Beautiful Italy and Van Life

Last year we road tripped through the Balkans and I must tell you that it made me miss Italy a lot. Why? Because Italy is, most probably, the best country to travel by campers. It is totally camper friendly, they have special stops where you can get rid of black and grey water and get a fresh one and plenty of places where you can free camp. Usually all of this is for free. In the Balkans it was way more expensive, very busy, tourists were not so super welcome in many spots and free camping is banned. I do get it, obviously, I just don’t like it. The Balkans are beautiful and totally worth visiting, but as always, it is good to be prepared. I’ll write more about it in the next post. 

Here are some amazing places which I did not include in my Italian Road Trip Guide (I will add them over there, so you can have everything in one place):

Polignano a Mare – this is one beautiful town, especially off the season. I highly recommend coming here for longer. The vibe is just beautiful. In the morning cafes are filled with locals, everyone is happy to chat with you. Next to the town there is a great place for campers to stop for a night. We liked it so much, that we stayed for a week or so. There was this local farmer, who was selling some good cheese, veggies and fruits from the car. I was so happy to see him. There is also a place just on a beach, where you can buy a sandwich with an octopus, grilled in front of you. The small town beach is filled with locals, so you can definitely feel the Italian vibe over here. Awesome experience. 

Bari – it wasn’t our first visit to this beautiful town, but this time we knew what to look for. Next to the narrow streets and beautiful old architecture, there is a great pasta street production. To be more precise, there is a long tradition of orecchiette making. You can still find streets, where ladies sit outside of their apartments and make pasta on the street. You can also buy some. 

Pietrapertosa – we got here to see a town located in between rocks. We got stuck over here and ended up being towed, but it was a beautiful couple of days. There is one cafe with delicious coffee, where (obviously) all the locals meet. It was raining while we were there (rain was such a nice change of the weather for us, highly appreciated) and we had fun walking around in our rain coats. We did not walk around too much and this is a reason to go back. 

Civita di Bagnoregio – just look at this town. OMG! Can you imagine living there? It is car free and is surrounded by hills. The view was hypnotising. I can only imagine what it means to buy a new couch while living there…

Alberobello – this is a cool stop. I will start with advertising the parking for campers – awesome and in the middle of the action. The town itself is beautiful and at 5am you have all the streets for yourself and a handful of excited photographers. I highly recommend walking around a lot.

Monopoli – sweet town with a pretty small port. I guess blue is an official colour for boats over here. I saw three newly wed couples shooting over here, so it must be a popular wedding spot. I am not surprised, it is beautiful. 

Querceta Negozio/produzione – They make an amazing mozzarella and burrata over here. You can join a tour and watch how mozzarellas and burratas are made. I had no idea… Totally worth it.