Campania is one of the most unusual, lively and fascinating regions in Italy, and Naples is at the center of it all. From there you can easily visit the ancient and awesome ruins of Pompeii (which we did in 2002 and again in 2006), the Greek temples of Paestum, the charming island of Capri and the Sorrento peninsula, which includes Positano and of course Amalfi and its spectacular coast.

In Campania, we spent one wonderful night at the Azienda Seliano, south of Naples and close to Paestum. If you want a fantastic eating experience you can't do better: among other things they make their own buffala mozzarella. How cool is that?

In March of 2006 we took the train from Florence to Naples where we spent three short but very sweet nights at the Hotel Chiaia. The hotel is located on the first floor – there is no lift. (We found this hotel through both online research as well as a note in the Rough Guide to Italy. We spent a wonderful day trip on the island of Capri.

We visited Amalfi in late February of 2004, well before the start of those traffic jams one reads so much about. Even then getting around by car was laboriously slow. Take the bus!