Driving to Malta from mainland Europe

Genoa  to Palermo  best  21 hours ,  nice ship.

Pozzallo to Valletta  1.1/2   hours.

Sicily ferry cheaper than malta ferry,

Done the journey,  enjoy .

Hello people
Happy New Year to everyone!
On the 25th of January I will leave Belgium and go to Malta by car.
I already know I must take a ferry from mainland Italy to Sicily, then another ferry from Sicily to Malta.

Where should I take the ferry in Italy to have the ferry route the shortest as possible?
Same question about taking the ferry in Sicily.
It looks to me the best place would be Pozzallo.
Am I right on this one?
Is Virtu ferries the only company operating between Sicily and Malta?

Thank you!
-@blackcatsrunfast

Virtu ferries are the only one running a service at the moment between Sicily and Malta.

Be prepared you might end up stuck in italy for a while in the case of bad weather (common this time of year) ferries are cancelled, sometimes for days.

Hello people
Happy New Year to everyone!
On the 25th of January I will leave Belgium and go to Malta by car.
I already know I must take a ferry from mainland Italy to Sicily, then another ferry from Sicily to Malta.

Where should I take the ferry in Italy to have the ferry route the shortest as possible?
Same question about taking the ferry in Sicily.
It looks to me the best place would be Pozzallo.
Am I right on this one?
Is Virtu ferries the only company operating between Sicily and Malta?

Thank you!
-@blackcatsrunfast

I was driving between Malta and Germany 7 times and I recommend you take the same route through Germany and Austria. My first stop in Italy is B&B Mantova. Mt second stop is Grand Hotel Lamezia Terme.

From Lamezia Terme to Villa San Giovanni use route E45 and take Traghetti (Ferry) to Messina. From Messina drive down towards Catania and Siracusa. Go to Pozzallo and take Virtu Ferries to Malta. You can book VirtuFerries online, but they have also an office near the habour in Pozzallo. Of course it can happen there are delays due to bad weather conditions in January. Therefore I always book a room in Continental hotel in Pozzallo and wait until my ferry is ready for departure.

@blackcatsrunfast We went last November taking my car to Malta. Now we are going again week from now with van loaded with everything needed to finish our apartment in Gozo. Kitchen, appliances, power outlets, switches lapms, fans, sinks, toilet, everything.

The easiest way is taking Grimaldi Lines ferry from Livorno to Palermo (21 hours) , arriving at 3 pm to Palermo and catching Virtu Ferries ferry from Pozzallo to Valetta leaving usually at 8:30 pm. It takes about 3 hours driving from Palermo to Pozzallo.  The costs are approximately thee same (if not less) compared with driving all thee way to Pozzallo. Plus comfort.

With Grimaldi we book also berths downstairs + regular dinner  and "business breakfast" it's worth it.

Sailing Mediterranean see -  it's so much fun!

Make sure you book both ferries at least 2 weeks in advance, both online, directly with Grimaldy and Virtu Ferries forget about various agents and resellers.

You can also contact Virtu by writing to Francesca ,

[link moderated]. if you are nkce to her she can be really helpful when online service shows full voyage, or she can put you on waiting list if necessary.

Bon voyage!