Roadtrip The Netherlands to Italy 2022
After leaving The Hague, our first overnight after a good slog of 531 kilometres was in Germany near Heidelberg. We then decided to make a bid for Lago di Como so after another good slog though Switzerland we emerged into Italy at Lake Como. There is a specific camper parking here (called sosta in Italy and Spain), but with only 10 spots was already full. However, with some other 20-30 campers loitering around, adore parking after 19:00, we set up there with all the others for a night of free parking! A funny situation with people putting their chairs and tables out on the parking, total anarchy. We walked down to the lake and had a pizza, enjoying the night view over the lake.
Area Sosta Camper – Tavernola – Via Brennero, 7, 22100 Como CO, Italy.
Como by night
After a dramatic thunderstorm at night, all cleared in the morning to allow us to see the town of Como and the lake by daylight, before heading off across Italy through Bologna to le Marche. There we stayed at a Dutch owned campsite, not because it was NL, but it looked really nice and very much was. Beautiful spot in the countryside, with great pitches. Unfortunately the well known restaurant was fully booked.
Restaurant on the beach
When you’re in the area we recommend to spend one or more nights there; https://www.podereseipoorte.it/
The weather was fabulous and we carried on down the Adriatic autostrada towards Pescara. After that and being 7 September, it became harder to find campings still open, but we found a gem at Ripari, situated on a cliff overlooking the sea, with a gentle walk down to the beach and a restaurant/cafe.
Campsite Ripari
Finally we arrived in the Gargano where Antonietta’s father lives. We then found all the campsites were closed, except for a new camper place right on the beach at Falabella. €20 per night including electricity, and a beach bar with toilets and showers. Fabulous!
On leaving the Gargano for the journey back we stoped again at Ripari which was still very warm, 29C, before heading off on the Adriatic autostrada again. This time we drove into a classic Italian summer storm, with intense rain and a drop in temperatures in 45 minutes from 29C to 12C. Running for the cafe on the autostrada stop was a challenge!
After a brief overnight in Modena (the sosta was a parking lot in an industrial sector, not great! We stayed at a very average camping), we headed for Lago Maggiore with magnificent scenery all around. Once in Maccagno we opted for Lagocamp, a very nice camping right on the lake, small pitches, bit cramped, but shower block as good as you would find with a 5 star hotel – really! Website only in German, staff all German, 95% of guests German, but hey, nothing wrong with any of them, and we will go back there!
