I am looking for any information on the southern Italian beaches that have nice, clear water and a place to stay for maybe 2 nights. Any suggestions? We are driving down from Naples but not sure where to go.

I suggest you the Amalfi Coast. www.booking.com or www.venere.com have nice deals.

Or if you want to go a little farther there is the Piana di Sant'Agostino and Sperlonga that are at the beginning of Lazio region and they are really cute!

One more place to go is Palinuro. it's really nice. check out this link http://www.palinuro.it/english/index.htm

Thank you Maria! i will look into these...

Here are some beautiful beaches and hotels nearby.  LOVE the small Italian towns and Lecce is absolutely beautiful!

http://www.secretsalento.com/

Holly

i perfectly agree about the province of lecce. we were in porto cesareo, last year,  halfway between taranto and  lecce, about 450\500 km from naples  and the sea looks like caribbean.  around there,  check out also gallipoli, otranto, tricase and castro marina.... the best sea you can see in italy, sometimes better than sardinia. white beaches, very affordable prices and amazing food. please google porto cesareo and go to images and you will see...