Italy - west coast stopovers en route to Corfu.

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blueglass

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Heading from S.of France (St Raphaele) to Gouvia Corfu next season and want to take it leisurely and enjoy the trip. But, We''ll need to leave the boat twice I think en route, while we return home to do some work - once maybe in vicinity of Rome and again soemwhere round maybe Messina or generally toe of Italy. Anybody any recommendations for useful places to stop and leave boat for a few weeks? Doesn't need to be pretty as long as its secure and not silly prices. Equally any must see places on the way?, tips, hints, gripes and info all would be appreciated.
 
here are my tips
Rome would definitly stop in the Roman Port at Ostia, its a brand new harbour and is only 10 minutes away from Fiumicino harbour,
there is also tens of yards by the Tevere river near Ostia and Fiumicino
at the tip of Italy I would choose Vibo Marina or Tropea, if you go at Vibo I would suggest Franco it is not an expensive harbour
I would also suggest the Riposto Harbour for airport connections from Catania
if you need any contacts just PM me
 
It depends on when exactly you're planning to be there.
As a rule of thumb, busiest months boating-wise are July and August, but in some marinas where boats are kept for the whole year that can mean more berths available, 'cause most of yearly boaters are cruising around.
I'd second Poweryacht suggestions re.harbours, for the areas which you mention (btw, I guess that by 'Fiumicino harbour' he actually meant the airport).
But there's a whole world of nice places all along that coasts: the Tuscan archipelago, the Naples bay with Capri and Ischia, the Eolian islands, just to name the main ones.
For an overview of harbours and other details, you can browse around this site a little bit.
 
There is a harbour at Fiumicino. When I was there, it was small, crowded and dirty and the local fishermen treated pleasure boats as floating detritus. Otherwise, it's lovely!
 
Thanks for that weblink a really useful site except the english language version is (currently) unavailable. I will try it another time, though.

I understand that the south coast of Italy once around the toe is pretty thin on safe harbours and long hops are required between safe bases. We tend to cruise at only 10 knots or so, therefore this is an important consideration. I have the latest Rod Heikell Italian waters pilot and hope he is up to date! I see you are based in Italy and if you have any experience of that stretch I would be interested in your comments.
 
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There is a harbour at Fiumicino. When I was there, it was small, crowded and dirty and the local fishermen treated pleasure boats as floating detritus. Otherwise, it's lovely!

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dont stop in the small darsena at Fiumicino (300 berths), as Fatlady says its not that good
go to the Roman Harbour at Ostia it is 1st Class or else try one of the many private harbours there is in the Fiumara of the river, there is about 2000 berths in total there
 
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I would also suggest the Riposto Harbour for airport connections from Catania

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But dont organise a taxi to the station via the bunch on the marina - charged us 25 euros for a 5 minute ride. They also seem to have the local monopoly on hire cars, but there are others not far away - Taormina to the North, and somewhere a bit South.

If you could leave someone on board as a caretaker, anchoring under Taormina is fabulous.
 
Not so much of direct experience for that area actually. But I've been in Roccella Ionica and Santa Maria di Leuca. The latter is probably the last Italian harbour on your route to Corfù, not far from Brindisi airport.
It's nice and safe, though rather expensive for that part of Italy.
Roccella Ionica is the opposite: not so nice, and almost abandoned (I wouldn't leave the boat there unattended, though I never felt in any danger overnighting onboard), but really cheap.
Actually, nobody was around for the whole day of our stay, thus we enjoyed a free berth!...
We were there in May, though - maybe in July and August there's somebody attending the harbour.
Would you like to spend some time in the southern part of Italy, I'd definitely recommend the Aeolian islands.
And in Sicily, Taormina and Siracusa (which is further south your route, though) are worth a visit.
 
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anchoring under Taormina is fabulous.

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I second that, although I didn't worry about a caretaker. Seemed safe to me.

Also agree about Aeolian Islands, etc. Ponza is beautiful. Vulcano left me with a yellow sulphurous bottom, and the boat too.
 
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