Italian Job (1 Viewer)

[Huwmari]

We're off to Italy (from Dunkirk and down through France) in September and would appreciate any tips in travelling in northern Italy. We always use the aires and would like to know of any do's and don't's. All information gratefully appreciated.

 

[Our Bumble]

Beautiful part of the world.

Italy unlike the most of Europe does not have overnight parking spaces for motorhomes such as aires or camper services. It has the odd few but the Italians love their campsites and sites start from around €10 - a good place for using your ASCI camping card.

Wild camping is easy in Italy as long as you can find a spot. The rules to wild camping are like everything else in Italy…no one knows and no one cares. As long as you are not blocking an exit and facing the right way (if on a street) then it should be fine.

Water - every town has a water fountain, it is their pride and joy.

Lake Como beautiful but watch the rock overhangs and the road is very narrow.

If you are going anywhere specific let me know and I will send some GPS positions of where we stayed, if that helps.

 

[hilldweller]

would appreciate any tips in travelling in northern Italy..

Just do it - that's all you need.

Loads and loads on FUN about Italy. I think the number one destination must be Lake Garda. Best location, I say, is Pesciera del Garda. Not only a fine town but had the main boat and train terminals of the lake.

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[peterc10]

Italy does have Aires - they are called Sostas. Plenty of them about ranging from free to 20 Euros a night (that was the Marina at Rimini). Some are just car parks, whilst others had full facilities including water, electricity and dump.

In March and April this year we spent about 5 weeks away in Italy. We used the Campercontact app to find places to stay and only phoned up once in advance. In addition most of the motorways have motorhome service points where you could pick up water and dump waste - again shown on Campercontact.

We crossed into Italy from Switzerland at Como. First main stop was at Levanto at Camping Acqua Dolce, which had only just opened for the season. Good site and nice town a 2 minute walk away. We spend 3 days there exploring the Cinque Terre villages - absolutely fabulous and a must do on your list. Then on the Pisa, Florence, Sienna, and Cortona in Tuscany. Stayed on Aires in all of them. Out of those Sienna was our favourite.

Then on to Rome for 3 nights - stopped at a good secure Aire just outside the city walls that was a 10 minute bus ride to the Coliseum.

Then we went on to Sorrento where we spent a week at Camping Nube D'Argento. Visited Amalfi, Naples, Capri and Pompeii from there. Mind you it took a week for us to pluck up the courage to drive back out of the site and through Sorrento!

Then we crossed the country to the Adriatic Coast and starting heading north stopping at Aires all the way up. Ended up on our final night in Como (again on a car park Aire close to the centre of town) before heading home.

If you need any info on where we stayed let me know.

 

[Our Bumble]

Just do it - that's all you need.

Couldnt agree more.

 

[jockaneezer]

We're heading that way next month, tunnel, then Luxembourg, then the Romantic Road, then through Austria and the Brenner pass and might return by the south of France on the way back. Haven't worked out all the details yet as we just tend to have a rough idea where we want to go and take it from there. We've got at least a month to do it, so not too much of a rush.

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[Robert Clark]

My top tip for Italy would be to use the toll Motorways whenever possible.
They're quite cheap and much better than the free roads which are in terrible condition.
Try and visit Tuscany. The hilltop towns and villages are spectacular.

 

[DBK]

We had our first trip to Italy this year and thoroughly enjoyed it. I can hardly claim therefore to be an expert based on one trip but if you are stuck for something to do you could try reading my little account of our jaunt. The Italy bits starts at post #136: http://www.motorhomefun.co.uk/forum/threads/three-go-adventuring-again.130193/page-7

We used sostas initially but because the fridge started playing up on gas (it has subsequently had the changeover valve replaced) we used campsites a lot for the EHU.

We liked the Dolomites and of course Tuscany but there were very few parts we wouldn't happily return to and we will next year I think. We didn't like the Italian Riveria, which is the bit of coast near France, but only because of the crowded roads and traffic jams, we should have taken the autopista toll road as Robert suggests - we used them later once we realised how good they are.

 

[pjay]

Lake Orta is one of my favourites, there are 2 sostas in the town and another one up in the hills at Madonna Del Saso which has stunning views of the lake below.

Pete

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[Huwmari]

Thank you very much for your replies - your help is appreciated.

 

[BusyBuilder]

I'm off to San Marino for the MotoGP motorcycle racing on Thursday next week. Friend of mine has just come back and says Lake Garda is full of refugees stuck as they can't get across the border, and recommends not going there.