We left a drizzly Rome and joined the crazy ring road south to Naples. We found a campsite just outside of Pompei (which is a train ride away from Naples) called Camping Spartacus. The weather was a bit crap, so we decided to skip looking around the archeological site until the next day and took the Circumvesuviana train to Napoli for some famous pizza. The train journey costs €2.60 each one way and takes around 40 minutes.

• 

• 

We walked through the city centre of Naples and were so buzzing to see all the pizza restaurants. Pete is the biggest pizza fan and wanted to try every pizzeria, but I really wanted to follow in Julia Robert’s footsteps and go to one of the oldest pizzerias in Naples, L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele. After a couple of Aperol Spritzers, we headed straight there at opening time to grab a table at 6pm. You can’t make reservations and you’ll probably have to queue but tables are turned over so quickly because pizza is constantly being churned out by the incredible chefs. We got a table straight away and the order is taken pretty quickly. There are only 3 pizzas on the menu and a few drink options. We got a marinara each and a peroni beer and the bill only came to €16.00. The pizza was absolutely sublime, the dough was crusty, but chewy and the tomato sauce was fresh and garlicky. 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

We woke up to low cloud and more drizzle, which meant we didn’t want to go up Vesuvius, so I checked Pompei’s archeological website and it turned out it was closed that day. Feeling a bit defeated and wanting to get to Sicily as soon as, we decided to carry on south via the crazy SS366 road to the Amalfi coast. We stopped in Pianillo to pick chestnuts, got moved on by police and drove straight through Positano because it was raining. We stopped over outside of Agropoli at a wild camp spot near the beach.

• 

• 

• 

The bad weather continued to follow us, so we carried on south towards Nemoli. Getbusgo’s blog said there was a perfect camperstop in the village and they were right! As we were higher up and it was chucking it down, it was our first cold night in the van. We made pizza calzones and enjoyed a cosy night in Big Blue.

• 

• 

Pete had been driving a lot since Rome, so we wanted to find somewhere to stop for a couple of nights. I wanted to find some thermal springs as the rain was still thwarting us! However, as we drove closer to Lamezia Terme, the sun finally came out so instead we found a wild camp spot at Cafarone beach and chilled there for 2 nights where we went swimming, chilled with a little local and enjoyed some beach front runs.

• 

• 

• 

Feeling refreshed, we carried on south and popped into Pizzo town for a vegan truffle ice cream at Bar del Centro, then onto Tropea for a couple of nights. The wind and rain had found us again, but we still enjoyed mooching around the little seaside town. I imagine it’s super busy in high season. We had a couple of drinks at a busy piazza bar and they were comparatively more expensive than other places in southern Italy.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

There are a few campsites beneath the town that are really good value. We stayed at Da Ciccio which was €16 a night with electricity. Tropea is located at the end of a peninsula so leaving and continuing to drive south is pretty shoddy; so be prepared for massive potholes, bamboo ridden roads and completely neglected roads.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

As we approached Villa San Giovanni ferry terminal, I booked our ticket online before boarding. It’s a short ferry ride to one of the most beautiful islands where my next blog post will continue!

• 

• 

•