Rome/Sicily/Amalfi coast trip late April/May

Cathy, I don't have direct answers for you at the moment but just to suggest joining the Sacramento RS travel group for their monthly meetings. Third Saturday if my memory holds, Panera Bread, nice folks, a couple even are on speaking terms with Limoncello, who may be able to help 1-2-1. Happy planning...

I have family in Italy, and have been there many times (Northern Italy), but by far my favorite trip was when we went to Sicily! We rented an apartment from : magicofsicily.com My husband is "frugal" and didn't want to "spring" for a driver, but because we were with more adventurous travel companions, they insisted on using the day-trip guide, Angelo. He was AWESOME and we went on two all day trips with him out of Taormina. We loved our apartment in Taormina, loved the town, a great walk around place, with incredible Greek Ruins, lovely restaurants, friendly people, and incredible sea views! Taormina is a wedding destination for all of Italy and even other European countries, and has countless lovely churches. We were caught up in wedding processions down the street, accompanying brides and grooms....as they walked down the main street in Taormina. Angelo took us up to Mt. Etna, to a beautiful Vineyard for a wine tasting, to an incredible farm, to the town where the first Godfather movie location (where Michael married Appolonia), and he does more tours. Check it out. Re apartments in Rome, there are many websites you can use, but I generally use VRBO.com for apartment rentals in Italy. In Rome, I have a favorite small friendly hotel across from the Vatican, because that's where MY interests lie. You can use BNB.com for bed and breakfasts in Rome. Feel free to PM if you want more info

Before moving here, we stayed in this lovely apartment for one of our trips. The location was terrific. I highly encourage you to stay in the Campo dei Fiori/Piazza Navona/Pantheon area for ease of access and ambiance. If not the apartment above, then try VRBO for many options. For access to everything from Naples to Amalfi Town, you cannot beat Sorrento as a base. (Classic Rick Steves, but he's right.) Sorrent is nice in itself with many options for evenings, but easy to take the bus to Positano and Amalfi as well as the train to Naples, Pompeii, Ercolano. We stayed at Hotel Antica Mura and were very happy with location, people, breakfast and room.

Thanks for the good tips. After stay in Rome we were planning to rent car to drive south for several days and keep car to travel in Sicily for another week. Any ideas for arranging car rental here or better to do there? (We've driven in Rome/Naples before and my husband loves the sport of it, so bus/train probably not an option between cities unless it's way less expensive than a car for 3 or 4 people.)