#italy southernitaly rome sorrento amalfi pizzo sicily taormina familyholiday travelwithkids europe europeanvacation

[touringwithtwonager-blog]

Southern Italy with a Threenager

It’s been 6 months since we arrived home from this magical place and I think it’s taken that long for me to get my thoughts in order - it was sooooo wonderful and a great place to visit with a small person in tow.

We flew into Rome and settled in for 3 nights at the IQ hotel.  We chose this hotel because it had strong family-friendly reviews and was walking distance to the Colosseum.  I would absolutely recommend this hotel as it has everything you need for traveling with a little one - a good sized mini-fridge and some cutlery so you can throw together snacks in the room, a small playground and (here comes the best bit) a wine vending machine! This proved to be very handy as jet lag was the winner for this leg of our trip meaning we often took turns at going out to eat meals while the other one hung with the threenager who was either sleeping or in a filthy mood.  The location was fine but quite touristy - if I were visiting again, I think I’d rather stay further south where there are less English translations on restaurant blackboards.  

We did manage to do once around the town on the hop-on-hop-off bus (with the threenager asleep on our laps), a quick visit to the Colosseum (plan this bit better than we did) and a fabulous walk to the Trevi Fountain.  I had read a wonderful idea to give the threenager a purse full of coins and to throw one in every fountain we saw. This was excellent fun and a great way to interact with the incredible architecture.  We also adored a visit to the Pantheon with even the threenager feeling the little bit of magic that is in that place.  

From Rome, we jumped on the train to Naples and then caught the ferry to Sorrento. Train travel is so easy in Italy and I would highly recommend.  We chose Sorrento as our Amalfi coast home base because it is flatter than many towns in this vicinity and within easy distance to Pompeii which was a bucket-list destination for me. Whilst Sorrento isn’t as picturesque as Positano or Amalfi, it really was a wonderful base and I would recommend it for travellers with kids. We stayed at a small apartment booked through booksorrentovillas and whilst it wasn’t the most decked-out accomodation we’ve ever stayed in, it was comfy and in a fabulous location - great restaurants just around the corner, easy walk to the beach and marina and on a ridiculously charming cobbled laneway.  I loved sitting out on our little balcony with a cup of coffee and waving to the neighbours as they hung out their washing or came home from the shops. It really felt like living there. 

From Sorrento, we launched some excellent day trips.  We caught the train to Pompeii for the day - not the ideal destination with a threenager (as I could have stayed for twice as long on my own) but still lots of fun for all of us as nothing is fenced off and there are lots of little doorways and pathways for exploration.  We caught the ferry to Positano and spent an idyllic day on the beach there. We spent a day on deck chairs at one of Sorrento’s private beaches - not cheap but ultra-relaxing.

But the highlight was a day trip to Ristorante Santa Croce just off Amalfi. This is a restaurant with a private beach which I can only describe as “paradiso sulla terra”.  Make a booking with them the day before and they will pick you up from Amalfi in their small boat and take you for a day of lazing on the beach interspersed with eating the most sublime Italian food overlooking the water. If you are in the neighbourhood, this is a MUST.  Spend the extra $ on taking the ferry to all of these destinations - it’s worth it for the beautiful views and not having to deal with hair-raising bus trips along the windy roads.

After five nights in Sorrento, it was time to catch the ferry back to Naples and then train to Pizzo which is a sleepy seaside town in Calabria overlooking the Tyrhennian sea. “Why Pizzo,” I hear you ask. Well, Rocco the Italian deli owner in our neighbourhood recommended it so enthusiastically to my husband that we booked a week there on the strength of his recommendation.  Lucky it was good or it was going to be awkward next time we went to buy prosciutto!

If you are looking for sightseeing and adventure, Pizzo is not for you.  If you would like a relaxed family beach holiday, Pizzo is the only place you need to be. Here’s why: it has perfectly clear, waist-height, smooth water, the weather in June was around 27 degrees and sunny every day and every second shop sells gelato. We stayed at an incredible apartment right on the beach with views across the sea to Stromboli volcano. From there we could take an easy five minute stroll along the beach to lovely relaxed restaurants or we could walk up the hill to the piazza which is a wonderland of Italian food and ice-cream.  On Sunday nights it is buzzing with Italian families after church and is a wonderful place to have a glass of prosecco and feel a part of real Italian life before wandering down the hill to the sound of church bells.  The only challenge in Pizzo was that the supermarkets were quite a way from our accomodation but Ciccio runs a car service that will drive you to the supermarket and wait while you do a big shop.  

I have to admit, we didn’t do much in Pizzo beside go to the beach although we did head to Tropea which is its more-famous neighbour a half-hour drive down the road.  Tropea is visually stunning and perfect for making people back home jealous with your postcard-worthy photos but actually is not as nice a beach for swimming as Pizzo and a little hard to get around as the beach is at the bottom of a colossal hill with all the food and icecream at the top.  

After a week, we reluctantly said goodbye to Pizzo and began the drive south to cross the straight and head to Taormina in Sicily.  A couple of locals told us we were silly for driving and should have caught the train and they may well have been right although we really enjoyed the drive and especially the crossing on the car ferry - you have never seen a ferry cafe like this one. My head almost exploded from the incredible offering of panini, arancini and torta that was on offer.  On a ferry!

Taormina is a visually stunning town built onto a hillside in the shadow of Mount Etna. We stayed at Hotel Villa Angela which was beautifully appointed and had a wonderful pool. The only downside was it was full of English tourists which made life easy but by that stage of our trip, our Italian had improved so much we missed speaking it here.  We only had two nights here and the first day was largely eaten up with travel but we loved visiting the Greek amphitheatre (my dream performance venue) and spending a couple of hours on the beach.  We also ate more than our fair share of cannoli.  I could easily have stayed a couple more days and explored the town more - it is truly gorgeous.

We had a hair-raising drive to the airport due to a crash on the freeway and then flew back to Rome where we had one more night before the marathon flight home to Melbourne.  This time we stayed closer to Vatican City at the Isa Design Hotel.  I liked this more as by this stage we had our bearings and felt more confident with staying in a less touristy area of Rome.  Also it’s near the best gelateria we went to on the whole trip - I recommend you cross town to try the gelati at Gelateria La Romana.  

Overall, I would say Southern Italy is fabulous for traveling with kids. The only thing I’d do differently would be to head straight to the beach and lose a couple of jet laggy days with the ocean nearby and save exploring Rome until the end.  My biggest recommendation would be to give yourself time to base yourself in a place for more than a couple of nights and have time to explore and relax - Italy is not just for looking at, it is for experiencing.