Do not agree at all. Last year I spent a month there, and still found it interesting, and the food fantastic. I'd stay downtown near the Colosseum. There was a famous American author staying at the same beautiful bed and breakfast around the corner (not Air BnB) for a year, because he was trying to get over grieving something. On Christmas day the owner brought him to his house for dinner and celebrations so that he wouldn't be alone. You don't really know a place unless you stay put.

I then went to Matera for two weeks. Just make sure to stay right as close as you can near the Sassi, the Paleolithic caves that were residences until I think around 1930, when because of the extreme poverty, the Italian government moved the people out. Because you want to go down there and wander among them. My hotel, fully modern and great, was right there, so I'd just go down there and wander the streets. There are still people living there in some renovated plates. Some of the best food I have every had was down there, wandering among the Sassi, and just stopping into random places. Once at lunchtime there were a bunch of workers there, occupying most of the restaurant, and they all burst into signing Italian folk some.

There's a more modern part of Matera, but you want to stay close to the Sassi. I did something really dumb walking to my hotel. I never lose a wallet or phone, but I wanted to stop for a snack at a bar next to my hotel around mid-afternoon, and reaching for something in my pocket I accidentally pulled my wallet out and dropped it. I went back to the bar, and they said they hadn't seen it. I retraced my steps everywhere, for a few hours, because I didn't know I had dropped it, but I darn sure know I wasn't pickpocketed. I gave up and went to the hotel and the desk clerk asked if I had called the police.

I figured that would be useless in NY, SF, LA, or just about anywhere, so why bother. No one is going to turn in a wallet with a couple of credit cards and a few hundred euros. So the desk clerk called the police. She asked me to describe the wallet. She said the police had it. It was about a mile walk away into the modern part of town, and the police asked for basic info such as what the address would be on my driver's license, etc. When it was clear it was mine, they gave it to me. Not one bill was missing.

They said an elderly man brought it there. That means he had to have walked a mile. I asked for his contact info so I could provide some reward, or his phone number so I could call him and thank him. The police said he didn't leave any info. He just dropped off the wallet and said, "I hope you can find the owner."

Tourists keep going to the same Northern cities, but there is really something special about the South too. If you cut anything, I would reduce Bari. It has its quaint areas in a neighborhood that I think is called Old Bari (Barivecchia), but has a third of a million people because it's a big sea port. It's worth a day, but not more. There's nothing special about Brindisi either.