Our Picks - the best of Southern Italy

Beach Belles & Island hopping

From Capri's steep shores to Vulcano's thermal water, the southern coast has drawn everyone from Odysseus to Onassis. Sole e mare, sun and sea, is central to local life: families share trays of pasta al forno on the seafront, beach clubs fill the sandy stretches of Puglia and boats connect the Aeolian Islands. August brings the heaviest crowds and traffic, so build in extra time for every coastal transfer.

Ferries and beach clubs

Ferries and hydrofoils serve the southern islands throughout the year. Summer adds more departures but also brings higher ticket prices. Beaches are often divided between public sections and private lidos or bagni. A private section normally includes a parasol and sunlounger for the day.

Best beach and island experiences

• ✦Boat around the bays of the Costa degli Dei, using Tropea as a base for clear turquoise water and summer evenings.
• ✦In the wild, green Gargano, hike the Path of Love to Baia delle Zagare, often counted among Italy's finest beaches.
• ✦Stay out late at Gallipoli's beach clubs, the Puglian summer playground for music, dancing and a bronzed crowd.
• ✦Pair black-sand beaches and pebble coves with fruit-filled granita while island hopping through Sicily's Aeolians.
• ✦Cross the Gulf of Naples from polished Capri to lush, thermal Ischia, the largest and most developed of the islands listed here.

Village life

Southern towns and villages range from pastel fishing ports to dark stone mountain hamlets. Some sit beside topaz water, others are surrounded by forests. Stay for a while, walk the sleepy streets, speak with someone at a local bar and listen for the dialect. The reward is a connection that cannot be measured by a checklist.

Small-town planning

The association I Borghi più belli d'Italia maintains a directory of exceptionally beautiful small towns and villages across the south at borghipiubelliditalia.it. In general, find a car park outside a historic centre and continue on foot. The narrowest streets are rarely improved by a rental car.

Best small-town experiences

• ✦Visit Vico Equense, a Campanian town associated with some of Italy's most famous chefs.
• ✦Learn traditional fishing in Cetara, an Amalfi Coast town with a strong maritime identity.
• ✦Ride the cable car to hilltop Erice in Sicily, taste almond pastries and look towards Africa on the horizon.
• ✦Take the Volo dell'Angelo or simply walk around Pietrapertosa, Basilicata's high village pressed against craggy peaks.
• ✦Walk the ancient walls of Otranto and combine the old town with its rocky coastline.

In the piazza

The piazza is southern Italy's communal living room. Locals buy market produce, drink spritzes and watch one another, while summer squares add concerts, films and sometimes fashion shows. A piazza may be grand and famous or small and raffish, but either one offers a direct view into daily life.

Beyond Aperol

Aperol is only one choice. Try a spritz con Montenegro for delicate spice, or a spritz con Campari for a more bitter-sweet drink. A little research can also explain whether a square was built on an ancient acropolis or witnessed an uprising, public execution or another turning point. Piazzetta is simply the diminutive of piazza, and the plural of piazza is piazze.

Best piazza experiences

• ✦Stand in Syracuse's Piazza del Duomo, the cinematic square featured in Giuseppe Tornatore's film Malèna, and admire the cathedral stone.
• ✦Find the street art and football devotion of Naples' Piazza Maradona.
• ✦Watch the evening pass through Capri's Piazza Umberto I, a setting associated with 1960s Hollywood glamour.
• ✦Take in Cefalù's Arab-Norman cathedral from Piazza del Duomo, either from a cafe terrace or high on the towers.
• ✦Sip Primitivo under a baroque church in Lecce's Piazzetta Castromediano Sigismondo.

Ancient relics

Southern Italy's archaeological sites sit on plateaus, beneath volcanoes and behind museum glass. They carry the marks of Greek, Roman, Byzantine and later lives: chariot grooves, pillaged walls, graffiti and frescoes. Some sites are celebrated and crowded, while others feel abandoned. Both kinds reward patience.

Best archaeological experiences

• ✦Explore the frescoed shops, villas and brothels of Pompeii, preserved by the eruption of 79 CE.
• ✦Study the ancient sculpture and craft of the Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, usually called MANN.
• ✦Look across the sea from Sicily's Valley of the Temples and imagine Carthaginian ships approaching the coast.
• ✦Book an evening performance in Syracuse's exceptionally preserved Greek amphitheatre, once part of a major ancient power.
• ✦Walk the remains of Locri Epizephyrii, the archaeological trace of a powerful Greek city founded in the late 8th century BCE.

Dolce vita

Southern Italy's sweet traditions run from Sicilian cassata to Campanian delizia di limone. Families often have a favourite pasticceria for a tray of treats on Sunday, and a pastry stop is as much a social habit as a dessert course.

Gelato and holiday treats

Gelato usually comes in a coppa, cono or brioche bun, and the server may ask whether you want panna, whipped cream, on top. Seasonal specialities include zeppole di San Giuseppe, fried choux pastry with cream, in March and Neapolitan mostaccioli, chocolate-glazed biscuits, at Christmas.

Best sweet experiences

• ✦Eat a delizia al limone at Pasticceria Pansa while looking towards Amalfi's Duomo.
• ✦Find a cannolo at I Segreti del Chiostro, hidden inside a 14th-century Palermo convent.
• ✦Visit the pistachio farm and taste pistachio creams at 'A Ricchigia.
• ✦Stop at Bar L'Incontro in Lecce for pasticciotto filled with custard and black cherries.
• ✦Choose panettone, colomba or pandoro from Tiri Bakery & Caffè in Potenza.

The wine list

The Mezzogiorno is home to exciting wine landscapes beyond Tuscany. Vineyards run beside coastlines, volcanoes and distant hills, and many producers work with native grapes and old vines. Book ahead because walk-ins are not always accepted. Tasting fees may be waived when you buy wine, and almost every southern enoteca offers a degustazione of at least one or two local bottles.

Best viticultural experiences

• ✦Taste wines aged in underground volcanic-rock cellars at Cantine del Notaio in Rionero in Vulture.
• ✦Quaff Puglian Primitivo and Negroamaro, known locally as the King of Salento, at Castel di Salve in Depressa.
• ✦Try sweet Malvasia on Salina in the Aeolian Islands.
• ✦Cycle north from Syracuse on an old railway route and taste Sicily's oldest wine at Azienda Agricola Pupillo, based in a medieval castle.
• ✦Tour cellars and picnic among the vines on Sicily's Strada del Val di Noto, a route through family wineries.

Saints and saviours

Religion has shaped some of southern Italy's most ambitious art and architecture, from Byzantine mosaics and expressive sculptures to frescoed cathedrals. Chapels and churches were also statements of status, commissioned by religious orders and rulers who hired the leading artists and artisans of their time.

Best sacred experiences

• ✦Read biblical scenes in the detailed mosaics of Sicily's Cattedrale di Monreale.
• ✦Join Neapolitans waiting for the patron saint's blood to liquefy during the Miracle of San Gennaro.
• ✦Visit Monte Sant'Angelo in the Gargano and look into the grotto associated with the appearance of Saint Michael.
• ✦See rare Lombard-era frescoes in Matera's Cripta del Peccato Originale, one of Basilicata's rupestrian churches.
• ✦Go to Palmi on the last Sunday of August for Varia, when a giant sacred chariot is carried by 200 people.

Big-city rush

Naples, Palermo and Catania combine grit and glamour: unruly traffic, cracked pavements, art-filled palaces, street markets and bar-lined lanes. The energy is intense, but it is also the fastest way to feel the south's confidence, humour and contradictions.

Street art and city passes

In Naples, look for the large murals of Jorit. In Palermo and Catania, keep an eye out for work by Nicolò Amato, Tutto e Niente and Ligama. Naples visitors can compare sightseeing and transport savings through the Artecard at campaniartecard.it. In Palermo, the Palermo Tourist Card is listed at pmocard.it.

Best urban experiences

• ✦Take a Napoli Paint Stories walking tour to read the city through its street art.
• ✦See ballet or opera at Bari's Teatro Petruzzelli, one of the south's leading theatres.
• ✦Follow Palermo's difficult modern history at the No Mafia Memorial and the Wall of Legality mural.
• ✦Try spleen and lung-stuffed pani ca meusa in Palermo, the south's great street-food city.
• ✦Climb over San Giuliano's cupola to reach Ostello degli Elefanti in Catania.

Farm stays and feasts

Agriturismi and masserie turn working countryside into a travel experience. A long lunch may unfold among vines or olive trees, with bowls of homegrown produce dressed in peppery oil pressed on the property. Farm stays can range from rustic dining to rooms, spa treatments and accommodation, and many offer cooking lessons that last a day or a full week.

Plan ahead. A minimum stay is common, especially in peak season, and a farm restaurant open to the public should be reserved. The directory agriturismi.it lists properties, facilities and descriptions across southern Italy.

Best farm-stay experiences

• ✦Sleep at Biomasseria Lama di Luna, an organic grape and olive farm beside Parco Nazionale dell'Alta Murgia.
• ✦Ride a horse or practise dolce far niente at rustic Masseria Sgarrazza.
• ✦Book a table at vegetarian Vigreen Trattoria Rurale in the hills above Santa Domenica Talao.
• ✦Slow down at Agriturismo i Moresani, a Cilento farm known for its restaurant.
• ✦Learn how tiny lentils are grown at Agriturismo Hibiscus on Ustica.

Battles and ballrooms

Empires and royal houses fought over southern Italy for centuries. Their former courts survive in mosaicked bedrooms, Gothic halls, baroque ballrooms and castle prisons, where architecture carries the memory of conquest, ceremony and scandal. Castles and palaces often host concerts and cultural events during the summer festival season, so check the programme before visiting.

Best castle and palace experiences

• ✦See the Arab-Norman splendour of Palermo's Cappella Palatina and Palazzo Reale.
• ✦View sumptuous paintings and tapestries, then walk the former royal hunting ground at Naples' Museo e Real Bosco di Capodimonte.
• ✦Explore the mysterious 13th-century octagonal Castel del Monte in the heart of Parco Nazionale dell'Alta Murgia.
• ✦Visit Melfi's Norman Castle for archaeological finds from the 7th to 2nd centuries BCE and the place where Frederick II abolished barbaric medieval laws.
• ✦Climb to Taormina's 12th-century Saracen castle and look down over the ancient Greek acropolis.

Into the wild

The less populated parts of the Mezzogiorno hold large areas of raw landscape. Calabria and Basilicata are especially rich in national parks, with gorges and torrents cutting through beech, silver fir and rare Bosnian pine forests. The choice can be a demanding mountain day in the Deep South or a shorter walk high above the Amalfi Coast that ends in time for aperitivo.

Minority villages and park information

The mountains of Calabria and Basilicata are home to two historic ethnolinguistic minorities: the Arbëreshë, or Italo-Albanians, and the Griko, or Italo-Greeks. Southern Italy has nine national parks. The directory parks.it lists points of interest, local specialities and events, while most marked trails use red and white symbols. Spring and early autumn offer the best hiking weather.

Best wilderness experiences

• ✦Hike or river trek in Parco Nazionale del Pollino, Italy's largest national park, with steep canyons, thick forests and old mountain villages.
• ✦Go off the beaten track in Polia, where a river canyon protects Italy's largest colony of Woodwaria radicans, a rare prehistoric fern.
• ✦Walk the Sentiero degli Dei between sea and cloud, within reach of the Amalfi Coast.
• ✦Amble through Puglia's ancient Foresta Umbra, deep in the Gargano promontory.
• ✦Dive offshore from Lipari to observe octopuses, eels, groupers and other marine life in their natural habitats.