Live! Very brief report on a few southern italian destinations
Sep 8th, 2023, 06:03 AM
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Live! Very brief report on a few southern italian destinations
I wrote up the general plan on another thread, but now that we've arrived, I will do my best to write a few notes on our trip; food will play a big part.
To recap, the general plan is to take us to a few well known destinations and a few that are not so well known to English-speaking tourists.
This is the plan, for early September 2023. I have been to a few of these places before, including Vietri, Matera and Maratea, but not at these hotels.
VIETRI SUL MARE. I night Hotel Raito (where we have just arrived). I had mentioned that we wanted to stay in Salerno but I could not find a hotel that either had vacancy, or that would answer my e-mails......since I like to dine in Cetera and Vietri is very close to both Cetara, and the. highway south, we chose this hotel.
https://www.ragostahotels.com/en/hot...41837365227935
MARATEA 5 nights VILLA CHETA. https://www.villacheta.it/
TURSI 1 night (chosen partly for location near Senise, home to my favorite peppers). ORANGERIE RETREAT B&B in the Rabatana section..the ancient section
with the name deriving from Rabat. (cannot find anything in English now.....)
https://www.theorangeryretreat.com/
MATERA. 2 nights at SEXTANTIO DELLA CIVITA in a cave room
https://www.sextantio.it/en/legrotte...RoCutUQAvD_BwE
Close to: CANOSA DI PUGLIA 3 nights at CEFALICCHIO COUNTRY HOUSE, chosen for proximity to restaurants we have either dined at before or wanted to try. This area is one of the best kept secrets for great eating in southern Italy, in my opinion.
https://www.cefalicchio.it/eng/index.asp
TERMOLI. 5 nights RESIDENZA SVEVA, a "diffuse hotel" in the old town near the Adriatic; day trips to inland Molise. Hoping that I have not planned too many nights here....
https://www.residenzasveva.com/
LARINO 2 NIGHTS (MOLISE) AGRITURISMO ESSENTIA DIMORA RURALE. 2 nights in Molise countryside..maybe visit Agnone, famous for its bells, and an olive oil azienda
https://agriturismoessentia.com/
CASTROCIELO (LAZIO) 2 nights VILLA EUCHELIA in Giardino al Secret room
https://www.villaeuchelia.it/
FIUMICINO 1 night HOTEL SECCY with dinner planned at PASCIUCCI AL PORTO which we loved before. Drop off car before heading to Fiumicino town; take taxi to airport next morning. Highly recommend for a night before taking off in a rental car from the airport, or for a stay before a departure......nothing fancy but nice place, kind staff, and location near the mouth of the Tiber and lovely place to walk around, especially when Romans are out for a weekend........cvery good places to eat!
https://www.guestreservations.com/ho...hoCcuQQAvD_BwE
So right now I am attempting to relax after the long flight from JFK-FCO with a connection in ITA to Napoli. Flights were fine. I slept most of the way and therefore missed the last season of YELLOWSTONE on the plane tv. Food on Delta business class was very good, and even better was lunch before the flight at the JFK Centurion Lounge.
If you travel a lot I think the Amex Platinum card is worth it for perks like this. Travel partners are let in with no charge and the pasta I had, "developed" by Ignacio Mattos of Estela in NYC, was as good as any vegetarian pasta you might find in any restaurant in the US. I could not get enough of it before the flight was called!!!! The food on Delta might not have been as good as that but I certainly finished every bite of my chicken with caramelized onions and mashed potatoes! (Mind you, this was on Delta One; the older I get, the more willing I am to splurge for business class flights, especially now that partner has difficulty walking even after a recent hip replacement.....seems as if the other hip might be breaking down now!)
We rented a car from SIXT through AutoEurope and picked it up after arrival. We have an Audi Q model..looks like a wagon. They attempted to give us a Skoda but we held our ground and got the Audi, although we had to wait a half an hour for it to be washed after the last client's ride. Sixt very busy but personnel very kind and helpful! Desk is inside terminal after baggage claim and pickup in down a ramp into the below ground-level garage. No one, as usual, mentioned the IDP. Car has built in GPS and is automatic.
Drive from airport to hotel in Vietri was pretty easy although I was filled with nerves, as usual. Little traffic. One toll of about 4 euro, an be paid in cash or by credit card; they even take Amex on the A3 now!
Got teary as we bagged passing signs for Ercolano Scavi, Nocera, and various towns along the Amalfi Coast. View of Vesuvius loomed most of the way.
Entry into Vietri was confusing as all heck! GPS sent us round and round..finally called hotel and they guided us to them..Hotel is outside main town, and we have a room with very plain furniture but fantastic view down to the beach and southeast to Salerno (where we originally had planned to stay but were thwarted by the rental car dearth in that city). Hotel is above main town of Vietri Sul Mare and while I would have liked to stroll around, it is heavily dominated by ceramic shops, but the facades are embellished by wonderful mosaic murals that would be lovely to have a look at up close. (I've been once before but never stayed long here.....). Also worth note is the celebrated SOLIMENE ceramic, whose facade MUSt be seen!!!! I remember buying a set from here in the early 70s, when I was on my (first) honeymoon!!!!! Hotel has a shuttle which has to be booked in advance. I think we are just too tired at this point although maybe if we get up early we can take a stroll for an hour or so before departing for Maratea.
But it's about 4pm here now and we have a dinner booked in the next town along the AC, Cetera, my favorite eating town on this coast. Taxis from Vietri, to Cetera, 5 miles distant, cost 30 euro EACH WAY!!!! Snackered to hear that......at this rate, partner is fast asleep so who knows if we will make dinner but, incredibly, before the hotel would book me a taxi, I had to sign two copes of a form stating that if I canceled within 2 hours of pickup I would be charged 40% of the fee!!! Never heard that one before!! I guess this is the Amalfi Coast, for all that that means!!!!! Prices are out of this world....Cetara is 5 km from here..30 euro for a taxi but parking is awful and cannot bear to ask partner to drive there. Yes, the hotel has shuttle to town and from there a bus is possible but frankly I am just too knocked out.......
Too tired to write more right now.....will try to keep up with this, but without too much detail..just ask me questions and I am more than happy to give my 2 cents!
BTW..weather is HOT (high 80sF) and sunny, as compared with the constant drizzle we had in Sicily last spring.....
To recap, the general plan is to take us to a few well known destinations and a few that are not so well known to English-speaking tourists.
This is the plan, for early September 2023. I have been to a few of these places before, including Vietri, Matera and Maratea, but not at these hotels.
VIETRI SUL MARE. I night Hotel Raito (where we have just arrived). I had mentioned that we wanted to stay in Salerno but I could not find a hotel that either had vacancy, or that would answer my e-mails......since I like to dine in Cetera and Vietri is very close to both Cetara, and the. highway south, we chose this hotel.
https://www.ragostahotels.com/en/hot...41837365227935
MARATEA 5 nights VILLA CHETA. https://www.villacheta.it/
TURSI 1 night (chosen partly for location near Senise, home to my favorite peppers). ORANGERIE RETREAT B&B in the Rabatana section..the ancient section
with the name deriving from Rabat. (cannot find anything in English now.....)
https://www.theorangeryretreat.com/
MATERA. 2 nights at SEXTANTIO DELLA CIVITA in a cave room
https://www.sextantio.it/en/legrotte...RoCutUQAvD_BwE
Close to: CANOSA DI PUGLIA 3 nights at CEFALICCHIO COUNTRY HOUSE, chosen for proximity to restaurants we have either dined at before or wanted to try. This area is one of the best kept secrets for great eating in southern Italy, in my opinion.
https://www.cefalicchio.it/eng/index.asp
TERMOLI. 5 nights RESIDENZA SVEVA, a "diffuse hotel" in the old town near the Adriatic; day trips to inland Molise. Hoping that I have not planned too many nights here....
https://www.residenzasveva.com/
LARINO 2 NIGHTS (MOLISE) AGRITURISMO ESSENTIA DIMORA RURALE. 2 nights in Molise countryside..maybe visit Agnone, famous for its bells, and an olive oil azienda
https://agriturismoessentia.com/
CASTROCIELO (LAZIO) 2 nights VILLA EUCHELIA in Giardino al Secret room
https://www.villaeuchelia.it/
FIUMICINO 1 night HOTEL SECCY with dinner planned at PASCIUCCI AL PORTO which we loved before. Drop off car before heading to Fiumicino town; take taxi to airport next morning. Highly recommend for a night before taking off in a rental car from the airport, or for a stay before a departure......nothing fancy but nice place, kind staff, and location near the mouth of the Tiber and lovely place to walk around, especially when Romans are out for a weekend........cvery good places to eat!
https://www.guestreservations.com/ho...hoCcuQQAvD_BwE
So right now I am attempting to relax after the long flight from JFK-FCO with a connection in ITA to Napoli. Flights were fine. I slept most of the way and therefore missed the last season of YELLOWSTONE on the plane tv. Food on Delta business class was very good, and even better was lunch before the flight at the JFK Centurion Lounge.
If you travel a lot I think the Amex Platinum card is worth it for perks like this. Travel partners are let in with no charge and the pasta I had, "developed" by Ignacio Mattos of Estela in NYC, was as good as any vegetarian pasta you might find in any restaurant in the US. I could not get enough of it before the flight was called!!!! The food on Delta might not have been as good as that but I certainly finished every bite of my chicken with caramelized onions and mashed potatoes! (Mind you, this was on Delta One; the older I get, the more willing I am to splurge for business class flights, especially now that partner has difficulty walking even after a recent hip replacement.....seems as if the other hip might be breaking down now!)
We rented a car from SIXT through AutoEurope and picked it up after arrival. We have an Audi Q model..looks like a wagon. They attempted to give us a Skoda but we held our ground and got the Audi, although we had to wait a half an hour for it to be washed after the last client's ride. Sixt very busy but personnel very kind and helpful! Desk is inside terminal after baggage claim and pickup in down a ramp into the below ground-level garage. No one, as usual, mentioned the IDP. Car has built in GPS and is automatic.
Drive from airport to hotel in Vietri was pretty easy although I was filled with nerves, as usual. Little traffic. One toll of about 4 euro, an be paid in cash or by credit card; they even take Amex on the A3 now!
Got teary as we bagged passing signs for Ercolano Scavi, Nocera, and various towns along the Amalfi Coast. View of Vesuvius loomed most of the way.
Entry into Vietri was confusing as all heck! GPS sent us round and round..finally called hotel and they guided us to them..Hotel is outside main town, and we have a room with very plain furniture but fantastic view down to the beach and southeast to Salerno (where we originally had planned to stay but were thwarted by the rental car dearth in that city). Hotel is above main town of Vietri Sul Mare and while I would have liked to stroll around, it is heavily dominated by ceramic shops, but the facades are embellished by wonderful mosaic murals that would be lovely to have a look at up close. (I've been once before but never stayed long here.....). Also worth note is the celebrated SOLIMENE ceramic, whose facade MUSt be seen!!!! I remember buying a set from here in the early 70s, when I was on my (first) honeymoon!!!!! Hotel has a shuttle which has to be booked in advance. I think we are just too tired at this point although maybe if we get up early we can take a stroll for an hour or so before departing for Maratea.
But it's about 4pm here now and we have a dinner booked in the next town along the AC, Cetera, my favorite eating town on this coast. Taxis from Vietri, to Cetera, 5 miles distant, cost 30 euro EACH WAY!!!! Snackered to hear that......at this rate, partner is fast asleep so who knows if we will make dinner but, incredibly, before the hotel would book me a taxi, I had to sign two copes of a form stating that if I canceled within 2 hours of pickup I would be charged 40% of the fee!!! Never heard that one before!! I guess this is the Amalfi Coast, for all that that means!!!!! Prices are out of this world....Cetara is 5 km from here..30 euro for a taxi but parking is awful and cannot bear to ask partner to drive there. Yes, the hotel has shuttle to town and from there a bus is possible but frankly I am just too knocked out.......
Too tired to write more right now.....will try to keep up with this, but without too much detail..just ask me questions and I am more than happy to give my 2 cents!
BTW..weather is HOT (high 80sF) and sunny, as compared with the constant drizzle we had in Sicily last spring.....
Last edited by ekscrunchy; Sep 8th, 2023 at 07:00 AM.
Sep 8th, 2023, 10:58 PM
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Once again, your reporter had tears in her eyes, this time last night, when we arrived in what is one of my favorite villages in Italy: Cetera. Despite the reports of tourists clogging the streets in nearby Positano. our evening in Cetera was akin to entering a film of the 1960s Amalfi Coast, in a great way. WE took a taxi there at the very high price of 30 euro each way, but this was worth the price.
Cetara is the last town before Vietri, at the southern end of the AC. I felt as if I was in a film set from the minute we arrived until our departure a few hours later.
The set was minimally occupied when we arrived at about 7pm. There is one Main Street that leads down the beach, and it is lined with "normal" shops catering to locals. I saw one shop selling tourist items like dresses and ceramics,, but otherwise there are small food shops and a number of shops selling the anchovies and their liquid, famous from Roman times, colatura, that has put Cetara on the map. Delfino is the most well known and they have anchovies and tuna in every iteration you might imagine from pestos to gigantic jars of ventresca (tuna belly) to the liquid colatura. I did some financial damage there!
One interesting fact is that apart from a few staff at our Vietri hotel, NO ONE we encountered yesterday appeared to speak English. We heard not one word of English in Cetara and I can only compare this to the more famous towns of this coast. Just locals, and residents of towns in nearby parts of Campania. So after a stroll along the main drag, and the beachfront, which became more and more packed as the evening wore on, it felt like the filming was about to take place.
So we took our designated places on the terrace of one of my favorite restaurants in Italy, ACQUAPAZZA, and sure enough, the owner remembered me from 11 years ago! And it was fun to show him the photos I had taken back then and not so fun to see how we both had changed since then!! He is one of the 2 "Genneros" that own the restaurant. From the table on the street, we had a view of what, again, looked like a film set with laughing and smiling parties coming together, hugs and kisses alll around--fisherfolk (Cetara remains a fishing town), locals, old folks and little kids.....glirious weather and a night I will never forget.
Before dinner we once again visited the blue and white ceramic plaque memorializing the residents of Cetara..anziani, bambini and all else, who were persecuted by the Nazi laws of 1938 and later deported to the Nazi death camps and assassinated in '43-'45...a sobering note in an otherwise truly happy, happy evening. (The plaque is located in the piazza near the Al Convento restaurant, near the statue commemorating the Cetarese who sacrificed their lives in the Second World War)
Then it was dinner time so we made our way to ACQUAPAZZZA. Unfortunately, the travel had somehow mitigated my appetite so I could not indulge as much as I would have preferred. My partner had what he proclaimed one of the best pastas he had ever eaten: Trofie with basil, olives, almonds, pine nuts, colatura, and other delicacies (my photos seem to be missing so cannot find the menu details). I had a half order of their famous Spaghetti al Acquapazza, with colatura.....divine. Remember that most restaurants in Italy are happy to serve a "mezzo porzione," or half order.
Following the pastas, we shared the most divine spigola cooked in a salt crust, along with an order of fantastic roasted potatoes with rosemary. Again, I was. unable to finish my plate but did take a good part back to the hotel mini bar and I will finish it for breakfast this morning.
I also brought back a lovely ceramic plate given to me by one of the Gennaros which ice now very dear to me. I hope I can return in not too long!
https://www.acquapazza.it/menu/
After dinner, we phoned the taxi who collected us and drove us (fast and furious!!) along the Amalfi Coast drive back to our hotel in Vietri. That drive was like a ride as Disneyland!!! Really fun, with a breathtaking view off the sea on the right, with the hills of the client in the distance, and the city of Salerno closer to us.
I wish we could stay longer in this area. I think one of the things that saves Cetara from becoming a day trip destination is that there are no hotels in town and just one on the road east of town which is too far to walk along the Drive to get to Cetara itself.
I do wish I could add some photos here; I will try when I have more time.
Now it's almost 9am so time to get ready for our last meal in Campania before we head south to Basilicata.
Cetara is the last town before Vietri, at the southern end of the AC. I felt as if I was in a film set from the minute we arrived until our departure a few hours later.
The set was minimally occupied when we arrived at about 7pm. There is one Main Street that leads down the beach, and it is lined with "normal" shops catering to locals. I saw one shop selling tourist items like dresses and ceramics,, but otherwise there are small food shops and a number of shops selling the anchovies and their liquid, famous from Roman times, colatura, that has put Cetara on the map. Delfino is the most well known and they have anchovies and tuna in every iteration you might imagine from pestos to gigantic jars of ventresca (tuna belly) to the liquid colatura. I did some financial damage there!
One interesting fact is that apart from a few staff at our Vietri hotel, NO ONE we encountered yesterday appeared to speak English. We heard not one word of English in Cetara and I can only compare this to the more famous towns of this coast. Just locals, and residents of towns in nearby parts of Campania. So after a stroll along the main drag, and the beachfront, which became more and more packed as the evening wore on, it felt like the filming was about to take place.
So we took our designated places on the terrace of one of my favorite restaurants in Italy, ACQUAPAZZA, and sure enough, the owner remembered me from 11 years ago! And it was fun to show him the photos I had taken back then and not so fun to see how we both had changed since then!! He is one of the 2 "Genneros" that own the restaurant. From the table on the street, we had a view of what, again, looked like a film set with laughing and smiling parties coming together, hugs and kisses alll around--fisherfolk (Cetara remains a fishing town), locals, old folks and little kids.....glirious weather and a night I will never forget.
Before dinner we once again visited the blue and white ceramic plaque memorializing the residents of Cetara..anziani, bambini and all else, who were persecuted by the Nazi laws of 1938 and later deported to the Nazi death camps and assassinated in '43-'45...a sobering note in an otherwise truly happy, happy evening. (The plaque is located in the piazza near the Al Convento restaurant, near the statue commemorating the Cetarese who sacrificed their lives in the Second World War)
Then it was dinner time so we made our way to ACQUAPAZZZA. Unfortunately, the travel had somehow mitigated my appetite so I could not indulge as much as I would have preferred. My partner had what he proclaimed one of the best pastas he had ever eaten: Trofie with basil, olives, almonds, pine nuts, colatura, and other delicacies (my photos seem to be missing so cannot find the menu details). I had a half order of their famous Spaghetti al Acquapazza, with colatura.....divine. Remember that most restaurants in Italy are happy to serve a "mezzo porzione," or half order.
Following the pastas, we shared the most divine spigola cooked in a salt crust, along with an order of fantastic roasted potatoes with rosemary. Again, I was. unable to finish my plate but did take a good part back to the hotel mini bar and I will finish it for breakfast this morning.
I also brought back a lovely ceramic plate given to me by one of the Gennaros which ice now very dear to me. I hope I can return in not too long!
https://www.acquapazza.it/menu/
After dinner, we phoned the taxi who collected us and drove us (fast and furious!!) along the Amalfi Coast drive back to our hotel in Vietri. That drive was like a ride as Disneyland!!! Really fun, with a breathtaking view off the sea on the right, with the hills of the client in the distance, and the city of Salerno closer to us.
I wish we could stay longer in this area. I think one of the things that saves Cetara from becoming a day trip destination is that there are no hotels in town and just one on the road east of town which is too far to walk along the Drive to get to Cetara itself.
I do wish I could add some photos here; I will try when I have more time.
Now it's almost 9am so time to get ready for our last meal in Campania before we head south to Basilicata.
Last edited by ekscrunchy; Sep 8th, 2023 at 11:05 PM.
Sep 9th, 2023, 01:03 AM
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Meant to include price of dinner at ACQUAPAZZA:
One glass of white wine (house white) from Alto Adige (?why from there?)
1/2 order house pasta
Full order of trofie
One spigola baked in salt and filleted at table..large amounts of fish
One order potatoes roasted with rosemary (my guess is par boiled, quartered and then roasted to turn golden one exterior....sublime)
Total: 110 euro, tip included
Service: Impeccable
Partner says just the 2 pastas would have been enough for a dinner.
Mind you, while this is pricey, the total was so far below what one would pay for a mediocre meal of the same dishes in one of the towns further west, such as Amalfi, Positano, etc. Of course, we do need to take into account taxi fare. We did have a car (free parking at hotel, another reason to stay in this area if you plan to visit the AC) but the thought of making the drive to Cetara at night was just too daunting, and we are so happy partner can now walk, albeit with some difficulty, after surgery in June, that we threw financial caution to the winds.......
Now 11am. Breakfast was superb...lemon and chocolate Caprese cakes, incredible yogurts, eggs and pancakes for the few who chose to order these, anything you might imagine and all wonderful and served in a vast, sparkling white dining room, indoor and out......colorful tiles, view over the sea......miraculous!
Lovely pool reachable by elevator, but we do not have time to swim....
Wedding last night....not at al intrusive and gave us a chance to see the fashions, bride and groom, staying right next to us, music (the Plattters in Italian!!!). Still waiting for Domenico Mondugno to make his entrance!!!!
Isn't travel among the greatest things in lifer those of us who can indulge? And yet so many people we know have no interest at all.......
I wish I could post photos here but I can do this on hungryonion.org so might write a food report there if I can find the time between swooping, and eating!!!
One glass of white wine (house white) from Alto Adige (?why from there?)
1/2 order house pasta
Full order of trofie
One spigola baked in salt and filleted at table..large amounts of fish
One order potatoes roasted with rosemary (my guess is par boiled, quartered and then roasted to turn golden one exterior....sublime)
Total: 110 euro, tip included
Service: Impeccable
Partner says just the 2 pastas would have been enough for a dinner.
Mind you, while this is pricey, the total was so far below what one would pay for a mediocre meal of the same dishes in one of the towns further west, such as Amalfi, Positano, etc. Of course, we do need to take into account taxi fare. We did have a car (free parking at hotel, another reason to stay in this area if you plan to visit the AC) but the thought of making the drive to Cetara at night was just too daunting, and we are so happy partner can now walk, albeit with some difficulty, after surgery in June, that we threw financial caution to the winds.......
Now 11am. Breakfast was superb...lemon and chocolate Caprese cakes, incredible yogurts, eggs and pancakes for the few who chose to order these, anything you might imagine and all wonderful and served in a vast, sparkling white dining room, indoor and out......colorful tiles, view over the sea......miraculous!
Lovely pool reachable by elevator, but we do not have time to swim....
Wedding last night....not at al intrusive and gave us a chance to see the fashions, bride and groom, staying right next to us, music (the Plattters in Italian!!!). Still waiting for Domenico Mondugno to make his entrance!!!!
Isn't travel among the greatest things in lifer those of us who can indulge? And yet so many people we know have no interest at all.......
I wish I could post photos here but I can do this on hungryonion.org so might write a food report there if I can find the time between swooping, and eating!!!
Sep 9th, 2023, 06:49 AM
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Bilbo: The wines on the list were all full bottles so I asked them only for a glass..they have a different name for this here, not calico but something close. So I was surprised when they poured me a glass of a blend from Alto Adige instead of something local. Honestly I was so tired and not feeling up to par, gastro wise, so I just accepted it..it was ok..nothing special. Why would they have that as their house wine? Will try to find price on bill.....
So glad you are reading..your posts are always so helpful and insightful!
So glad you are reading..your posts are always so helpful and insightful!
Sep 9th, 2023, 07:09 AM
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Ok, so we checked out of the hotel in Vietri after a lovely breakfast. Got on the road south about noon. May verdict is that Hotel Raito is a lovely place to stay..near the highway and near my love of a town, Cetara..gorgeous old-fashioned Amalfi Coast hotel....wonderful staff with some speaking English. Patrons mostly Italian but there was one group from Colette Tours which I think might be from USA, and also a Smithsonian tour, posted on their bulletin board. But overall, this was an Italian hotel and no one was fancy..just "normal" people on vacation, mostly in shorts and flip flops......very comfy place to stay!
The drive to Maratea was slated as just under 2 hours on my Google map, but thank goodness I had a paper map as well. Of course we made some wrong turns; the installed GPS made some errors that took us, for example, on the highway north to Naples. The woman at the hotel front desk wrote out directions for us that took us via Bari; turned out she had not heard of Maratea and thought we were headed for Matera; in any case--through Bari??
BUT....even thought the drive took about 3 hours, much of it, after getting off the highway at Lagonegro Nord, was spectacular! The winding-ist roads you've ever driven on! Flanked by high peaks and dramatic rock canyons, skirting there Cilento peninsula (no time, unfortunately to pay another visit......curves and curves and then more curves!!!
GPS sent us down dirt roads that sometimes were the right way and sometimes leads to someone's farm. It was fun! It's the drive down from the uplands to the shore and is just a wonderful experience although I wonder how to navigate this at night to the various agriturismi we (I) picked out for future night, not from the highway south to Sapri as this one was, but north from Maratea town to the uplands closer to the famous Christ who watches over the area.
Know that Maratea is not ONE town; it is a collection of various fracciones spilling along the coast from near the border of Campania near Sapri, south almost to Calabria.
We checked into our hotel, VILLA CHETA, about 3pm, and by that time driver was knackered and I was close to that. Hotel is a former private home in Liberty style; I had visited before but not stayed here. And it looks and if left in amber...all the original furniture and collectibles..many rooms, up and down stairs, terrazzo floors, lovely outdoor spaces, and now a lovely pool which I hope to visit in a few minutes.
BUT the hotel beach is across the road and down many steps and I already plan to visit one of the lidi that I fell in love with 11 years ago on the advice of the much lamented Fodor-ite, Franco. I do hope the swimming there lives up to my memories from long ago. But you need a car to get anywhere around here, unless you stay in the upper town and even then, you need a car to get to the beach unless you are ok with spending time at the hotel pool which was polar bear temperature last time I was there. (we stayed at the Donna Monachie ex-convent last time; I was with friends, not my usual partner)
So...views from here and all along this coast are the stuff that dreams are made of. So far I've heard a bit of English and staff speaks some but in general this ice not a resort suited for the average (whatever that is) foreign tourist. I aim over the moon to be here thus far. Will go soon to the beautiful pool and then go for dinner at a place I loved last time, in the nearby fraccione.
Maratea, at least from what I can see thus far, is just out of the usual tourist track, and so gorgeous with such scenery..rustic, more like the western US than what we think of as Italy (granted I do not know the Dolomites).....very little English which is great, and everyone so welcoming!!!
So I will stop this chatter here to get to the pool while partner watches the US Open in Italian on tv......tonight, dinner 20:00 at Da Cesare, on the railroad tracks just south of here.......
Thrilled to be here.......partner seems to feel the same......
Best regards to all from Basilicata!
The drive to Maratea was slated as just under 2 hours on my Google map, but thank goodness I had a paper map as well. Of course we made some wrong turns; the installed GPS made some errors that took us, for example, on the highway north to Naples. The woman at the hotel front desk wrote out directions for us that took us via Bari; turned out she had not heard of Maratea and thought we were headed for Matera; in any case--through Bari??
BUT....even thought the drive took about 3 hours, much of it, after getting off the highway at Lagonegro Nord, was spectacular! The winding-ist roads you've ever driven on! Flanked by high peaks and dramatic rock canyons, skirting there Cilento peninsula (no time, unfortunately to pay another visit......curves and curves and then more curves!!!
GPS sent us down dirt roads that sometimes were the right way and sometimes leads to someone's farm. It was fun! It's the drive down from the uplands to the shore and is just a wonderful experience although I wonder how to navigate this at night to the various agriturismi we (I) picked out for future night, not from the highway south to Sapri as this one was, but north from Maratea town to the uplands closer to the famous Christ who watches over the area.
Know that Maratea is not ONE town; it is a collection of various fracciones spilling along the coast from near the border of Campania near Sapri, south almost to Calabria.
We checked into our hotel, VILLA CHETA, about 3pm, and by that time driver was knackered and I was close to that. Hotel is a former private home in Liberty style; I had visited before but not stayed here. And it looks and if left in amber...all the original furniture and collectibles..many rooms, up and down stairs, terrazzo floors, lovely outdoor spaces, and now a lovely pool which I hope to visit in a few minutes.
BUT the hotel beach is across the road and down many steps and I already plan to visit one of the lidi that I fell in love with 11 years ago on the advice of the much lamented Fodor-ite, Franco. I do hope the swimming there lives up to my memories from long ago. But you need a car to get anywhere around here, unless you stay in the upper town and even then, you need a car to get to the beach unless you are ok with spending time at the hotel pool which was polar bear temperature last time I was there. (we stayed at the Donna Monachie ex-convent last time; I was with friends, not my usual partner)
So...views from here and all along this coast are the stuff that dreams are made of. So far I've heard a bit of English and staff speaks some but in general this ice not a resort suited for the average (whatever that is) foreign tourist. I aim over the moon to be here thus far. Will go soon to the beautiful pool and then go for dinner at a place I loved last time, in the nearby fraccione.
Maratea, at least from what I can see thus far, is just out of the usual tourist track, and so gorgeous with such scenery..rustic, more like the western US than what we think of as Italy (granted I do not know the Dolomites).....very little English which is great, and everyone so welcoming!!!
So I will stop this chatter here to get to the pool while partner watches the US Open in Italian on tv......tonight, dinner 20:00 at Da Cesare, on the railroad tracks just south of here.......
Thrilled to be here.......partner seems to feel the same......
Best regards to all from Basilicata!
Last edited by ekscrunchy; Sep 9th, 2023 at 07:15 AM.
Sep 10th, 2023, 11:42 AM
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Yestravel: You stayed here twice? So lovely! Where else didi you venture on that trip?
Today was a great day apart from the fact that my back is giving a lot of problems! Oh well.....must push on!!
After a lavish breakfast at Villa Cheta on this Sunday, the lovely hotel front desk person phoned La Secca, which I think is the best beach in the area, (it is far to the south, almost at the Calabria border and adjacent to Il Mirto beach; I was proud of myself for driving there and back along the VERY curvy cliffside road, SS18! It was easy and I went slowly; speed limits is 40 km). I need tp practice driving in unfamiliar places!
Good thing we booked in advance because we snagged the last two available lounges (20 euro each with one umbrella); parking is 5 euro in September, more in August; the blue lounges have little roofs attached.
As soon as we entered and parked, we were met by a kind worker who immediately welcomed us by calling out my name and led us to our lounges. He apologized that they were a bit in the sun but promised tomorrow that he would reserve for us two "front line" beach lounges, closer to the entrance to the sea.
There are two ways to enter the sea here: You need water shoes for both. You can make your way across the rocks to the open water, or descend a ladder. The water here is edged by giant towering rocks and there are rocks atop the sea floor. Forested mountains in the distance and all along their roads.
The water is a dark aqua and the stuff that dreams are made of. There were no other foreigners that I noticed. Most bathers just bobbed or floated off rafts; a few swam halfhearted laps. The female all wore bikinis (except yours truly who stood out in a rash guard and swim shorts!!)
The water was colder than I had remembered but I did swim and hope to swim much longer tomorrow. There are high peaks all around, grey rocks in all formations, and offshore many visitors arrived in private boats and came to swim. There is an alfresco restaurant but I did not check it out due to difficulty walking. I yelped in pain a few times and it was so cute when a girl of about 14 asked me, in English, if I needed any help. I complimented her language skills and asked her if she learned English in school. She said no..."I learned it on the internet!' The internet? "Yes, I play video games!!"
It really was amusing to see all the various female bodies in their sequined and tiny bathing bikinis, women of alll ages in thong suits and pretty tiny tops.....really great..no shame about having some extra avoirdupois or not looking like Gisele Bundchen. Just watching the fellow beachgoers was worth the trip, and everyone was so kind, including the male beach workers. Surprisingly, the males were not in the skimpy Speedos that I recall from earlier trips--they wore bathing shorts just like in the US, mostly, although there were a few exceptions. The older the man, the smaller the bathing suit!!
It was very hot but there was a breeze. Unfortunately, we had booked Sunday lunch at DA CESARE, where we had a great dinner last night. This is on S18, near Villa Cheta and I had been on my last trip. So we left the beach early, about 1:20 in order to arrive for lunch at the last seating: 2:15. I drove again!! And LOVED it!!
Things got dicey once we reached the restaurant, since the parking lots were jam packed and I could not manage to find anywhere to park. Partner got into driver's seat and became quite testy, saying that was it..he could not do it, and we would have to return for dinner, instead. Just then, our server from last night, Teresa, spotted us and exclaimed, "Erica!!!!" So great you are back. So I explained the parking issue and she told us we could drive down and park in her nearby driveway, OR just park behind her sister's car since her sister would be working until after we left......I am too tired to go into all of this but it was quite the scene....neither of us could manage to get the car into the indicated spot.....cars were parked willy nilly and the lot is up against the highway.....no one minds the lines for designated parking..they park wherever they find 3 inches of space! After about 15 minutes, one of the diners left his table and came across the street and took the keys and parked our car for us! Only in Italy!!! So fabulous!!!!!
By this time we were known to the restaurant staff and felt like old friends. Too tired to go into detail, but this was the meal:
Me: Full order of tiny clams with spaghetti. Fantastic, but I did have to add salt.
Order of roasted peppers, yellow and gold. Served cold.
Partner: Spaghetti with tomato sauce which was proclaimed "the best tomato sauce ever!!" (Not a fish lover)
Order of fried calamari.....so delicious I stole quite a few of the tentacles...no grease...just superb!
This was pretty much a repeat of last night's dinner, although last night I had only a half order of the spaghetti with clams (7 euro for what looked to me like a full order!)
Dessert was new to us: Tartufo di Pizzo Calabro. Dense gelato surrounding candied orange. Apparently the town of Pizzo, just south of here in Calabria, is famous for this dessert which comes in many flavors. If we can manage, we may have to drive south to Pizzo to sample more....
Lunch with water and one fresh lemonade: 63 euro. We follow lead of locals here and do not leave tip.
Maratea is so interesting, as the coastal stretch on the Tyrrhenian Sea is only 30 km long, between the Cilento in Campania and the Riviera del Cedro in Calabria. This is the only stretch off Basilicata on this coast. So we can be in Sapri, Campania, in about 12 minutes (supermarket, which I love to explore), and in Praia del Mare, Calabria, in about 35 minutes, driving south I hope we have enough time to explore. (The annual pepper fair is this week, in Diamante!!!)
We've still not been up to the actual town of Maratea but will try to make it tomorrow. You do need to drive A LOT in the Maratea area , and the roads and VERY narrow and curvy. Not for the faint hearted!!
Today was a great day apart from the fact that my back is giving a lot of problems! Oh well.....must push on!!
After a lavish breakfast at Villa Cheta on this Sunday, the lovely hotel front desk person phoned La Secca, which I think is the best beach in the area, (it is far to the south, almost at the Calabria border and adjacent to Il Mirto beach; I was proud of myself for driving there and back along the VERY curvy cliffside road, SS18! It was easy and I went slowly; speed limits is 40 km). I need tp practice driving in unfamiliar places!
Good thing we booked in advance because we snagged the last two available lounges (20 euro each with one umbrella); parking is 5 euro in September, more in August; the blue lounges have little roofs attached.
As soon as we entered and parked, we were met by a kind worker who immediately welcomed us by calling out my name and led us to our lounges. He apologized that they were a bit in the sun but promised tomorrow that he would reserve for us two "front line" beach lounges, closer to the entrance to the sea.
There are two ways to enter the sea here: You need water shoes for both. You can make your way across the rocks to the open water, or descend a ladder. The water here is edged by giant towering rocks and there are rocks atop the sea floor. Forested mountains in the distance and all along their roads.
The water is a dark aqua and the stuff that dreams are made of. There were no other foreigners that I noticed. Most bathers just bobbed or floated off rafts; a few swam halfhearted laps. The female all wore bikinis (except yours truly who stood out in a rash guard and swim shorts!!)
The water was colder than I had remembered but I did swim and hope to swim much longer tomorrow. There are high peaks all around, grey rocks in all formations, and offshore many visitors arrived in private boats and came to swim. There is an alfresco restaurant but I did not check it out due to difficulty walking. I yelped in pain a few times and it was so cute when a girl of about 14 asked me, in English, if I needed any help. I complimented her language skills and asked her if she learned English in school. She said no..."I learned it on the internet!' The internet? "Yes, I play video games!!"
It really was amusing to see all the various female bodies in their sequined and tiny bathing bikinis, women of alll ages in thong suits and pretty tiny tops.....really great..no shame about having some extra avoirdupois or not looking like Gisele Bundchen. Just watching the fellow beachgoers was worth the trip, and everyone was so kind, including the male beach workers. Surprisingly, the males were not in the skimpy Speedos that I recall from earlier trips--they wore bathing shorts just like in the US, mostly, although there were a few exceptions. The older the man, the smaller the bathing suit!!
It was very hot but there was a breeze. Unfortunately, we had booked Sunday lunch at DA CESARE, where we had a great dinner last night. This is on S18, near Villa Cheta and I had been on my last trip. So we left the beach early, about 1:20 in order to arrive for lunch at the last seating: 2:15. I drove again!! And LOVED it!!
Things got dicey once we reached the restaurant, since the parking lots were jam packed and I could not manage to find anywhere to park. Partner got into driver's seat and became quite testy, saying that was it..he could not do it, and we would have to return for dinner, instead. Just then, our server from last night, Teresa, spotted us and exclaimed, "Erica!!!!" So great you are back. So I explained the parking issue and she told us we could drive down and park in her nearby driveway, OR just park behind her sister's car since her sister would be working until after we left......I am too tired to go into all of this but it was quite the scene....neither of us could manage to get the car into the indicated spot.....cars were parked willy nilly and the lot is up against the highway.....no one minds the lines for designated parking..they park wherever they find 3 inches of space! After about 15 minutes, one of the diners left his table and came across the street and took the keys and parked our car for us! Only in Italy!!! So fabulous!!!!!
By this time we were known to the restaurant staff and felt like old friends. Too tired to go into detail, but this was the meal:
Me: Full order of tiny clams with spaghetti. Fantastic, but I did have to add salt.
Order of roasted peppers, yellow and gold. Served cold.
Partner: Spaghetti with tomato sauce which was proclaimed "the best tomato sauce ever!!" (Not a fish lover)
Order of fried calamari.....so delicious I stole quite a few of the tentacles...no grease...just superb!
This was pretty much a repeat of last night's dinner, although last night I had only a half order of the spaghetti with clams (7 euro for what looked to me like a full order!)
Dessert was new to us: Tartufo di Pizzo Calabro. Dense gelato surrounding candied orange. Apparently the town of Pizzo, just south of here in Calabria, is famous for this dessert which comes in many flavors. If we can manage, we may have to drive south to Pizzo to sample more....
Lunch with water and one fresh lemonade: 63 euro. We follow lead of locals here and do not leave tip.
Maratea is so interesting, as the coastal stretch on the Tyrrhenian Sea is only 30 km long, between the Cilento in Campania and the Riviera del Cedro in Calabria. This is the only stretch off Basilicata on this coast. So we can be in Sapri, Campania, in about 12 minutes (supermarket, which I love to explore), and in Praia del Mare, Calabria, in about 35 minutes, driving south I hope we have enough time to explore. (The annual pepper fair is this week, in Diamante!!!)
We've still not been up to the actual town of Maratea but will try to make it tomorrow. You do need to drive A LOT in the Maratea area , and the roads and VERY narrow and curvy. Not for the faint hearted!!
Last edited by ekscrunchy; Sep 10th, 2023 at 12:32 PM.
Sep 11th, 2023, 10:35 AM
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What a fabulous trip you're having! I'm loving your wonderfully descriptive observations and reporting and can't get over you checking in with us WHILE there. I never have enough time to report to the degree that you are - Thank you! Looking forward to your next installment.
Sep 11th, 2023, 11:56 AM
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Shelemm: That is just what I like to seek out! This stretch of coastline, in Basilicata (also known by its ancient name, Lucania) is only about 20 miles long, as I think I mentioned, above, sandwiched between Calabria and Campania so there are SO many foods particular to these regions that can be found here. So I try to sample as many as I can.
This morning we drove, again, to our "favorite" beach club, La Secca, and spent about 2 hours there. It is stunningly beautiful but the water seemed much colder than I had remembered from the last time; I guess it's just me, getting older and less tolerant!! Then we took a look at the little hamlet of Fiumicello, which has a less unusual beach with two private lidi and a public area. Very pretty, beautiful water.
Spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool at Villa Cheta (fantastic!) and then took a drive into the town of Maratea, located high on the hillside......did some food shopping, of course. Dinner here at the Villa; details later on....
This morning we drove, again, to our "favorite" beach club, La Secca, and spent about 2 hours there. It is stunningly beautiful but the water seemed much colder than I had remembered from the last time; I guess it's just me, getting older and less tolerant!! Then we took a look at the little hamlet of Fiumicello, which has a less unusual beach with two private lidi and a public area. Very pretty, beautiful water.
Spent the rest of the afternoon at the pool at Villa Cheta (fantastic!) and then took a drive into the town of Maratea, located high on the hillside......did some food shopping, of course. Dinner here at the Villa; details later on....
Sep 11th, 2023, 10:48 PM
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Dinner last night at Villa Cheta, out hotel. a former private palazzo still owned by a Bolognese family who still summers here and now operated as a hotel run by a core group of most hospitable ladies who deserve much credit for their caring attitude toward guests.
Speaking of interesting foods in this region, the Riviera del Cedro, just south of Maratea along the coast, in Calabria, is the home of the Cedro, known in Hebrew as the strong and important in the Jewish autumn festival of Sukkot. The Cedro is a citrus fruit used also to make spirits of which I have sampled and found delicious! I wish we had the time to travel further south along this coast, into Calabria, although I do remember that much of the stretch is marred by fairly ugly development. Getting back to the
Cedro/etrog, I have read that at certain times of the year,, Orthodox rabbis descend on this coast to select the prime examples of the etrog to cart back to their home places for Sukkot. Will try to find more information on that but meanwhile:
https://www.joimag.it/sukkot-in-cala...aditions-tome/
https://moked.it/international/2023/...uropean-union/
Another semi-interesting event for me, personally:
When we arrived in Italy I found that I had neglected to bring along a medication that I take daily. It is not a controlled substance, as in opioid or sedative, but nevertheless, a prescription is required in the US. I was a little put out by my omission and a bit anxious about how I would fare after a few days going without (you might get the idea from this last sentence!)
What to do? We are on the coast with the nearest pharmacy up ion the hill town of Maratea, a fairly harrowing drive, and then the parking problem (!!). But we did drive up yesterday and found a pharmacy in town. I had no prescription bottle and nothing to show that I had a doctor's consent for this medication. Nor did I know the name in Italian.
No worries!!!! Walked into the pharmacy, gave the actual name and dosage of the drug; the lovely young female looked it up online (!!), found it, and related that she would have it in the store today after 10am!! Si!!!!! Must again face that drive, but will give me yet another excuse to explore an excellent shop specializing in regional foods, which here means not only the foods of Lucania, but also of the nearby coastal regions of the Cilento and Calabria!!!! The name is FARMACIA DEI SANI and I highly recommend if you find yourself in Maratea town. Yesterday I bought strascinati imbued with pepperoni di Senise, local sausage and, in nearby caseificio (cheese maker) a local cheese that has been submerged in wine during manufacture.....will try to find the name later. The main cheeses here are made from sheep; more info on those to follow.
Speaking of interesting foods in this region, the Riviera del Cedro, just south of Maratea along the coast, in Calabria, is the home of the Cedro, known in Hebrew as the strong and important in the Jewish autumn festival of Sukkot. The Cedro is a citrus fruit used also to make spirits of which I have sampled and found delicious! I wish we had the time to travel further south along this coast, into Calabria, although I do remember that much of the stretch is marred by fairly ugly development. Getting back to the
Cedro/etrog, I have read that at certain times of the year,, Orthodox rabbis descend on this coast to select the prime examples of the etrog to cart back to their home places for Sukkot. Will try to find more information on that but meanwhile:
https://www.joimag.it/sukkot-in-cala...aditions-tome/
https://moked.it/international/2023/...uropean-union/
Another semi-interesting event for me, personally:
When we arrived in Italy I found that I had neglected to bring along a medication that I take daily. It is not a controlled substance, as in opioid or sedative, but nevertheless, a prescription is required in the US. I was a little put out by my omission and a bit anxious about how I would fare after a few days going without (you might get the idea from this last sentence!)
What to do? We are on the coast with the nearest pharmacy up ion the hill town of Maratea, a fairly harrowing drive, and then the parking problem (!!). But we did drive up yesterday and found a pharmacy in town. I had no prescription bottle and nothing to show that I had a doctor's consent for this medication. Nor did I know the name in Italian.
No worries!!!! Walked into the pharmacy, gave the actual name and dosage of the drug; the lovely young female looked it up online (!!), found it, and related that she would have it in the store today after 10am!! Si!!!!! Must again face that drive, but will give me yet another excuse to explore an excellent shop specializing in regional foods, which here means not only the foods of Lucania, but also of the nearby coastal regions of the Cilento and Calabria!!!! The name is FARMACIA DEI SANI and I highly recommend if you find yourself in Maratea town. Yesterday I bought strascinati imbued with pepperoni di Senise, local sausage and, in nearby caseificio (cheese maker) a local cheese that has been submerged in wine during manufacture.....will try to find the name later. The main cheeses here are made from sheep; more info on those to follow.
Last edited by ekscrunchy; Sep 11th, 2023 at 11:06 PM.
