Planning our trip in spring 2021 and part of it will be a drive in rent car from Matera to Reggio Calabria. looks like about a 4 1/2 drive. We would like to stop about half way and stay the night in a cute village to break up the this leg. Thought about Cosenza but it looks too big and crowded. We would like something more small village like. Any suggestions??
Thank you.
Charlie, You might want to look at San Marco Argentano. SIL and I stayed overnight at B&B Del Borgo when visiting her and hubby's grandparent's home town of Mongrassano which is too small to have a hotel. But look at a map, it's just slightly farther west than Cosenza. I think your drive time may be off since many of the Calabria villages are on winding roads. It's a beautiful area. Overlooked by tourists. Have Google Translate handy since there is not much English spoken in the area, which makes the adventure all the more interesting. I wish we would have had more time to stay in the area; it really was one of the highlights of our trip.
Edited to add: we drove from Naples airport car rental to Calabria. Most of the road was 6- or 4-lane autostrada until we turned off towards San Marco Argentano. It took us about 5 hours with lunch and potty stops. Looking at Google maps, the drive from Matera to generic Calabria looks like the roads are narrower so slower, although 50-ish miles closer.
If you drive to the small villages, the roads are very narrow, curvy and hilly/mountainous.
ViaMichelin.com estimates the driving time to Reggio Calabria at 5 hr. 7 min., not including any stops, getting lost, traffic tie-ups or looking for parking along the way. I have no experience driving in Europe, but others have suggested that ViaMichelin tends to be a bit optimistic.
Unfortunately, I have insufficient experience traveling through that area to suggest a good
stopping point.
Michelin "quickest" is 5 hours, rounding up from 4:40.
Apparently ViaMichelin's estimates are based to at least some degree on traffic-flow information at the time of the inquiry, because I swear I checked for the right origin and destination. I'm now seeing 4 hr. 39 min. rather than 4 hr. 40 min.
I wouldn't have thought there'd be enough traffic in that part of Italy to make more than 20 minutes' difference on that trip, but I would apparently be wrong.
Charlie, you really plan ahead! My 2 cents had me check the Orange Flag Towns and Villages of Italy list. This is an award given by the Italian Touring Club to towns of less than 15,000 people who make particular efforts to welcome tourism. Recently when I was trying to decide where to stay in Molise, Agnone was the only town there awarded the Orange Flag. We stayed 2 nights in Agnone and it was unforgettable! From a free tour in a bell factory because we were the guides' guests as we had traveled so far to visit; extended kindness in the shops we visited; a random couple who drove our rental car out of a dead end and then got in their car to show us the way to our B&B. I digress....
In the region of Calabria, Morano Calabro received an Orange Flag. Looks like it's not too far from your route.
Thank you all for the replies.
Gail: Morano Calabro looks like it might work for us. Almost looks more interesting to stay a day, not just an overnight.
We also saw Petraro. Real small village. About 475 population. Has anyone heard of this village?
