40 euro.
Ferry. 1Hour. 17 euro.
Sita bus. 1H40m. 3,40 E. 90 minute ticket.
9/15. Amalfi.
9/16. Amalfi.
9/17. Amalfi-Salerno. Bus. 1H15m. 90 min. Ticket. 3,40 E.
Ferry. 45 min. 8,00 E.
9/18. Salerno- Sassano. Rent car. 1H7m.
9/19. Train. Salerno-Rome. 2H08 minutes. 1 change Naples.
9/20. Rome.
9/21. Travel.
Bus + ferry schedules.
http://www.positano.com/en/bus-schedule.
On the budget airlines be sure to check luggage size.
Have a great time.
Posted by
Washington DC
28479 posts
Since tracing your ancestry is a key part of your trip, you need to be very sure you don't hit Sassano and Raculmutto on holidays. Google carefully to be sure you're OK, and check again when you arrive in the area. Be aware that there isn't much bus service on Sundays, and I believe some car-rental places may have limited weekend hours.
I found Italian buses reliable last year in that they adhered to their schedules, but it wasn't necessarily easy to find out what those schedules were. It helps to have a local interpret the "school days" business, for one thing. If someone in your group speaks Italian, you'll be a step ahead of me. In your situation, I'd prefer a rental car for reaching Sassano and Raculmutto, assuming one of you can handle a manual [corrected] transmission.
I'm sure you'll have a wonderful trip.
Posted by
Chicago
2124 posts
I might add that if you haven't started heritage research yet with a contact in Italy, this might be a good time to start. And from experience, it might be best to employ someone schooled in Italian heritage research.
We used a hotelier where we were staying to ostensibly do some advance legwork for us in the mountain village where my ancestors grew up, but there was in my opinion a lot of stretching of the truth and we didn't make much headway upon visiting the village. We still spent a few hours there & walked through the cemetery to find some distant family graves, but despite the experience being very rewarding, I felt like it was an opportunity missed.
Live & learn...
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thank you everyone for the input and great ideas. I need to go back and review the trip and see what way makes sense both timing and $$$. I will be sure to make sure I don't try to do the heritage journey on holidays or the weekends. I am a bit nervous to drive but looking at the distances between where we are staying and the hometowns I think it might be worth it. Any other input is welcome.
Posted by
Seattle, Washington, USA
105 posts
40 years ago my father went in search of family in Italy. It took him 2 days, but he found a cousin. Ever since, my fathers 7 siblings and many of their children have all reconnected with family in Italy. One cousin's son stayed with my parents for a summer to become fluent in English. With that one cousin, we are now connected with 8 different families. It is well worth your time. My father had forgotten Italian, but he was able to communicate and most of the kids and kids of kids speak English. You have to decide how much you wish to invest, but all of my extended family will be forever indebted to the work my Dad did. He had some pictures and one address. He kept asking around, and in the evening of the second day, his last of that first trip, a child recognized the house and took him to the cousin. I am now connected to over 100 people in Italy who are descendants of my great great grandfather through Facebook. Good luck and I hope you have the same experience we did.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
I think acraven meant to say "manual", not automatic.
Posted by
lexington, il
4105 posts
Dawn, found this while checking your spelling of Racalmuto.
Research for your genealogy.
http://www.italianside.com/sicilia/agrigento/racalmuto/genealogy/
Might give you a head start.
Posted by
Seattle
17 posts
Another tip to add to the family research aspect...
I was listening to a RS audio guide the other night about researching family and the advice was to go to the Church in the region. Church records are apparently very extensive and offer more information.
Posted by
Washington DC
28479 posts
Thank you, Zoe, I did indeed mean "manual"; I can't imagine the frustration of showing up at a rental car location and being told that --reservation notwithstanding--no automatics are available.
Posted by
Toledo, Ohio, US
11613 posts
Churches keep baptismal and other sacramental records, this can be very helpful.
Posted by
OP
3 posts
Thanks so much you are all awesome! I did have a day were I needed a break from the planning but I think I have it now. We are going to keep the route the same but use more buses and trains to keep costs down but will add cabs/drivers in a few spots. I have started doing the family research and also have a cousin who is actually in Sassano now, so hopefully she can give us the info she collected and we can take it a step further.