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Coastal Italy Off the Obvious Path
Seaside Italy when you can't face another Amalfi photo line — Calabria, Puglia, and Sardinia at their least performative.
Curatorial note
The Amalfi Coast earns its reputation and its prices. These are the places Italians go instead: Tropea and Scilla for cliff-town Calabria, the Maddalena archipelago for Sardinian turquoise, and Baia dei Turchi for a Puglian cove you reach on foot.
Region · Calabria
Calabria
Calabria is for travelers who've done the famous south (Campania, Puglia) and want the raw version. The coast (Tropea, Scilla) is the draw, the interior mountains (Aspromonte, Sila) are empty, and the food — nduja, swordfish, pecorino — is fiery and excellent. It's poor, the infrastructure is thin, and it's not for a first Italy trip. But it's the most authentic southern Italy you can still have largely to yourself.
Region · Puglia
Puglia
Puglia is the best-value region in southern Italy right now: warm, flat, easy to drive, full of white towns and olive groves, and with a coast on two seas. Base in Lecce for the Baroque and the food, drive out to Ostuni and Alberobello, and get to the coast at Salento. It's quieter than Tuscany and Amalfi in peak season, but the secret is out — go before it's fully discovered.
Coastline · Campania
Amalfi Coast
The UNESCO cliffside coast — Positano, Amalfi, and Ravello, with the lemon groves and the blue sea. Worth a few days; avoid July-August (the crowds and the SS163 traffic are punishing).
Beach · Puglia
Baia dei Turchi
One of the most beautiful beaches of the Salento — pine-backed dunes, white sand, clear water, and the legend of the Turkish landing. Worth a day if you're on the Adriatic side of Puglia.
Town · Calabria
Scilla
A fishing village that looks like the Aeolian Islands without the ferry — a castle above, painted boats below, swordfish on the grill. Worth a night if you're in the deep south.
Town · Calabria
Tropea
The most photographed spot in Calabria, and it earns it: a clifftop old town above clear blue water. Worth a couple of nights if you're doing the south.
Coastline · Campania
Amalfi Coast
The Amalfi Coast is worth two or three nights if you base in one town and ferry to the others. Driving the coast road in season is miserable — use the ferries. Positano is the photograph; Amalfi is the town; Ravello is the view.
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