Villa Cosilinum Hotel in Southern Campania

Tuesday we left Sicily to drive to southern Campania. Our drive to Sicily from Tuscany had been very easy and pleasant but not so the return. We waited in line two hours in Messina to board the ferry for the mainland. Then we drove through heavy rain, fog, and even snow. Hampered by the weather and the autostrada being down to one lane in many places causing much delay, our drive from the tip of the toe to Padula, just into the Campania region, took nearly twice as long as the journey going.

In Padula, we stayed at the very nice Villa Cosilinum, a 4-star hotel decorated in Roman style. I called ahead to say we'd be arriving late and that we wanted to eat dinner. After being in the car all day, it was such a pleasure to get to the dining room to find wine, water, and bread already at our table. The antipasto plate of meats and cheese arrived as soon as we were seated. We had a relaxing four course meal of local specialties, including local wine. The total for our room, dinner, and breakfast was only 120 euro for two.

Padula makes a good stopping point when driving from northern Italy to Sicily or Calabria. It's a nice medieval hill town with wonderful views of the mountains and valley. Below the town is the pretty Certosa San Lorenzo, the second largest charter house in Italy. Padula is also very near the Cilento national park, making a good base for visiting the area. I definitely want to return and spend more time there.