The full southern traverse, built around a fixed date rather than a route. A patron saint’s day or a village festival anchors the middle of the programme, with Naples, Matera, the Valle d’Itria and Sicily arranged around it.
Arrival at Capodichino and transfer to the hotel. The afternoon is free. Welcome dinner in the Spanish Quarter and an introduction to the traverse: fourteen days through what the Greeks built and everyone after them reused.
Morning at the Archaeological Museum with an archaeologist, then the Cappella Sansevero and Spaccanapoli on foot. Independent lunch in the market. Afternoon underground, in the Greek cisterns and Roman aqueducts beneath the historic centre.
Morning at Pompeii with timed entry and an archaeologist. Lunch en route south. Afternoon at Paestum, where three Doric temples stand in a field and the museum holds the diver’s tomb. Overnight in Cilento or back in Naples, depending on routing.
Transfer across the Apennines into Basilicata, around three hours, with a stop for lunch at a farm along the way. Arrival at Matera in the afternoon and first sight of the sassi from the belvedere at dusk.
A full day in Matera with a local historian: the two sassi districts, a cave house left as it was when the district was cleared, the cistern beneath the square, and in the afternoon a rupestrian church across the ravine.
Departure east with a morning at Altamura and its bread, or Castel del Monte by choice. Lunch at a masseria. Arrival at the Valle d’Itria base for three nights, among trulli and olive groves.
Martina Franca and Locorotondo in the morning, with Baroque carved in local stone, then Alberobello in the late afternoon once the coaches have left. Lunch in a courtyard restaurant. Evening free.
The fixed point of the programme: a patron saint’s day or harvest festival, attended with the family or association that can introduce the group, from the morning procession to the evening in the square. The rest of the itinerary is built around this date.
Morning flight from Bari or Brindisi to Palermo, or an overnight crossing depending on the season, avoiding a full day on the coach. Afternoon arrival and orientation walk through the Palermo markets. Dinner in the city.
Morning at the Cappella Palatina and the Norman Palace, where Norman, Byzantine and Arab craftsmen worked on the same room, then Monreale in the afternoon and its six thousand square metres of mosaic. Street food lunch between the two.
Departure through the interior with a stop at Segesta and its unfinished Doric temple. Lunch at a working estate. Arrival at Agrigento in the late afternoon, with the temples first seen from a distance as the light goes.
Early morning across the valley with an archaeologist, before the heat. Independent lunch, then east to the Val di Noto, with Ragusa Ibla or Modica in the late afternoon, depending on arrival.
Morning at the Greek theatre and the quarries, afternoon on Ortigia, where a Doric temple was absorbed whole into the cathedral. Lunch at the market. Farewell dinner by the water.
Morning transfer to Catania airport for onward flights, with the direct New York route available from 2027 for groups routing that way.
Splendido private tours
