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Lecce, Bari and Pescara- Where to go in Puglia and Tuscany?

Posted by (College Station, TX, United States) on

Hi guys! We are fine tuning our itinerary and I would love some advice on what is worth seeing in the Puglia region.

So far this is the route we are planning:
1. Starting in Salerno. Rent car and go to Paestum. Sleep in Paestum.
2. Drive to Matera. Sleep in matera.
3. Drive to alberobello. See the truli and then drive to lecce. Sleep in lecce
4. Drive along coast to Pescara. Sleep in Pescara
5. go see the Castel del Monte and continue driving to Assisi. Sleep in Assisi
6. drive to Orvieto. see Orvieto. Sleep in orvieto (maybe visit some other town on the way here?)
7. drive to montepulciano, montecino or do ricks driving tour! Stay in a nice village/agrotourismo.
8. drive to san gimignano then volterra. Sleep in volterra.
9. Drive to siena. Return car. Sleep in sienna

What do you guys think? Are there better places we should be visiting or staying in? Is the Puglia area worth that much time? Or should we skip more of it?

Also, is it better to have a "home base" in tuscany and do day trips in our car or does this schedule of a different town a night work better?

Its worth mentioning- we are very active and don't mind driving if it is worth it!

Thank you so much!

Posted by
323 posts

WOW! what an agenda. Everywhere you are going is great. Hope you have time to see it and enjoy it also. But we wouldn't fault you for wanting to see any or all of the places you mentioned. We have been to all of them and loved them all. We did spend a little more time in each than you are spending, but we are a lot older than you, I'm sure.

Posted by
1272 posts

The Rough Guide has good coverage of the Adriatic side of Italy, as do some other guidebooks. RS pretty much ignores this side of Italy.

I don't understand your plan steps (4) and (5) in which it sounds like you go to Pescara, then double back to see Castel del Monte, then retrace that same stretch of road a 3rd time on the way to Assisi. When I map this out on google it is over 8 hours of driving, way too much in one day IMHO.

For that matter I'd skip Castel del Monte. It was never a real castle; impressive from a distance, but pretty much hollow inside. As for spending time on the Adriatic side, we found it to be delightful with attractive beaches, friendly locals, and a place where far fewer english-speaking tourists go. I would suggest considering a visit to the Gargano Peninsula, as well as more time stopping at the small towns along the coast (Trani, Barletta, Polignano a Mari, etc)

Posted by
16895 posts

I've visited Pescara briefly, since my father was born there, and consider the post-war architecture and long flat beach of that coastal area to be characterless and skip-able. It's fine if you just need a place to sleep or a beach to sit on.

Posted by
11852 posts

Are you really planning to sleep in a different place every night for nine nights? Very tiring, IMO.

Without looking at all the drive times, my gut is to at least combine nights 3 & 4 and stay in Lecce. The drive around the heel of the boot makes a nice day trip, BTW. You can see Castel del Monte on your way to the next stop. Combine nights 5 & 6 and pick either Assisi or Orvieto, and finally combine nights 7, 8, & 9 and stay somewhere between Montepulciano and Siena (an agristurismo is a great idea) seeing the other towns as day trips.

Just my two cents on cutting down on the check-out/check-in.

Posted by
2393 posts

Enjoy the local wine in Puglia - it produces more wine than any other region in Italy.

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