Steven888 of this parish took his high mileage +8 there twice last summer, with Malta in between. Check out his posts on thread starting
here.
You beat me to it Richard. I was there in 1977 having driven from the UK via France, Spain, Morocco, Algeria & Tunisia on a Honda 400 F4. The roads then were fine.
I have relatives in Reggio de Calabria opposite Messina & have visited many times. Messsina is fine.
I also drove my previous Roadster to Sorrento. You need to know that after Rome driving styles are more agressive / African . Having lived in Kenya it wasn't an issues but it is not a joke that traffic lights , speed limits etc are advisory.
