Any Tips for Italy ? - Best areas - Palermo vs Naples vs Sardinia. Please share the e

[soares29]

If you can please share your experience sailing Italy. What is great and what is not so great.

[boatman61]

Really liked Alghero on Sardina's West coast.. and Cagliari was pretty fun to in a different way..
Alghero one can tie up on the quay for free for a few days out of season.. no water and electric though.

[Kenomac]

We enjoy the entire country of Italy and the people. Haven’t yet found a spot that wasn’t fantastic.

The food is unbelievable, nothing like the so-called Italian food from restaurants in the US.

[LongRange]

Amazingly unintended coastline. The number of secure bays over the entire "boot" can probably be counted on the fingers of one hand, so the marina budget has to be considerable.

The people are very friendly, and the marine services tend to be excellent in most places. Civittaveccia (sp?), a few hours North of Rome, has an amazing marina with just about everything from sailmakers to upholsterers to electricians...

Ostia is very nice too, and cheap by Italian marina standards, which is useful because it's the jumping off point for the magnificence that is Rome.

Nettuno is just about the most southern marina where sailboats are still common. South of that masts are rare.

Naples deserves its reputation for being dirty, but its citizens are welcoming and genuine human beings. I loved Naples, and I missed it far more afterwards than the more touristy places.

Sorrento and the Amalfi coast are great if you want to sit in clifftop restaurants, but there's few facilities for a cruising sailboat.

Salerno marina is overpriced and devoid of services. Theres little to see South of there until you get to...

Tropea!!! For me the best place on the Italian mainland! Postcard-perfect blue water, nice little marina which doesn't break the bank, and even a little anchorage out the front... could easily spend more time there.

The Straits of Messina are an amazing experience.after that, its low-key until you get to Corfu.

[Flyingriki]

Just came back from there on a friends and family visit with a wedding throw in. Stopped at a couple of my favorite places and a new one.
Rapallo is against the coast just in from Portofino. Very cool little town that used to be an artist/poet hangout long ago. Don;t know costs.
Elba was a beautiful island with coves galore and lots of anchoring with great facilities within dinghy range. Portoferraio had a good amount of med tied sailboats in town at 60 euros a night with power and water for a 42'.
Ischia is one of my favorite islands. Not as many coves but a few anchorages and several marinas. Natural hot springs all over the island and fabulous food. Specialty is Bucatini with rabbit.
Have also been out to the north tip of Sardinia and it was as beautiful as any island in the world to me. Lots of facilites. Not tropical but it has everything else and the food is SO MUCH better than the south pacific or the Caribbean, unless you love rice and beans I guess....
Elba at left and Ischia at right below:

[p435]

Information on prices for marinas would be interesting as well as information about anchoring and mooring buoys in bays. I plan to sail to Italy next year.