What to do after Roma?

Oh, I forgot to say that we are looking for the off the road villages that may offer a less touristy and more honest cultural experience. Cheers, Eb

You may want to keep in mind if you do rent a car that it does snow here in the north so be prepared for that chance (it's predicted for this Sunday in fact) especially if you want to visit more out of the way hilltop towns. Myself, I would tend to go south to Naples, Pompei is a great place to visit, Amalfi coast and down to Sicily. Maybe check out Puglia also. You'll definetly get a slice of authentic Italy.

I agree with Ron that perhaps going south may be the way to go. If your son already wants to visit Pompeii you can also visit the archaeological museum and Herculaneum. I would do Pompeii on one day and the other 2 on another day. You can visit the Amalfi coast, Sorrento, Positano and Paestum. Donna

Ciao Eric, from another thread from where you recommend Siena, I gather you've already been to Tuscany in the past. You can certainly do as Ron and Donna suggest and head south of Rome to see more of Italy, see Pompeii and the coast. Positano is beautiful. Tuscans might be used to having tourists about but that doesn't make them less authentic ;-) and there are plenty of areas that offer less touristy options. Just keep that in mind that the Apennines stretch all the way south dividing Italy, so you'll find snow even in southern Italy above a certain altitude. Seaside areas that are popular during the warm months such as Amalfi and the Cinque Terre do close down in a sense... of course, the locals will still be there but many hotels do close down for the winter. Other areas to explore in Tuscany: in the Maremma, the towns of Pitigliano, Sorano and Sovana as well as in the upper Maremma: Massa Marittima, Roccatederighi, Roccastrada, and Civitella Marittima. In Casentino, Poppi and further south Arezzo, Anghiari, Sansepolcro. In the Garfagnana area to the north of Lucca: Barga, Gallicano, Castelnuovo. I'm assuming you might already have been to the Valdorcia and seen Pienza or Montepulciano - San Quirico d'Orcia, Bagno Vignoni and Radicondoli are also very charming hilltop towns not included on the usual stops in the area. Don't know Umbria very much but between Perugia, Assisi and the Trasimeno lake area I'm sure there is also lots to see off the main tourist track.

Man, if I had a spare week in Italy, I'd head straight to maybe Cantanzaro (about five or six hours from Naples) or Crotone and then work my way around the coast to Taranto, Lecce, Brindisi, and Ostuni before cutting back over. It's a whole nother world, completely unlike the usual Tuscany/Umbria stuff. It's way the heck off the beaten path - - we can only fit it in every third or fourth year or so, but have never been disappointed. Brush up on your Italian, I've never seen another American down there nor ever heard english spoken except around Bari and Brindisi a little. (Somewhat of a lie, my wife and a couple of her pals went that way last year - - I was specifically disinvited - - none of them speak Italian and they had a great time - - pointing and drawing pictures, I guess.)

Thanks very much for your ideas thus far. I'm not sure if I've completely wrapped my head around the idea that we are traveling in winter. I know it's going to be cold but I'm also not convinced I want to deal with driving in snow or adding that element to the picture Thanks Ed for your comments about going way South. It was my original idea but just didn't know what's down there.