Paul,
Lucky you! The library article was written aeons ago and some things may have changed but below some other suggestions.
An Emovis tag will speed you through the French autoroute toll gates, particularly handy for avoiding very long payment queues in July. If you’re going through the St Gotthard Tunnel, which is the most direct route, two recommendations: don’t run out of petrol as we nearly did in the middle of the tunnel (with few petrol stations on the way up, fill up well in advance with cheap Swiss fuel); and the Hotel Forni in Airolo at the southern end of the tunnel is a great place to stay as a half way point. Comfortable beds, extremely good food and wine, not too expensive by Swiss standards and you can park outside. Granted, there’s a railway marshalling yard across the road but it has real Swiss trains on it, which adds to the interest!
Don’t be tempted by the cheapest ferries from Brindisi. Some hull underwriters won’t touch them with a bargepole. We went overnight from Ancona - very civilised. If you catch the right ferry, it stops at Corfu rather than bypassing it on its way to Igoumenitsa. Just don’t park under the aft edge of the bridge deck - uncouth smokers flick their smouldering fag ends on to the vehicles below.
Καλό ταξίδ!
