Itinerary check - central/eastern/southern Italy

For Naples, the obvious sites would be the Archeological museum, Pompeii, and Herculaneum. That plus a bit of wandering and maybe one or 2 of the churches would more than fill 2 days. Rick's picks are here under At a Glance: https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/italy/naples

Thank you. With only 2 nights, should we choose either Pompeii or Herculaneum? Have you been to both? If so, which might you recommend?

Also, I'm considering taking a night from Parma and adding it to Abruzzo. We love to hike, and that area around Calascio just looks amazing. If we did so, we would probably not do a day trip to Bologna. Anyone have thoughts on that option?

We've visited or stayed in all of the places you are going to, so I ought to be of some help. Could you share your list of what interests you in each?

Without knowing anything yet, I'd say take nights from Parma and Spello and give them to Abruzzo and Matera.

Thank you, Nancy. I'm copying from my notes (please excuse any typos) what types of things would interest us. We do NOT plan on doing all of these. It's merely a list of what I read about from guidebooks and websites that we can pick and choose from. But we really enjoy a lot of things, from museums to religious sites to great food and wine to outdoor activities to concerts or other cultural and other events that may be happening where we are. We typically do not do tours but are open to being convinced. I've heard there are some great foodie tours in Emilia-Romagna especially.

For Emilia-Romagna:
Parma: duomo, baptistry, Palazzo della Pillota (National Gallery, Archeological Museum, Teatro Farnese), Piazza Garibaldi, Teatro Regio

Modena: Ferrari museum, Mercato Albinelli, duomo, cathedral, food tour, Galleria Estense, Piazza Grande, tower, Luciano Pavarotti museum, Palazzo Ducale

Bologna: hike to St. Luke, basilica, Piazza Maggiore, Archiginnasio Palace, Santo Stefano complex, two towers, modern art museum, University of Bologna, clock tower, Giardini margherita (park), hidden canals

For Umbria:
Assisi: Basilica di San Francesco, Eremo delle Carceri, Rocca Maggiore, RS walking tour, Roman/Etruscan ruins, San Rufino, hermitage, Assisi Network (WWII), Santa Maria del'Angeli
Montefalco: Gusto wine tour, wineries (Paolo Bea, Lungarotti), Montioni wine tour
Bevagna: Tenute Lunelli wine tour
Spello: Collepino hike, Baglioni chapel, historic center, Cascata delle Marmore
Hikes: https://www.alltrails.com/parks/italy/umbria/parco-del-monte-subasio
Fonte di Citunno

For Abruzzo:
Walk to Rocco Calascio, Campo Imperatore (Corno Grande hike), hike from Campotosto to Monte di Mezzo

For Puglia:
Alberobello: trulli houses, bike tour of Valle d'Itria, Alberolbello-Martina Franca Road, Trulli del Bosco (cooking lesson)
Martina Franca: winery tour, basilica, Via Cavour
Cisternino: Torre Normanna Sveva
Ceglie Messapica: cooking class (Dora, Trullo Santangelo), Palazzo Ducale
Locorotondo: public garden
Matera: duomo, Sassi di Matera, Storica casa grotta di Vico, MUSMA, Solitario, Sagra (find thru tourist office), Murgia Materana park, Madonna delle Virtu e san Nicola dei Greci, Lonely Planet walk, Cripta del Peccato Originale, Belvedere Guerricchio (viewpoint)
Polignano a Mare: boat tour, Castellana Grotte
Much Better Adventures ebike
Egnazia ruins (south of Monopoli)

Since we didn't originally plan on Naples, I haven't looked into anything yet.

Appreciate any wisdom you can share! I've always wanted to do a cooking class, and I feel like this would be the trip to possibly make that happen. If you did one and enjoyed it, please share. Thank you!

OK, thanks for your list --- it sounds like you would do a lot of the same kinds of things in these places that we would! And you must enjoy driving!

We almost never go on tours. Somehow a tour manages to go both too fast and too slow for me in different places, and the guide tells me things I already know but can’t answer my questions. However, we didn’t have a car yet in the first part of our trip to Emilia Romagna, so we booked a very pleasant day with Tours by Locals to see cheese being made, balsamic vinegar being stored, a Reggio Emilia school, and a vineyard, and we ate lunch.

From Parma you can go see the castle of Torrechiara. There are lots of castles in the area, but we especially like this one for the frescoed rooms.

In Umbria, I assume you’ve been to Orvieto already? Also, we sure liked Gubbio and its birdcage lift to the top of its hill.

Abruzzo was our most recent trip, late October and early November last year. Sadly, no hiking since I could barely walk then (better now!).

Here’s a bit from my Puglia Abruzzo trip report:
"One day, we drove to and around Campo Imperatore, a high plateau in the mountains, partly in order to find roadside stands selling arrosticini, skewers of grilled lamb or mutton pieces that Abruzzo is known for. Maybe it’s a seasonal thing to have these outdoor grills, but anyway we didn’t see any and we had arrosticini only in restaurants. We saw nobody for many miles along our route, but it was clear that this is a popular place in summer. Not everybody would enjoy this, but we liked a part of the drive when we were inside a low cloud and could not see anything of mountains or valleys, only the road right in front of the car."

In Calascio, eat at the excellent panini place Pane Amaro (recommended by forum poster Nelly who lives in Abruzzo) . This restaurant doubles as a vintage tool museum.

If you can, and like this sort of thing, go see the Chiesa di Santa Maria in Piano in Loreto Aprutino. It was not open to the public yet when we were there and we plan to make a special trip from Rome sometime soon just to see it. Brilliantly colored 15th century frescoes of the Last Judgement with scenes I have never seen or heard of before — the souls have to cross a bridge that narrows to a hair’s breadth in the middle so that those heavy with sin will fall off it.
https://abruzzostoriepassioni.com/2016/01/21/il-maestro-di-loreto/

Also from the trip report if you have more time in Abruzzo:
"We enjoyed driving through the Abruzzese mountains so much that we made two long driving loops from Sulmona just to see the autumn countryside. One loop took us 7 hours, Sulmona to Scanno to Barrea to Bisegna back to Sulmona. The other was to Rocca Pia to Pescoco and back. It’s hard to describe how gorgeous the mountains were, all covered in burgundy, rust, red, orange, and yellow. Beeches and oaks, for sure, but other colorful trees and shrubs we never identified. Imagine a view of closely packed fall trees in brilliant color seen from above, like from a hot air balloon, but then set almost vertically in front of you and high above you. With just our phones, and with very few places on the twisty roads to stop where there was a good view, we failed to take a really good photo, but we’ll never forget what we saw while driving. Ha! I just looked for some online photos for you that showed what we saw and didn’t see any that captured it!"

For Puglia, no Lecce?

My husband often takes cooking classes. In Puglia he enjoyed a week of classes at The Awaiting Table in Lecce, but they do half-day and one day classes, too. The facade of the Santa Croce church is great!

The archeology museum in Naples for sure. I think the street full of materials for making nativity scenes for Christmas is open year-round — it’s fun even if you don’t buy a thing. Via San Gregorio Armeno, known as the Via dei Presepi.

Unless you really want to go to Naples, which is a 3+ hour drive from Matera, return to Bari which is just an hour drive. United has a non-stop flight to Newark. Bari was charming - we loved it and not chaotic as is Naples. We stayed at a boutique hotel about 2-3 blocks from old town. We took a walking food tour through the old town and got to make orchietta pasta with a nonna at her kitchen! We turned our car back in when we arrived, walked everywhere and took a taxi to the airport. I loved Bari a lot more than I expected to!

I had a car for 9 days in Umbria/Tuscany and chronicled my adventures here. The time with the car starts with my post on March 28 and others chimed in with their driving experiences as well. It's worth noting that Italy was just coming out of the pandemic and there weren't many tourists in the towns or on the roads.

In Naples the National Archaeology Museum is a wow. There's a self-guided walking tour in the RS guidebook that starts across the street from the museum that is a good way to explore historic Naples.

@nancys8 Thank you for all your suggestions! We did take a night away from Parma and added to Abruzzo. I think we'll be happy with that decision. I'm going through and taking notes of your other suggestions. No, no Orvieto or Lecce. Maybe another time. But we are looking into a cooking class in Puglia.

@gigi8 I can't find any direct flights from Bari to Newark on United (at least for Oct 7, our return date); however, our original flight to Spain was on Delta, so that is what we are stuck with.

@chani Thanks for the suggestion on the archaeology museum in Naples. Off to read your trip report now!

I wonder if they cut back on their non- stop flight after the tourist season. That’s too bad - it was very convenient!

Just back from 4 nights in Naples. I would NOT drive a car in town unless you are an experienced demolition derby driver.

While you're up wandering around Rocca Calascio and Campo Imperatore, swing by Santo Stefano di Sessanio. It is a cute ancient farming/shepherding village but was on an old trade route and the Medicis from Florence invested heavily in the town. You can see the Medici crest all over town. The town contains the original "albergo diffuso" or scattered hotel, where a visionary architect bought up a lot of abandoned homes and restored them just enough to become hotel rooms all over town, with the reception and excellent restaurant right in the centre. They are meant to show you how the villagers lived a few centuries ago, though they have upscaled just a bit. No TVs, but they do have modern indoor plumbing. If you have a generous lodging budget, it would be worth a splurge. If not, just walk around and enjoy the ambiance for a few hours. Sextantio.

I only know of one arrosticini stand on Campo Imperatore, Ristoro Mucciante. Definitely worth a drive, it's a great experience to buy the mutton skewers and grill them yourselves over coals constantly maintained by the proprietor. There may be others, but this is the original.

There is so much more to see in Abruzzo, as nancys8 can tell you...perhaps you'll be back for a longer stay sometime!

Thanks, Nelly. We have added another night in Abruzzo! We actually wanted to stay in the albergo diffuso in Santo Stefano, but they were booked up. We have reservations at Refugio della Rocca, which looks similar, and we will visit Santo Stefano. Any thoughts on Refugio della Rocca? Any other reccs for this area? What about Sulmona?

We went to both Herculaneum and Pompeii on separate days on our own. We liked Herculaneum much better. It's smaller and better preserved than Pompeii. There was a very good audio guide. This was about ten years ago, so things might have changed.

Sorry, I don't have any personal experience with Rifugio della Rocca, either eating or staying, but I've walked past it a number of times and it looks interesting.

So now you have 3 nights/2 full days in Abruzzo? And you will have a car, that's good. I think Sulmona, as you suggested, is an excellent option for at least a half day. It's a lively and interesting town. If I'm counting correctly, you won't be there on a Saturday, when the big market in the piazza by the aqueduct is in full swing. There is a Wednesday market, but it is smaller. Some good restaurants are Cantina di Biffi, Pizzeria Ristorante il Vecchio Muro, or La Locanda di Gino.

Another famous option is the chapel at Bominaco, frequently called "Abruzzo's Sistine Chapel", because of the mural cycle (fairly intact) on every surface. A fabulous restaurant near there is Osteria il Borgo dei Fumari.

For more fantastic hiking and views, try Lago di Scanno. You can hike up into the hills overlooking the lake to see the perfect heart shape. Then go into the town of Scanno, wander its medieval alleys, and eat at Ristorante Gli Archetti.

That should cover the time you have and whet your appetite for more. If you browse my threads, I've supplied some longer lists in the past. But these options are fairly close to your Calascio stop, and you'll see a bit more as you travel south to Monopoli.