Southern Italy?

Yes! You're missing southern Italy! Get some other guidebooks (Lonely Planet and Rough Guide are my favorites after Rick's) and go! Rick does offer tours to southern Italy, but his books concentrate on the areas where the vast majority of tourists want to go. I notice that even the inside-the-front-cover Italy map in his 2016 big Italy book only goes as far south as Paestum. There's a lot of interesting stuff farther south of that, not least Sicily, but Puglia and Basilicata as well.

Thanks for responding! I did pick up a book from Lonely Planet but do love the format of Rick's books the best. :) I just wanted to make sure I wasn't missing anything.
I tend to do my own tour creations based on the research but may look at the tours that Rick offers.
We did a month in 2019 in Italy based on the recommended spots in the guide book adn it was fantastic. Backpacking and trains. Not bad for retired old folks :)

Yep. Retired and old is where we are too. And we also do backpacking and trains. Transportation infrastructure isn't as developed in the south, but we've done fine.

Well, we had hoped to backpack 30 years ago but our family began quicker than planned and we ended up doing things in reverse order. House, kids then now we can travel...But the great thing is now we have more money so no hostiles :) My husbands knees are a bit weaker but we're still in our late 50's so hopefully we can get there in the spring of 2022 and commence our travel plans. (my name's Janet as well by the way:)

I have a tentative route planned for southern Italy but am conflicted as I may actually plan Spain instead and do Italy in the fall instead. Ahhh, planning is so much part of the fun.

Hi Janet, I would purchase the Rough Guides as Janet suggest at the last minute because Rough Guides doesn’t post when the next edition will be available as Rick Steves’ and Lonely Planet does.

Hey all you "old" people! How much are age and health really curtailing our (I'm 70 - OMG! when did that happen?) travel pleasures? I fully acknowledge the differences in my daily schedule over the past 35 years of a heavy travel schedule, but I don't see a diminishment in the quality. If anything I find myself being able to put aside the 'list' of things to do and focus on the quality of the experiences. Instead of saying that I'm tired of walking, I find a nice place to sit where I can enjoy the scenery, people watch, and simply enjoy being there. Give me a piazza, small or large, and I feel like a sponge taking in the atmosphere. Put me on a bench overlooking the sea, or looking up to the mountains and let me enjoy the quality of my life. Maybe age has brought us to a time where we can reap what our years of work, family, struggle, financial planning and sacrifice have made possible. I think we may be able to say: I deserve this because I can appreciate it. I'll be the one you see looking very content 'being' in Italy. Have a seat, let's go get a drink and share the joy, peace, calm, adrenaline our time in Italy nourishes us with.

Someone once told me, and I think the longing we all feel to get back to travel fits well: if it didn't hurt so much, it didn't mean so much. Oh to be in Sorrento, sitting in that little park next to St. Francis church, watching the sunset. La vita, mia vita, e bella!

Yes Robert. So well said!! I am pushing that age of 70...66. I still think I am 20 yrs younger in my head? Oh to experience those flower box alleyways, the food aromas and sounds of music and conversation. They too have been sadly missing much of it!!!? But they as they re-emerge....we hope to soon blend in again with their lives...I also long to sit on that bench in the piazza. To have my senses take in all those things we love about Italy! Keeping hope alive for them and us! Maybe mid October can still happen!!?

I’m right there with you Robert

Oh Robert!

That little park in Sorrento was a favourite of ours too.In fact, we are hoping to get back to Sorrento again soon. We just loved it there.

RS's books are the best; however, I don't understand why they don't provide full coverage of major countries like Italy. Other books do.

Rick opts to provide more detail than others. A book can only be so many pages long.

Yes Robert! I am closing in on 70 and hope to be able to travel as long as I can drag a rolling bag....Anyway, I also just enjoy being in Italy...just being...not making sure I hit all the sites these days. Funny that when someone would come to visit me during one of my long stays, they would want to visit the touristy sites of course. I would tell them...I can walk you to the train station but I can't go to Pisa again! hahaha

I also love Ricks books but was disappointed he had no informaition on Sicily the first time I visited...with no RS book...It was quite an experience and much different than the mainland. Mostly, the train schedules or lack thereof left me wanting. Spent HOURS waiting...and waiting. My last trip was better but hope to have the courage to drive when I go again. It was impossible to visit my ancestral "hill town" by train or even bus. Had to pay the B&B owner to pick me up at closest train station and again to get me back. Live & learn but keep traveling...always an adventure and so much more to learn. There are more books now about Sicily now and of couse the internet is a wealth of info...as is this site! RS also doesn't cover the East coast of Italy...something I really want to explore during my next stay. I will look for other guide books for that area.

Good advice from Mary Pat about Rough Guides. Get the current edition at the library in the meantime to help with planning.

And June, yes, the east coast. Our very first trip to Europe was two weeks in Urbino. That region is well worth exploring. (And if an Italian native is reading, please let us know if the region's name is Marche or Le Marche. Googling has not provided me a definitive answer.)

@Janet the name of the region is "Marche", "Le" is the article in plural form since Marche is plural; you can omit "le" when you say, for istance, "regione Marche" (Marche region), but in italian it's common to put the article before the name of a region or country that you are referring to: Le Marche stands for: The Marche (region) or The (region of) Marche

Thank you, Tobia!

Be thankful RS doesn't cover southern Italy, remember Cinque Terra before and after RS? Go explore southern Italy while it's still mostly undiscovered, the bottom of the boot is quiet, mostly untouristy and full of amazing locals, 3000-year-old olive trees, amazing ancient hill towns, scenery, villages, great wine and food, women making home made pasta sitting in front of their houses, kind of like the Italy you would want to visit... and Sicily, almost a separate country.