Cosenza - old town

View up street towards local secondary school.

On our way south we spent half a day in Cosenza, one of the largest towns in Calabria. I'd visited the town nearly a decade before (see my earlier post HERE) and found its old town rather dark and brooding; perhaps that was because then I arrived late in the day and the shops were closing up. This time we arrived mid-morning on a lovely sunny day. The effect was strikingly different and the old town came across as full of interesting squares, streets and buildings (although to be fair some of the narrow side streets didn't look all that salubrious).

There were few tourists around and so we strolled through the town without having to fight our way along pavements with the usual crush. Indeed there was even time for Mailena to do some clothes shopping (in which I'm happy to report she was successful).


Prices here are low compared to other regions of Italy - yet the quality is still high. We stopped for instance at a cafe for an iced capuccino and ordered some small accompanying cakes (pasticini) to nibble; they were delicious yet the price was a mere 50 cents per cake. Wonderful! We ordered half a dozen more to take away and as ever in Italy they were wrapped up beautifully.

We ate our panini in a lovely park next to a piazza surrounded by exceptional buildings.

Marilena takes the stage in Cosenza's atmospheric theatre.

Paradise - at last?

Marilena's idea of paradise is a campsite that is clean, has excellent toilet facilities and a friendly staff; moreover, it should be adjacent to a splendid beach (or have a top class swimming pool) and within easy reach there must to be an interesting village (or town) where one can stroll in the evening and have an ice-cream to help the digestion before taking to bed. A bonus is if there is a nearby railway staion for easy access to other destinations. Well I'm happy to report that we may have just (finally) landed on our feet with our most recent stop; but it only came about by accident.

On leaving Corigliano (by the Ionian Sea) we crossed Calabria to the western coast. I had identified a likely-looking site from our campsite guide and half a day later we rolled up to this very pretty place with lovely palm trees and flowers fringing the walkways of the campground; 'We're in clover,' I thought. We completed the admin and then drove to our pitch; it looked great and Marilena was excited to spot the swimming pool just 20 yards away over the hedge. Cool.

We stepped out of the camper ready to set up the awning and settle into our new residence for the next few days. And that's when the demons struck! Mosquitoes - and by the dozen. They attached themselves to us and within five minutes we had to run back into the camper for safety. Unfortunately Marilena was very badly bitten indeed and required insect bite cream to ease the discomfort (subsequently she had to take a painkiller and retire to bed early). So we turned around and left. I checked the camping guide we had (again), located another campsite and we drove over the local mountain road to a popular tourist town called Tropea.

Tropea - a beautiful little town on the Calabrian coast.

Turning into the Tropea seafront we were presented with signs to several campsites all adjacent to each other and before we knew what was happening we found ourselves being ushered into a lovely little family site by a smiling staff. Ahh! at last a site that Marilena could really relax in and enjoy. And so far it has met all our expectations. This morning at 8 am the panificio van (baker) pulled in and we bought freshly made bread rolls and apricot croissants. Then an hour later the fresh fish man arrived with his little three-wheeled moto-carozella and we had some fresh fish from him. Great!

We bought a little electric (indoor( grill last year and it's proving to be a very useful addition to the camper's tiny kitchen.

Opposite the campground are steps that take one up the cliff to the central piazza in town (how convenient is that?) We climbed them and spent an hour exploring and doing a little shopping this morning and then it was off to the beach (100 yards away) and a splash in the most beautiful blue sea imaginable! Lunch - prepared by the two of us - was fresh grilled fish, braised local Tropea red onions, ratatouille and potatoes, accompanied by local white wine. Desert was Italian coffee and another round of (morning) croissants. Lovely.

Night owls

There's an hour's difference between BST and European time and so we're finding that early morning's are brighter but of course evenings close in earlier. Indeed by 6.30pm it is quite dark now. This isn't a challenge in a house (or a well equipped caravan); one simply settles down to watch TV or read a book or make a cup of tea or whatever. However when your living space is an awning, your choices of entertainment are more limited.
Mostly what we do is read a book or (in Marilena's case) write up her travel journal; very occasionally if the campsite WIFI is good enough we might watch some TV on the laptop.
The awning has a weak overhead light to stop us bumping into things but for reading/writing we wear head torches to beef up close-up illumination. This works well although it makes us look like a pair of techie night owls.

You're never alone when you camp in a wood full of Scops owls!

Speaking of which our current camping spot on the border between Basilicata and Calabria (near Italy's big toe) is in a small pine wood - pineta - and it's full of Common Scops owls which call out to each other for half of the night. Because we live near the park at home, we get the occasional owl hooting in the back garden. But nothing on this scale. The pineta seems to be full of owls! Yet despite their noisy presence at night I have as yet failed to see one of these birds during the day; it is a gang of ragtag magpies that rule the roost in the daylight hours.

Two fascinating towns in Puglia

Alberobello

Marilena regards the camera seated among the trulli of Alberobella.

This village is famous for its trulli - a trullo is a circular building with a conical roof, all of it made from stone. Although some people had the misfortune to be obliged to live in them, the trulli were generally employed as storage huts. Their shape and design however does make them appear rather special.  Alberobello has an area mostly composed of these trulli buildings. They are lovely to look at but I expect not so fantastic to live in. As we travelled through the region we found them dotted all over the countryside. This reminded me of spotting oast houses in Kent, although the trulli were more numerous.

Lecce

Relaxing in front of one of Lecce's amphitheatres.

On one day we drove to Lecce, an ancient city on the heel of Italy's boot. And what a delightful place it proved to be. The compact old city is packed with monuments, churches and great houses; and all of them built in this gorgeous honey-coloured stone. The streets  were a little wider and the buildings much lower than in Bari, for instance, and this served to create an intimate and more human architecture that I found delightful.

The entrance hall to a block of flats in the old town (there were lots like this).

There were historic treasures at every corner including two Roman amphitheatres and we spent a pleasant morning strolling through this highly baroque cityscape. Importantly, their ice-cream shops were well up to scratch and Marilena and I had our usual double cornet. Lovely.

Back on the Adriatic coast again

19 September Bisceglie, Bari

Marilena above the (exceeedingly) popular village of Positano.

Still on our way southwards we crossed the Italian peninsula to the other side - near Bari on the Adriatic coast. We went by way of the Amalfi peninsula passing through Positano and Amalfi. The road hugs the coastline and there's hairpins all the way to Salerno - for about two hours. It was a very pretty route but the traffic hold-ups on the way were really awful at times; mostly because the roads were far too narrow for the volume of traffic using them.

Marilena in yet another traffic jam along the Amalfi coast road.

Once away from the coast road we took the motorway and crossed to the Adriatic in a couple of hours. The landscape changed as we travelled. At Salerno it was all tall mountains, then it became rounded smooth hills covered with intensively cultivated fields and then, as we neared the coast, all became flat and we were in a countryside of vines and olive groves. Interesting to see the changes. It was close to dusk when we arrived so - in the face of a brisk wind - I set up the awning and we had supper. Happily there were no mosquitoes around.

We visited the city of Bari next day taking the local train; it cost 2.50 euros for a 30km single journey. Here in Italy you pay by the distance you travel, not as in the UK where the train companies can  charge top whack for the most popular routes. Bari old town is built of a wonderful white stone that 'lights up' the narrow streets. And there was plenty of street life too - refreshingly, mostly local people rather than tourists (like us) for a change. Poorer people live in the ground floors of these ancient buildings; their homes reminded me of those businesses under railway arches back home. Each home comprised a single very long room- a monolocale - that goes well back into the interior of the building; and the only natural light is what they get from the front door.

An interesting 1930s church displaying another clash of exterior and interior styles. Outside is modern, geometric,  and inside all is traditional and devotional. Clearly the architect was only allowed so much say. Or perhaps his/her vision was disrupted subsequently by successive parish priests!

The presence of religion was everywhere. Each street had its own patron saint evidenced by a religious image or statue with flowers before it. And there were two magnificent cathedrals and several churches all functioning in an area of a few acres. You know you're in Italy!
On the way back to the railway station Marilena spotted a local panificio (baker's) and we bought some excellent fresh bread rolls for next day's breakfast and a foccacia 'pizza' with tomato and olive topping to munch on the way home on the train. Both were excellent.

The ancient town of Matera where a troglodyte civilisation lived for millenia.

We took a day's trip to see the famous town of Matera and it proved to be no disappointment. A deep ravine runs beside the town and the local stone is tufa - a soft stone that can easily be worked to create a city of stone - the Sassi as they are called. People lived in caves carved in the tufa since prehistoric times and the landscape today is quite extraordinary. Folk actually lived in the Sassi until the 1950s until the Italian authorities forced them out in a slum clearance initiative. However, today the old houses are being renovated and being offered to newlyweds to help start up a community once again. It's good to see the planners take a more enlightened view of preserving (or in this case re-creating) community.

The Amalfi coast

Monday 16th September

The Bay of Naples from our campsite.

 A short drive south took us past Naples and to the famous Amalfi coast. We stopped for 3 days at a nice little campsite on a hillside olive grove just outside Sorrento. What a beautiful setting this was! It's easy to see why travellers have raved about the Bay of Naples! The sky, the sea and the cliffs, the vegatation (& the balmy climate) all combine to create a quite wonderful landscape. Our pitch was in an olive grove (and the trees were loaded) at the furthest point from the camp entrance, so we were kept fit walking uphill daily to the camp shop and the pool (such hardship).

Piazzo Tasso in Sorrento.

Sorrento is a lovely little town but it's packed with visitors.  My most memorable moment there was observing the movement of traffic on the main square. The place is jammed with scooters and motorbikes of all kinds. They flow in and around the cars in a way unthinkable in England. For all the world it reminded me of the movement of bumper cars at the fair - although fortunately without the bumps.

Sea bream grilled to perfection . . .

I was in search of a fishmonger's that day (not easy - I had to ask an old lady who kindly accompanied me to the door of the fish shop that was located in a very narrow side street). There I bought some fresh shrimps and a couple of beautiful sea bream. So that evening we had our first full fish meal: pan-fried shrimps in garlic and oil followed by grilled bream and aubergines, with potatoes and salad. All served with a chilled white Vermentino (from Sardinia - again). Lovely!

On the day we were leaving we discovered a colony of tiny, tiny ants was trying to establish itself in the camper! Hurriedly we applied some insect powder and set to cleaning them out. Fortunately they hadn't got too much of a hold yet and soon we were (mostly) insect-free.

Feet up by the tyrrenhian sea

Friday, 13th September
We spent a weekend relaxing at a camping holiday village situated near Latina on the coast, half way between Rome and Naples. It was packed with Italian families for the weekend and was easily the most lively campsite we've been to so far.
At this time of the year campsites are peopled largely by retired couples (mostly from Germany & a few from Holland) who keep themselves to themselves (campers who pass each other in broad daylight but as if they were ships in the night). Not so here in Latina. Everyone seemed to be friendly and to bid you 'buon giorno' or 'buona sera.' There were children playing everywhere - on their bicycles or just running around. And the bar area was full of youngsters sipping cokes and chatting with their peers (young people don't drink much alcohol in Italy). The Italian women spent much of the morning cleaning their camper or caravan and doing the washing etc. The men however appeared not to be involved in these tasks and mostly sat and chatted in small groups.

Church of SS Maria & Pius X - with the schizophrenic design.

On Sunday we attended mass at the local church in Salto di Fondi. It was a very modern church (something of a rarity in Italy) where the architecture and the interior fittings exhibited a curious clash of styles. It was as if the architect had set out to create a modern abstract building - but that the diocesan cultural authority insisted on a traditional (and rather naturalistic and devotional) interior. Fascinating.

We stayed on until the Monday but by then the families had left to return home and sadly the cheerful atmosphere went with them. When we left, all had become quiet and somehow empty-feeling.