This is what comes to mind at the moment, based on the bits I know best. If you want to go to Naples, the city proper is worth a visit (complete madhouse but plenty of life). If you head south of there towards the Sorrento coast, the coast roads are usually twisty enough to keep you amused. Once you head South of there you start getting into Calabria, the foot, which I don't really know other than that Reggio (right on the toe) is a hole. If you head inland from Naples, you're crossing the central mountain range: poor roads (as usual in Southern Italy) but not without entertainment value. If your interest runs to such things, you can visit Cassino (as in Monte Cassino) but the inland towns are fairly dull spots at the best of times and you might prefer to keep going to the Adriatic coast. If you go North from Naples you're heading back towards Rome and across the rice ball line. Pleasant enough country but a bit bland compared to Naples. If you're in Sicily, the easiest way to find roads to ride for the pleasure of riding is find the main roads and see what lies parallel to them: the fast route West out of Palermo past the airport is a relatively modern dual carriageway affair, but the old roads through the mountains are fairly well-maintained. Sicily is probably at its best on the coast, so you can cut across necks of land to take a route into the mountains for the pleasure of it. Palermo is a great city and worth a visit, especially if you fancy partaking of the delights of Italian womanhood. If you head West, it's a bit more African, East to Catania is a bit more touristy. Food: In Sicily, try the octopus takeaway on the seafront in Palermo or Mondello (the resort of Palermo). If you're in Mondello (also a good spot for nightlife), try Da Calogero for anything that comes out of water and doesn't have a face (clams, mussels, octopus, sea urchin, ....). In Palermo proper, the locals go for the foccacceria on Piazza San Francesco. It is most famous for pane con milza (spleen butty, better than you'd expect, usually with ricotta) and also does the usual Sicilian delights. One you might like is arancini, fried balls of rice with ham, cheese or a ragu'. For some reason they also make these in Rome, called suppli', but once you cross a line about halfway between Rome and Naples, they disappear until you reach Sicily. The, eh, locals: Italians disappear to the beach in August but they should be back by now, except when there is decent weather at the weekend. That means the totty is spread out around this time of year rather than being concentrated in the resorts. The bright young things in Palermo tend to go to Mondello on warm evenings while the local youth tries to impress them by wheeling their Vespas. In the city itself, the best bet is to look for anywhere that has a queue outside: the locals tend to go wherever is trendy. My information might be out of date by now, but you could try the `cultural centres' at Agricantus and Kalsa, which tend to attract a fairly relaxed crowd which isn't quite as up itself as a lot of Italians.
