Shame and excitement

Shame because it's such a long time since I've posted anything, although I do regularly look at the forum without logging in. In fact it took me a while to remember my user name.
Excitement as very soon, when we are visiting our house, we will be having an adventure (for us) and travelling to exotic and unknown (again to us) bits of Italy. I just wondered if anyone was familiar with any of these areas and had any tips. We'll be setting off from our local area near La Spezia and going to Sirolo, just south of Ancona (looks a beautiful area, followed by Matera, which I've been wanting to visit for quite a while (I'm just reading Christ stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi - fascinating but I think (hope) the area has come on a bit since then), and then south of Reggio Calabria as OH has always got to do extremeties so insists on visiting the tip of the toe, then the coastal area near Maratea (again looks a stunning area), followed by Pompei to visit both Pompei and Ercolano for the first time, and lastly a night in the Chianti area, which we know well, on the way home to Liguria. A 12 day "holiday" in all.
It'd be great if anyone can give me any feedback but if not, I'm enjoying just writing the names of the places we're going to.

Hope you have a lovely trip, the destinations are wonderful. Pompei is marvelous and if you have time stop in Napoli, for the food alone and the atmosphere, a truly mental City. 

OH would like to go to Naples but I'm scared of getting completely lost and getting hundreds of fines for driving in prohibited areas. We only really have a day and a half to see Pompei, where we're staying, and Ercolano. The farthest south we've been before is Rome. I'm wondering if my Italian will be good enough to understand southern dialects.

Hi, La Alma, I haven't contributed much during the past few months because of my husband's illness but here is what I would recommend you to do. Although Naples is a fantastic city to visit, so it is that region, particularly the Costiera Amalfitana, but you would need more time to include these in your schedule. I would suggest you do a separate trip in the future to cover that. 
On the other hand, I would advise you to make a half day stop from either Matera or Maratea, on your way to Pompeii and go to Paestum. The ruins are breathtaking and that visit would blend very well with your itinerary. From Maratea you can take the SS18 or there is an excellent road from Matera. It would be about 2-3 hours driving, so you could leave early in the morning, be at Paestum by lunch (there are a couple of restaurants in the little town and also at the site, but the distance is very small) and you can visit the ruins in 2-3 hours including the archaelogical museum. And then you countinue to Pompeii. You will not regret it. Have a nice trip 

La Alma, if you are staying at Pompei, you could always leave your car there and catch the train into Napoli, the station is close by and there is a very frequent service. Also driving in Napoli is only for the brave.

An excellent suggestion Gala to visit Paestum. We will be heading south from Matera, but on our way north again, after our 2 nights near Maratea, we can call at Paestum on our way to Pompei. It's roughly halfwayish between the two. I agree that we should save Naples and the coast for another trip -making good use of the train service Flip! We could have made our trip a bit longer but I think I'll really need a few days to do nothing at all in our little hamlet after all that travelling, before going back to Blighty. I've tried to plan it that we  travel no more than 4and a half to five hours , sometimes less, between each stop and stay for two nights each time, apart from one night at the end when we feel we're nearly home anyway. That stop is really special. We've had lunch on the terrace of Badia al Coltibuono quite a few times, high up with fantastic views of the Tuscan countryside, and often said we'd like to spend a night there one day. As we're getting older we thought one day should be sooner rather than later. Our other accommodation is much cheaper.