The winding alleyways of the city of Genoa as seen from the wide mouth street at the harbor - what boaters see when they step onto the dock.

The region I know best is the Northwest, from Genoa to the Cinque Terre. It includes the town of Portofino, whose harbor is as picturesque as any I have seen during my extensive travels. (And I include the Greek Isles in that statement!) Stout fishing boats look like children’s toys against the majesty of Italy’s northwestern coastal mountains, the hiking trails are seemingly endless, and the region is just close enough to Tuscany that you can always find fantastic red wines at house bottle prices. This is coastal boating nirvana.

There is also much to be said for the Amalfi Coast, which is farther to the south just beyond Naples on Italy’s western shore. The island of Capri is near here, with its famous Blue Grotto sea cave, and towns such as Salerno and Positano scale the mountainsides like colorful staircases begging to be explored from the harbors. When you see postcards from Italy, these are the places where the photographs typically originate. They are quite simply that stunning.

The large islands to Italy’s west are cruising locales unto themselves. I’ve seen two-week charter itineraries advertised for Sicily alone—arguably just enough time to sample all the local versions of chicken and veal Marsala, plus tour all the ancient ruins left by the Greeks, Arabs, Phoenicians, Romans, and other civilizations that have called Sicily home.

Sardinia, to Sicily’s north, is another island that can be a cruising destination unto itself, though if you get the chance, it’s worth including the nearby French island of Corsica in your waypoints as well. Both are known for their beautiful beaches, high-end hotels, and fabulous restaurants.

Last but not least is Venice, about as far away from Sicily and Sardinia as you can get in Italy, on the country’s northeastern coast. Ironically, the city of canals has not historically been a magnet for cruising boaters, but its proximity to the Croatian islands just across the Adriatic Sea are giving it new life. That, plus the inexpensive moorings at the Venice Film Festival each fall, make this part of Italy well worth visiting by boat.

Editor’s Note: For more information about chartering a boat in Italy, visit the Yachtworldcharters.com Italy Destination page.

Day One of the Genoa Charter Yacht Show has drawn to a close, with the onboard dinners finishing up as the clock here in Italy ticks past midnight. I’m just back from seven courses including a fantastic mango-coconut soup aboard the newly renovated 114-foot motoryacht 5 Fishes (more on her in the weeks to come), and am digesting not just my midnight meal but also the various bits of news that I was able to unearth here on the docks today.

In general, the brokers I spoke with all confirmed what I’ve been reporting for the past few months, that this year is better than last year for the crewed yacht charter industry, with some calling last year “catastrophic” and implying that just about anything would be an improvement. Phones are once again ringing and bookings are being made, but a good 80 percent of the brokers I interviewed today said that finalizing deals is more challenging than ever. Price negotiations continue to be common in all size ranges of charter yachts, and deals appear to be coming together closer to actual charter dates than in advance.

I did hear from two different yacht captains that they each had either serious inquiries or confirmed bookings for four- to five-week charters (single charters of at least a month), indicating that regular charter clients may be returning to the market after taking last summer off at the height of the global recession. I only heard this twice, which could just be a coincidence, but it struck me as noteworthy given how hard it has been for many boats to book even single weeks of charter in recent months.

The other news of interest on the docks here in Italy was about Greece, where the annual charter yacht show in Poros just ended. To a person, brokers who flew to Genoa from Poros all told me that they were highly impressed with the quality of the yachts they saw, with some brokers saying outright that after many years of improvement, some yachts in the Greek market are now on par with some of the finer yachts in the far more developed Western Mediterranean charter market.

However, that good news out of Greece was tempered by substantial confusion about the country’s continuing economic problems and what they will mean for charter rates this summer.

You may recall this blog post that I wrote in mid-March after multiple, reputable brokers in the Greek market confirmed that the government was going to raise the VAT (tax) that charter clients are obligated to pay. Today, I ran into Marie Molls, the Athens-based broker for Burgess Yachts, who told me that her company believes that information is inaccurate.

Molls, who is the Burgess authority on the Greek market, says that no new VAT will apply to charter clients, but that instead a new tax will apply to the owners of yachts that stay in Greek waters more than 60 days. “We are supposed to have these things in writing this month,” she told me, literally as news was flashing across my Blackberry about the European Union preparing a multibillion-euro bailout for the Greek economy, an obvious sign of continuing questions and concern.

I’ll continue trying to get to the bottom of that issue, which, according to all brokers I’ve consulted, can mean an expense of thousands of euro beyond what guests and owners are currently required to pay.

To view charter listings near Genoa, visit the Yachtworldcharters.com Mediterranean page.

A view along the coast of Naples today. Photo courtesy of The Italian Government Tourist Board.

Today, instead of deadly quadriremes, fleets of crewed and bareboat charter yachts frequent the waters of the Bay of Naples, the Amalfi coast, and the Phlegraean and Pontine islands just offshore. These include the world-famous isle of Capri, Procida, Ischia, Ventonene, Ponza, Palmarola, and tiny Santo Stefano, among others. All of these islands are within the fabled Tyrrhenian Sea, a busy place even in Roman times.

Known as Pliny the Elder, Gaius Plinius Secondus had grown wealthy as lawyer, politician, and military leader, but his passion was science. Over the preceding decades he’d penned the 37 volumes of his Naturalis Historia, a work of scientific observations and theories that earned him fame. And his love of science was about to get him killed.

Retreating from the summer heat of August 24, 79 A.D., Pliny went inside his villa, took a cold bath, and ate a large midday meal. He was reading when his sister came to him, clearly agitated, saying there was a strange cloud above the mountains. Pliny’s nephew, Gaius Plinius Caecilius, or Pliny the Younger, later wrote in a letter to Tacitus, a Roman historian: “I can best describe [the cloud] by likening it to a pine tree. It rose into the sky on a very long trunk from which spread some branches. The sight of it made the scientist in my uncle determined to see it from closer at hand.”

There had been severe “earth tremors” in the past few days. Most people paid no attention. But as Pliny the Elder and his family watched the cloud, hot ash and pumice was already falling on the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii. Pliny the Elder ordered a ship readied, and he asked his nephew if he wanted to come along. Pliny the Younger said he’d rather stay home, which proved to be a wise move. As Pliny the Elder was leaving for the harbor a letter arrived from the wife of a friend. Her villa was at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, and there was no escape other than by sea.

Pliny the Elder dispatched the fleet knowing that “the delightful shore was a populous one,” his nephew later wrote. Based on accounts from survivors Pliny the Younger was able to piece together what happened on that fateful day, and exactly what his uncle said and did. It’s an intriguing document, the only eyewitness account of the disaster at Herculaneum and Pompeii to survive in the historic record.

Pliny the Younger wrote that the ships scudded before a stiff westerly wind, the oarsmen rowing hard, and the sky growing dark. The water in the bay seemed to be “sucked away” and lightning flashed at the invisible summit of Vesuvius. All the while, it was said, Pliny the Elder remained fascinated as he watched the erupting volcano. He dictated his observations to one of the men with him.

“Ash was falling on the ships, darker and denser the closer they went. Now it was bits of pumice, and the rocks that were blackened and burned and shattered by the fire. Now the sea was shoal; debris from the mountain blocks the shore,” Pliny the Younger wrote.

Pliny the Elder considered turning back, but instead set a course for Stabiae, on the east end of the bay. Ashore with friends, Pliny the Elder continued to watch the frightening spectacle. Mount Vesuvius erupted throughout the night and into the next morning. The ash cloud obliterated the sun, making day seem like night. At Stabiae, the pumice stones rained down and ash piled up.

At last realizing that they had better get out of town, Pliny the Elder and those with him rushed to the shore with pillows tied on top of their heads to protect them from the falling stones. Severely overweight, Pliny the Elder was in no shape to run. The gases and dust were thick, making everyone choke. Pliny sat down and when he tried to get up, he died. Those with him ran away.

Herculaneum and Pompeii were buried under tons of ash and stone, entombing many of the residents who died in their homes. Over time, the bones decayed and vanished, leaving casts in the solidified rock shaped exactly like the bodies of the victims. In 1748, the towns were discovered and archaeologists began excavations. They noticed the odd shapes in the stone, and eventually someone got the idea to pour plaster into the voids to see what happened. The voids served as molds and it was as if the corpses of Herculaneum and Pompeii were resurrected, haunting in the detail that was preserved, right down to what the victims were wearing when they died.

The Gulf of Naples on a calm day. Photo courtesy ItalyGuides.it

Today, Pompeii is a major tourist destination, one very popular as a side trip for people chartering yachts in the Bay of Naples. The ancient Roman city stands as a reminder of the power of Nature and walking the streets provides a glimpse into what life was like when Pliny the Elder’s fleet sailed on the Tyrrhenian Sea.

Editor’s Note: David W. Shaw is the author of seven nonfiction books, including a historical account of Flying Cloud, America’s most famous clipper ship.  To find charter boats in the area, view the Mediterranean listings.  For more photos, visit Italy Guides and the Italian Government Tourist Board.

A guest cabin aboard an 82-foot Sunseeker Predator motoryacht.

This is one of the guest cabins aboard the charter yacht Champneys, an 82-foot Sunseeker Predator motoryacht that is owned by the same company that owns Champneys Health Resorts in the United Kingdom. I’m told by yacht management company YCO that a deal is about to be announced through which you can get a discount at the land-based spa facilities if you book a charter aboard the boat this summer in the Western Mediterranean.

I toured Champneys last spring at the industry-only charter yacht show in Italy, and I thought she looked good. The boat launched in 2006 and was used for corporate events in the past, but is now moving into proper crewed charter full-time. Capt. Kane Sutherland and chef Michelle Lohse had been aboard just two weeks at the time of my visit, but they showed a great deal of enthusiasm for charter and made me feel immediately at home.

Also worth noting is that Sutherland told me Champneys has stabilizers–an unusual feature on this size and style of motoryacht–that eliminate 90 percent of the movement that guests feel when the yacht is at anchor. Nifty.

The yacht can take as many as eight guests, but Sutherland says six is ideal. He also told me the yacht’s owner is eager to get some charter bookings on the calendar to help build the boat’s reputation. “At the moment, with the economy, you’ve got to be negotiable,” Sutherland said. “And our owner is.”

That, plus the on-shore spa discount, might make for an excellent bargain if you’re the kind of charter guest who enjoys massages and facials along with water-sports fun and fast cruising.