Matera

That's a lot of distance--how much time do you have to make the trek? Were you looking to break up the drive or make multiple stops?
I have not made this journey, but I have planned far more trips to Italy than the six I have taken. Points of interest I have bookmarked include Ravenna and the entire le Marche area (Urbino, Ascoli Piceno, etc.). You might consider flying if time is limited--there is a ton near Matera.

Not done what you are planning.

Did do somewhat the reverse, driving from the Potenza region north to Milan. Mostly drove the coast road through many small towns that were interesting and enjoyed to hillside views to the west and beach/water views on the east. Just be watchful of guys on Vespas with a surfboard.... I kid you not

This is the scenic, not fast way.

Depending on how quickly you want/need to get to Matera you could pick a coastal town midway and spend more than one night. Spending one night makes for 2 easy driving days

Thank you for the quick replies. We have approx. 9 days to do the south area. We want to also stop in Alberobello to see the cones houses and the beach area along the coast.
If anyone has other points of interest as well as small towns they have stopped in along the coast I would love to hear from you.

Where do you fly home from?
I would really want all 9 days for Matera and Puglia, as the drive down will eat one day without stopping, more with stops.
The half way point would be Ascoli Piceno. good luck!

I loved Ascoli Piceno, definitely a good overnight stop.

I stayed at an agriturismo ten minutes outside of Alberobello, Podere Papilio. Excellent. The common dining room/ lounge area is a restored trullo.

There are many lovely small towns in that area. Stop at one or more of the tourist offices, tell them you're driving around for about a week and ask for their suggestions. You can also Google for day-trips out of Bari and Lecce. They go to a lot of the most picturesque places and will give you sime ideas for your road trip, though obviously you'll be communing with other tourists (few of them American) if you go to bus-tour destinations. You should have a guide book that covers that area, too.

I liked Lecce (which is Baroque and quite different from the smaller towns) a lot and used it as my base. Gallipoli is pretty. I've heard that the larger city of Bari is also nice but don't know about the driving situation there.

I don't know the timing of your trip, but Puglia is very hot in mid-summer. If that's when you'll be there, I highly recommend an early start each day and a mid-day break in an air-conditioned environment whenever possible.

We have just completed a two week trip to southern Italy. Six nights in Naples, one in Altamura, two in Matera, three in Lecce and two nights in Bari.

All travel was by train, and it worked well for us. Matera is really worth visiting, as is Altamura.

In Altamura, we stayed at B&B del Duomo, which is a building about four hundred yeras old and really excellent.

At Matera, we stayed at a B&B La Dolce Vita, in a room that was partially a cave, and again was excellent.

From Bari, we travelled to Venice by train, and in many places the line runs along the coast. The bits of beach that we could see looked pretty uninviting.

Given the OP states she is interested in Matera and the south, I think this is not a well thought-out idea. It's not worth such a long and expensive drive if you don't have intermediate points you really want to see. For the rental time, gas, tolls, meals, and hotel(s) you can fly and spend your time at your goal.
Look at this website for low cost flights from Verona or Venice to a city in Puglia like Bari or Brindisi: http://www.low-cost-airline-guide.com/ and rent from there.

Driving down the coast, we stayed at the agriturismo Massseria Grande in Monteccilfione, which is inland from Termoli. It was wonderful. We also stayed at Albergo Lucy in Trani, along the coast south of the Gargano peninsula. The albergo is not fancy, but was very interesting, since is a 17th century palazzo. Matera is very magical.

Flying does not reduce or eliminate hotel or eating costs. Just moves where they happen. The only cost to compare is cost of fuel vs train or plane fare. ( assuming you are getting a rental car once you are in the Matera region)

I made the trip from Naples to Milan without paying tolls. As I mentioned earlier the coastal road along the Adriatic is a slower route but is scenic.

I understood the original question to be about the driving experience, not "what is the fastest way?" Perhaps I misunderstood

You are right Joe - it is the experience of driving especially away from the large cities. We drove our first trip there in 2006 from
the Lake Garda area thru Tuscany, Umbria , down to the Amafi Coast then back to Rome. It took us a month and we had a great time. We hope to do somewhat the same this time but at a slower pace.. Thanks Zoe, Becky the you all for your stops and suggestions of where to stay. I will research them all. By the way I will be on this thread for awhile as this trip is just in the planning stages for Sept. 2018. We are doing Prague, Vienna and Budapest and the Bolzano area as well so a lot to do. Any further input
as to the Adriatic coastline would be great as RS does not anything in this area to go by.
Thank you all

We did a similar trip by train a few years ago, starting from Lake Como. We took a train to Senigallia, a beach town right on the Adriatic with wonderful restaurants (2 were Michelin starred) and a charming downtown area with a fort & daily markets. And miles of white sandy beach. We enjoyed pre-dinner wine on the beach with our toes in the sand. I think this would be a great stop. We stayed at the Hotel Palace with a balcony overlooking the beach. More of a business hotel (elevators!) but we got a bargain as we were end of season (October).

Then we took a train to the pretty little harbor town of Trani and stayed at Albergo Lucy. The owner took us sightseeing one day to Castel del Monte and Dolmen la Chianca, a prehistoric cemetery with a Stonehenge-like burial chamber.

Near Trani is a cute little town called Margherita de Savoio which has huge salt plains producing 5 million tons of salt per year.

Then we took a train to Bari & another to Matera. We stayed at Locanda di San Martino, a lovely cave hotel in the sassi area. Guests can use its underground thermal spa which was wonderful after a busy day of sightseeing.

We then rented a car and drove to a masseria near Torre Canne and used that as our base to see the trulli villages & Ostuni. It was lovely.

If you have time, I would recommend a final stop in Gallipoli. It's an absolutely gorgeous little fishing village. We didn't stay here but wish we had. We saw it on a day trip from Lecce.

Be aware that the further south you go in Puglia, the more likely you are to run into the "siesta" timetable, where many places close around 2 pm and don't reopen til after 6 (in Lecce no restaurants, even pizza, reopened until 8.)

We really enjoyed our trip & hope you do too.