East Coast Italy

[peatmoor]

Thinking of 2nd half of my honeymoon driving from Bari or Brindisi (ferry from Corfu) up to Venice.
Recommended? We've spent a little time touring Tuscany and Umbria and loved it arount there. The missus loves the coast so hoped it would be as nice. Any ideas what the ferry from Cofu is like?
Will be mid-august which I understand is when the Italians go on holiday. Should this stop me?
Thanks for help in advance

[Stephanie Plum]

The only bit I've been to is Pescara - don't plan to spend too much time there

[peatmoor]

OK thats good to know. I've heard good things about Ravenna, Puglia (further south) and Abruzzo. So maybe its a case of being selective rather than expecting great things from the entire coast.

[Stephanie Plum]

I think yes you need to be selective. Why the East Coast I wonder? Have you done the West Coast? I think it's far nicer tbh. I'd be tempted to head across towards Naples and maybe visit Pompeii and/or Herculaneum, the Amalfi Coast, Rome and then cut across through Tuscany heading north towards the Lakes and Venice. That's a fair few miles though - depends how much your wife like travelling by car.....

Abruzzo is a interesting one - it was the site of a huge earthquake a few years ago, and from what I can gather, the area hasn't fully recovered.

The mountain ranges through the centre of Italy are also quite stunning scenery wise - in a bleak but beautiful kind of way - we went across from Puglia to Pescara and it was quite a drive

Remember that south of Naples it is comparatively poor compared with the north, the roads definitely take quite a dive, and it is more challenging finding really nice accommodation - depending on what you are after. It's there - you just have to work harder to find it!

(edited for inept use of the word sight.....)

Edited by Stephanie Plum on Monday 7th January 16:34

[anonymous-user]

gargano (the sticky out bit) is nice.

[peatmoor]

Thanks, thats useful. Doesn't have to be the East coast, its just that we might be arriving by ferry into Bari and heading north. What I might do is just get a short flight from greece rather than go by sea. I have always wanted to return to Sorrento so maybe that would be a good start, but rather a long drive north even if it is over a week.