Movery – An Italian Travel planner

Movery is a platform designed for travel planning. It is an intuitive and easy-to-use portal where you can create your own journey by choosing the destinations to visit. On the website you can easily find all the information about the points of interest in the area, including the lesser-known ones that are outside the usual tourist routes. The content is created by authors who know the area well, so that using this portal is a bit like having a trusted friend who recommends to you the best places to visit, allowing you to experience the area as a true local.

Their claim is “Movery amplifies your travel experience”, and their intent is precisely to assist travellers in creating and managing their personal tour.

The first step is to create a profile with your travel preferences, so as to start immediately the search for the best points of interest to add to your itinerary. In this way you have the opportunity to optimize the time to organize your journey.

The recommended destinations on the portal can be viewed both on the map (in order to plan the itinerary also based on the distance between one point of interest and the other) and through the “Destinations” section, divided by city.

To give further ideas in the planning of the itinerary, the Movery Blog offers recommended routes divided by theme:

• Travel for All: recommended routes for travellers with specific needs: those travelling with a 4-legged friend, those travelling with children or those who need information on routes without architectural barriers.
• Typical Tastes: itineraries dedicated to the discovery of the food and wine excellence of the territory.
• Settings of Endless Stories: collects paths inspired by films and books.
• History Travellers: paths dedicated to history enthusiasts, in order to retrace the places that have acted as a backdrop to great events or the passage of great personalities.

It will soon be possible to share your itinerary created on Movery with your travel companions (and in general with friends, via social channels). At the moment the project is dedicated entirely to the Campania region, but they aim to gradually expand it to cover the entire Italian country.

My YouTube channel. My aim in my BLOGs and VLOGs is to provide quality information on Italy to make your trip easier and more fun. Movery meets these goals.

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Ciao,

– George

Campania, Italy

Campania is in southern Italy below Rome. It includes famous areas like Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Campania has wonderful Blue Flag Beaches and some very interesting mountain towns. You have everything thing here including: museums, beaches, mountains, great food & wine and friendly people.

We chose this area to have a second home and have fallen in love with it. Come walk with us through several towns in the great region.

– George

Agropoli, Italy

Agropoli is a large town in Campania, south of Naples, south of the Amalfi Coast and south of Salerno. From Salerno you drive south past the ancient Greek ruins at Paestum to Agropoli.

Paestum

Agropoli, like many Italian cities has a modern part and an old city. The old city is high on a hill overlooking the sea. It has a wonderful castle with a moat (without water) and a drawbridge (no longer functional). We enjoy walking around the old city. As you approach you find yourself on a street of interesting shops leading up the hill. The street soon turns into a set of stairs leading into the old section. There is a wonderful church at the top. Turn right and follow the signs to the castle and views of the beach and sea.

This is the beautiful and romantic land of Benvenuto al Sud! What a wonderful place for a passegiata. The beautiful mountain city of Castellabate is just a little farther south.

Come walk with us in the old city of Agropoli. Click on the video below …

– George

Which of these Italian Cities are your Favorites?

For everyone that has been to Italy and wants to return, is planning a first trip to Italy or is just dreaming about a trip, These videos are for you. There are ten (10) videos below of 9 cities and a very interesting cave restaurant. Some cities are large others are small beach towns or mountain towns. Each Monday a new town is added. I explain things you need to know about Italy as well as taking you on a walk through each city. I hope you enjoy these vlogs. If you do, please share with your friends and like and subscribe to my YouTube Channel. We will not have a new VLOG on January 2, 2017 but will continue each Monday starting January 9, 2017.

Introduction to my Channel

Cities in Italy

 1. Cisterninio (Puglia)

2.Ostuni (Puglia)

 3. Alberobello (Puglia)

 4. Grotta Palazzese ( in Polignano a Mare – Puglia)

 5. Rome (Rome)

6. Positano (Campania)

 7. Castellabate (Campania)

 8. Florence (Tuscany)

 9. Perugia (Umbria)

 10. Marina di Casal Velino (Campania)

11. Assisi

12. Marina di Camerota

13. Cortona

You can see the entire playlist on my YouTube Channel.

Happy travels & may you one day be in Italy…

– George

Castellabate, Italy

Castellabate is a wondrous place to visit. It is a mountain town south of Salerno and just south of Agropoli. It is not far from the Greek ruins at Paestum. It is in the Campania region south of the world-famous Amalfi Coast. Here you really step back in time. As you drive up narrow hairpin curves to this mountain town, the sea drops farther and farther below you. Once you arrive you have airplane type views of the sea and the sea town of Santa Maria Castellabate far below you. You have stepped back in time. As you park and walk into this city, your adventure begins.

Your first view is the vista far below you and the old castle. Then you enter a maze of streets that turn into steps and old buildings. Finally you emerge at the Piazzella, the center of this city. Here life is a celebration. You have restaurants, tourists and a bar. There are also views off the back side away from the sea. Sit at a restaurant and enjoy a meal al-fresco. Here you watch and enjoy life Italian style.

The Italian movie Benvenutu al Sud was filmed here. This is a very funny comedy about a postal worker that wants to work in Milan but is punished and sent to the south in Castellabate. The movie exaggerates the biases about how the north feels about the south and how the south feels about the north. This is good fun but also an education in the different Italian life styles.

Tavel well, be romantic and have fun!

-George

Is it Time for you to Take a Trip to Italy?

Have you longed for a trip to romantic Italy? Have you dreamed about eating real Italian food? Do you long to see the museums or architecture? Maybe you have relatives there and just want to reunite old ties. What ever your reasons are, Italy is a great place to spend a vacation. After a week you are feeling relaxed and enjoying life. After two weeks you are totally relaxed, speaking some Italian words and loving the food. Longer periods in Italy will make you an Italian for life!

The northern lake Area offers beautiful scenery overlooking the Alps or maybe Tuscany with its wines and romantic scenery. The large cities of Milan, Venice, Florence, Rome or Naples are great places to see Italians being themselves. They also are great for seeing living history. Look at the buildings the architecture and envision the people that built these great cities. Maybe southern Italy with its Amalfi coast and Capri or farther south into the Cilento National Park. Beauty unspoiled by man and pristine beaches. What is stopping you?

If it’s being afraid of big tours or doing it on your own, we offer an alternative for the selective traveler to see what they want to see and spend as much time as the want. If you find a great Italian spot, the last thing you want is to be taken away by a tour bus. It would be wonderful to change your plans and just stay in your new found location. Italy is all about love, romance, beauty and spontanaeity.

Italy creates many wonderful memories and experiences but you have to touch it! Get away from the crowded tourists areas and meet real Italians. See places that will change you forever. Don’t eat in tourists restaurants. These will be memories you will never forget.

George

Top Beaches in Southern Campania Italy

Who doesn’t like a good beach on a hot summer day. If you have been reading our BLOG, you know that Italian beaches have clubs that give you a chase lounge or two, table and umbrella. They have great food service or you can bring your own, You can also go to nearby stores to get a pizza or panini. They serve all kinds of drinks right on the beach. A prosecco in a glass on the beach is divine!

There are many different types of beach in Southern Italy. Some with lava stone, small rocks or sand. All of these beaches are awarded the much coveted Blue Flag status.

Here are a small list of beaches to visit:

1. Amalfi Coast – There are numerous small towns along the stretch from Positano to Salerno. Each may be on a beach or high above with stairs down. Some beaches are reachable only by boat. These beaches tend to be lava rock but the water is great. Pack a lunch and enjoy them.
2. Capri – This island has two main beaches but they are small and heavy in boat and ferry traffic. Capri may not have the best beaches to relax on but is well worth a visit.
3. Agropoli – has wonderful beaches and great for boating. This is a major town with an old section high up and worth exploring. The high-speed train stops here.
4. Santa Maria Castellabate – This is a wonderful seaside town with small but nice beaches and a great promenade. There is the old mountain town of Castellabate high above and waiting to be explored.
5. Casal Velino Marina – This is our beach town. It can get very crowded in August. The beach is wonderful sand. The waves are non-existent in the summer which makes it idea to swim and for small children. The beach clubs are wonderful. Friday is market day and an entire street is closed to an open air market.
6. Ascea – We often go to this beach town as well. The sand has small pebbles but it is soft. There are beautiful rocks along the waterline. There are also great clubs here. Thursday is the market day and worth a visit. It is located on the road that parallels the beach. There is a train stop in this town.
7. Sapri – Is a small town with a high-speed train stop along the sea. It is a cove with beaches and a great promenade.

Many of these towns have ferry services or small boats that can take you to other towns. You have so many choices in this part of Campania and it is home to the world-famous Mozzarella di Bufala. Have breakfast in a bar by the sea, have lunch in a restaurant or get a panini at a bar. There are so many choices of restaurants for dinner. This is paradise for both the beach goers and the explorers. Enjoy!

George & Jo Anne

 

Castellabate Pictorial

Castellabate is a small mountain town with a sister beach resort town, Castellabate Santa Maria. It is located in the Province of Salerno, Region of Campania. There are only about 8,000 people in this small mountain town. The sister beach town has about 4,000 residents but it gets many tourists during the summer. Roads leading up are small with many hair-pin curves.

You can drive south from Salerno to Agropoli or take the train. Castellabate is just south of Agropoli. Having a car makes it easier to see this town.

This town was made famous in Italy by the Movie Benvenuto al Sud. It was first released on Oct 1, 2010 in Italy. It is a very funny movie about the perceived differences in people from the north of Italy and the south. It is only available on DVD in PAL format (European format).

One of the signs in town reads:

Here one does not die!

In the movie they changed this sign to read Here everyone dies.

You are high up on a mountain with views down to the beach town.

Views down to Castellabate Santa Maria

Part of original castle wall

Small streets and stairs everywhere

Beautiful small streets

Piazza from movie – The post office in the movie is really a bar

More streets to explore

Poster from the movie – the biggest thing that ever happened here

So many stairs

This is a wonderful mountain town to explore especially if you have seen the movie. There are great views and good restaurants here. It is very romantic to stroll along the small streets and climb the many stairs. Enjoy!

George & Jo Anne

 

Castelabate and Santa Maria Castelabate

Santa Maria Castelabate is a beach resort very near the town of Agropoli in southern Campania. Like most Italian towns it has a sister town, Castelabate, high up in the mountain and walled to protect against pirate invasions. Today the only invasions are from tourists. This town was the location of a very funny Italian movie called Benvenuti del Sud. This is an exaggerated movie on the differences between the Italian north and the south. The video is only in European DVD format (PAL).

In the movie, a postal worker is assigned here from Milan. He wears a bullet proof vest and is told that the south is the wild west. There is a sign in the town that says here you do not die.

In the movie the sign was changed to read here everyone dies. The town has an old castle at the top. The best parking is near here on the road up from Santa Maria Castelabate. After several sets of stairs down and small passageways we arrived at the piazza where the film was made.

The bar at the end of the piazza was the Post Office in the movie.

Near the parking lot is a great place to eat overlooking the cliff down to Santa Maria Castelabate.

At the base of the mountain on the sea is the beach town of Santa Maria Castelabate. It has a walkway called the Promenade. There are beaches and plenty of restaurants and bars. Parking along the Promenade is easy.

These two towns have everything for a tourist. The beaches are beautiful, the mountain town has scenic views and the food, as always, is fantastic. Enjoy your stay. The town of Paestum is near here just north of Agropoli. Be romantic in the most romantic country in the world!

Tomorrow we visit Castelcivita for a scary ride up to this mountain town.

George & Jo Anne

 

Benvenuti al Sud the movie

There is an Italian movie with English subtitles called Benvenuto al Sud (Welcome to the South). It is a very funny movie that tells you a lot about life in Italy between the north (NORD) and the south (SUD). It is a movie about a postman living outside of Milan that wants to work in the Milan Postoffice. He tries everything including pretending to be handicapped. It almost works but he is caught and sentenced to work in the south. He is transferred to Campania to the city of Castellabate. I have written about this wonderful town high up in the mountains.

He believes everyone is wild and will mug him (like our wild west). Soon he realizes the people are friendly, the city is beautiful and he is enjoying himself. He keeps telling his wife that things are so bad because she feels sorry for him and treats him well. She decides to make a trip south to see his life. He organizes the town to use an old movie set to have gun fights and make it appear as scary as possible.

Of course she finds the truth and in the end they both make real friends of the local people. This movie had a sequel called Benvenuti al Nord. There are rumors they may be an Est (east) and Ovest (west) version in the making.

This movie is only available in PAL (European) format DVD. It will not play on most DVD or BlueRay players in the USA. Our MAC will play it as well. You can also buy cheap PAL DVD players.

Enjoy this peek into Italian folklore.

George & Jo Anne