# I am writing this from Italy - advice needed?



## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

Hi folks,

I am writing this from my motorhome whilst in Italy! Yes, the Three Broadband modem is working fine and I am able to surf away quite happily lol.

Anway, we are in Sestri Levante at the moment and are off in the morning travelling towards Pisa but we are planning on visiting Lucca enroute and are looking to stay at least 1 night there. I just wondered if anyone has stayed at Lucca before and if so, can you recommend any Sosta's, Campsites or wildcamping spots close to the centre? Doesn't seem too many campsites open at this time of year in Italy and as yet we haven't come across many suitable wildcamping spots either. I gather there are plenty of Sostas to be found (equivalent to French Aires) but to be honest we have not seen much evidence of these yet either and we must be looking in all the wrong places! Our motorhome is nearly 30 foot in length so as you can appreciate we cannot just pull in anywhere so any advice or suggestions from those who have done this trip themselves would be a great help to us!

Other than this, we are really enjoying our trip and we think we are going to have quite an interesting time of it but whether it will ever equal our Moroccan adventure we have yet to discover but I must confess that Morocco for us will definitely take some beating - and there is a part of me that wishes we were heading back to the "land of the smiling faces!" 

We are slowly but surely making our way towards Sicily and any tips or suggestions of places to stay in Sicily will also be greatly appreciated and the type of places we find fascinating are ancient little towns and fishing villages, full of charm and character and seeped in tradition and history. We are not ones for large and loud cities where parking and driving is a nightmare and we just love to wildcamp in beautiful locations wherever possible.

The weather is very nice here but I gather the UK is also enjoying a bit of a heatwave too so I hope you are all enjoying this last burst of summer?

Take care.

Sue


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## Rapide561 (Oct 1, 2005)

*Italy*

Hi

Your Three modem - is it one purchased in the UK? Please, please check that roaming is included as when I asked they were not sure.

Re the sostas and so on, try www.camping.it and also www.camperonline.it

Russell


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## Minerva (May 22, 2006)

Sue
Can't help with the trip, but I wish I was just behind you. Have a great trip and soak all that lovely weather up, as you said weather here is above average at the moment but still too cold to sunbath

enjoy

Bill


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Hi Sue;

We visited Lucca on the way back from Sardinia in September, it is a lovely city.
There are 2 sostas in Lucca, the municipal one on Via Luporini and a private one called 'Il Serchio'
We visited both and in our opinion Il Serchio was the best of the 2.

http://www.camperilserchio.it/setframe.html

Both are in the database...

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=2928

http://www.motorhomefacts.com/modules.php?name=Campsites&op=display_results&csid=3011

pete


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

I forgot to add, Il Serchio is well signposted as you enter the city and has unlimited free internet access.  

pete


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## eddied (May 9, 2005)

Hi, and benvenuto. Since Pete/Russell gave you the info you need for Lucca, would just add that for Sicily have a look on previous posts am some sites have been listed. Im away from a desk/info at the momment. N.B. Don't rush down to Sicily yet.They are having some awful rain, calamity situation on S.E. coast (Taormina/Catania/Siracusa) but due to dry up soon. saluti,eddied


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## neilandsue (Jul 13, 2006)

Hi Sue,

We also are in Italy at Lake Iseo (near Garda)

We were in Luca last weekend and stayed on "Il Serchio" It is an excellent sosta and the town is well worth visiting. The site is well signposted and has an excellent review in the database....thanks Pete (Peejay)

There are lots of sosta to be found in.. http://www.federcampeggio.it
These are divided into regions, but have only the address and no details. It is worth buying "Guida Camper Aree di Sosta." A great book from good bookshops in Italy or from Vicarious Books online.

On advice from Italian motorhoming friends - only use campsites South of Rome for safety reasons!

I also am using 3 mobile internet....but 9 euros a month for 50 meg per day...from Italy (arranged by our friends)

Have fun,

Neil and sue


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Sue

I echo Russells words, please do check on roaming costs. You will be able to connect but unless they have a reciprical arrangement like they have on talk time you could be racking up £2 a meg or more


stew


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

Hi Sue I don't know if any of the latest posts in the pet forum might be of interest to you posted by nukedmin as I thought you may be heading that way too.
http://www.motorhomefacts.com/ftopic-35523.html for some areas in Italy.


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## artona (Jan 19, 2006)

Hi Briarose

I have just moved that post to continental touring - possibly better placed there 


stew


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

artona said:


> Hi Briarose
> 
> I have just moved that post to continental touring - possibly better placed there
> 
> stew


OK thanks it was funny as I had just been reading it and noticed some of the info was for Italy...............am sure Sue mentioned going to that area to me so thought worth drawing her attention to it.


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## Sonesta (May 10, 2005)

Thank you everyone, your help has been invaluable and we will def be stopping on the "Il Serchio" private sosta when we arrive in Lucca. We might stop at a site nearby to where we are tomorrow now as it is directly on the beach and sounds very pretty, peaceful and tranquil and the motorhome pitches have views of the sea. We found that site on the internet thanks to a link Rapide sent me.

As for my Three Broadband Modem - I was defintitely told by Three customer services when I looked into buying their modem that any useage I used during my trip to Italy would come off my monthly user allowance and as Three have a contract in Italy it meant my allowance could be used there at no extra cost! If when I return to UK they do charge me I will have something to say about it that's for sure as it was because they said I could use it in Italy that made me decide to give up my vodafone datacard contract and change to Three!!! They wont get paid if they do send me a bill I can assure you lol!

Thanks again folks and I hope Neil and Sue you both are enjoying Italy too!


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## Briarose (Oct 9, 2007)

_'They wont get paid if they do send me a bill I can assure you lol!'_ but won't they have your bank details if you pay by DD and just take it anyway ? isn't there a email you can write to so that you have confirmation in writing :wink:


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## Scotjimland (May 23, 2005)

Quote:

Under the scheme, 3 phone users travelling between the UK, Ireland, Italy, Austria, Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden and Denmark will no longer be charged for receiving calls and texts.

Customers can also use existing minutes, text and data bundles to make voice and video calls, send texts, picture and video messages, and even surf the internet.

'The launch of the 3 Like Home scheme will significantly benefit our customers as they travel between the 3 Group's networks,' said Christian Salbaing, of 3.

'It underlines our commitment to fair treatment and reasonable pricing for all our customers.'

*However, Salbaing warned 3 customers that they will continue to face high charges abroad if they roam on to a non-3 network because of the wholesale charges required by many of 3's roaming partners.*


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## wobby (May 1, 2005)

Hi Sue; 
Can't add much to the above of any help, but do have a lovely time and let us know, better still post all the sites you stop at. I hope to be down that way next year when I'm back on the road again. 
Wobby


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## Wytonknaus (Jun 18, 2007)

Hi Sue

Just check your account billing on your My3 as I have just received my first bill from them and they are charging me for all of my outgoing emails, they say as I have used my handset to send emails therefore I have to pay as they are free to receive not send. I have my handset set up the same as your modem. It would take hours to send an email typing one fingered.

I am disputing it as I have set up my emails on the laptop as I was told to do by them! I am dissapointed as to discus it you need to talk to the other side of the world and they have not got a clue, so just check your bill.

Tim


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## eddied (May 9, 2005)

*Italy - Motorhome stopovers - useful resources*

 Buon giorno Sonesta,
in case you haven't found them yet, some more useful info sites for you :
camping in Sicily - www.faitasicilia.it
aree di sosta - www.guidacamper.com
aree di sosta - www.caravanecamper.it
camping throughout Italy - www.camping.it

ferries Napoli/Catania - www.TTTlines.com
ferries Napoli/Palermo - www. tirrenia.it

emjoy your trip.
saluti,
eddied


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