southern italy by train?

William,

I'm sure their are plenty of places I have not explored north of Naples

What other cities/regions of Italy have you visited in the past besides Rome & the Amalfi coast?

Have you considered visiting northern Italy?

The Italian Riviera (Cinque Terre), Verona, Padua, Venice, the lakes (Garda, Como, Maggiore, Orta), Ferrara, Ravenna, the Dolomites...

What time of year will you be traveling?

It's up to you if you want to visit the North or the South. Sicily is often rated by Italians as the most beautiful region of Italy. Can't get any "deeper" south than Sicily, unless you go to Africa.

You can travel by modern trains on moderns lines between Napoli and Bari, along major cities the Adriatic coast up to Bari, and along major cities on Tyrrhenian coast all the way down to Reggio Calabria. These lines are served by the same modern Frecciabianca trains that you see in trips like Roma-Genova or Milano-Venezia S.L.

Train travel is spotty on the Ionian coast, with crappy service, atrocious on old lines in the hinterland.

In Sicilia island, you can travel along the cost between Siracusa-Catania-Messina-Palermo and points in between with some limited services available there. Travel elsewhere by train on the island is complicated, with delays and cancellations happening often.

You will have problems reaching many interesting places without a car, such as Agrigento, Modica/Ragusa, the southern tip of Puglia with its many Magna Grecia sites, the white-sand Ionian beaches, and else.

There are southern mainland destinations that you can get to by train, but will sometimes switch from Trenitalia to a local system, such as Ferrovie Appulo Lucane from Bari to Matera, or sometimes with a bus connection in the mix. It will take some planning. Or, outside of the big cities, driving should also be relatively easier than it was on the Amalfi coast, if local and tourist traffic are both less dense. Since Rick Steve's Italy book doesn't cover this region, I would read Lonely Planet or another series that does, at least at the library. Lonely Planet also sells chapters online, if you don't want a whole book.

I love southern Italy and Sicily. A car would be a convenience, although you can get to some beautiful places by public transportation (train and/or bus). I travel solo most of the time, all over Italy, and the south is no more difficult than anywhere else for solo travelers.

My favorites are Matera, Paestum, Tropea, the white hill towns of Puglia, the islands off Napoli, Lecce, and Sicily.

How much time will you have?

I've not yet done South of Napoli in Italy, but I've gone to Sicily three times and used either train or bus service. I find it easy and convenient to get around Sicily without a car, and it is the most beautiful region that I've seen so far in Italy - but don't tell the Sicilian's they're Italian. They proudly consider themselves Sicilian! They're warm, loving people, and I don't see the beggars and scammers there. I don't think the Sicilians would put up with it! :-) If you want more info re Sicily, feel free to PM me.

We've been to Agrigento, Ragusa and the southern tip of Puglia by public transportation. It's do-able but can be time-consuming. We prefer that to renting a car. We've been to Sicily twice for a total of five weeks and loved it, but we also loved our trip to Puglia and Basilicata (Matera). Depends on how much time you have, I think. On one Sicily trip, we took the train from Messina up to Naples. I actually prefer that to flying (again, if you have the time).