Agropoli
Those frustrated by the dearth of well-marked hiking trails in the Parco Nazionale del Cilento, Vallo di Diano e Alburni should pay a visit to this mini…
Must-see attractions in Italy
Museo Archeologico Provinciale
Salerno
The province’s restored and revitalised main archaeological museum is an excellent showcase for the excavated history of the surrounding area, dating back…
La Spezia
An assortment of local archaeological artefacts from prehistoric to medieval times are displayed at the city's hilltop fortifications. You'll see finely…
San Gimignano
This late-13th-century church is best known for Benozzo Gozzoli's charming fresco cycle (1464–65) illustrating the life of St Augustine. You'll find it in…
Centro Storico
This playful, much-loved fountain features four boys gently hoisting tortoises up into a bowl of water. Created by Giacomo della Porta and Taddeo Landini…
Bologna
All roads lead to pivotal 13th-century Piazza Maggiore, flanked by Basilica di San Petronio, Europe's sixth-largest basilica, and a series of impressive…
Palermo
Also known as Casa Professa, this is one of Palermo's most breathtaking churches. The Jesuits first built a church on this site between 1564 and 1578…
Ravello
Forming the eastern flank of Piazza Duomo, Ravello's cathedral was built in 1086. Since that time it has undergone various makeovers. The facade is 16th…
Museo del Motorismo Siciliano e della Targa Florio
Tyrrhenian Coast
This unique museum is a labour of love for owner-founder Nuccio Salemi, whose amazing collection of original sports cars from the famed Targa Florio race…
Salina
Three kilometres south of Santa Marina Salina, the tiny village of Lingua is a popular summer hang-out, with a couple of hotels, a few trattorias and a…
Southwestern Sardinia
A few kilometres south of Fluminimaggiore off the SS126, this is the largest cave system of its sort so far discovered in the Iglesiente. The standard…
Abruzzo
The Renaissance Palazzo d’Avalos houses a quartet of museums: the Museo Archeologico, with its eclectic collection of ancient bronzes, glasswork and…
Chiesa di San Gregorio al Celio
San Giovanni & Testaccio
Ring for admission to this landmark church standing on the spot where Pope Gregory the Great supposedly dispatched St Augustine to convert the British…
Eastern Sardinia
Occupying an elegant 19th-century palazzo, this delightful museum exhibits a collection of 40 menhirs (billed as the largest such collection in the…
Como
Hemmed in by houses these days and enclosing one side of what was once a medieval grain market, this Lombard Romanesque basilica dates back to the 7th…
The Veneto
To keep hard-partying Venetian nobles in line, Doge Alvise Pisani provided a Versailles-like reminder of who was in charge. The 1774, 114-room Villa…
Genoa
This palace, one of three that together make up the Musei di Strada Nuova, features a small but absorbing collection of legendary violinist Niccolò…
Chianti
Mona Lisa Gherardini, subject of Leonardo da Vinci's world-famous painting, married into the family that built this villa in the 14th century. After a…
Bay of Naples
Some 3km north of Pompeii, the archaeological site of Boscoreale consists of a rustic country villa dating back to the 1st century BC, and a fascinating…
Mantua
The weather-worn, 11th-century, Lombard Romanesque Rotonda di San Lorenzo is sunk below the level of the square, its red-brick walls still decorated with…
Museo Tecnico Navale della Spezia
La Spezia
Maritime lovers shouldn't miss the world's oldest naval museum, which is reached via a narrow bridge a few blocks southwest of Parco Salvador Allende. The…
Riserva Naturale Provinciale Diaccia Botrona
Southern Tuscany
The marshes surrounding the coastal town of Castiglione della Pescaia are an important shelter for migrating birds, and this 12.7-sq-km nature reserve off…
Pistoia
The beautifully restored facade of this former hospital, operational from 1277 until 2013, stuns with its 16th-century polychrome terracotta frieze by…
Northwestern Tuscany
Grandiose white-marble steps flank Pietrasanta's attractive cathedral, built in the 14th century on the site of an earlier church dating from 1250. Its…
Abbazia di Santo Spirito Al Morrone
Abruzzo
It’s hard to miss this massive 13th-century Celestine abbey in Badia, close to the sheer western slopes of the Morrone mountains. Notable for its…
Modena
Modena's oldest balsamic vinegar producer (since 1605) is also one of the best and most dependable to visit, with six one-hour English tours daily (9.30am…
Central Sicily
Piazza Armerina's small, slick public art gallery showcases mostly local artwork from the 15th to 19th centuries, including altarpieces and frescoes from…
Salerno & the Cilento
One understated element of Italy is its abandoned villages, little visited places, covered in weeds and heavy with an atmosphere that is both ghostly and…
Viterbo
Flanking Piazza San Lorenzo, this handsome Gothic palazzo was built for the popes who lived in Viterbo from 1257 to 1281. Its most obvious feature is the…
Vatican City, Borgo & Prati
Excavations beneath St Peter's Basilica have uncovered part of the original church and a necropolis with what is held to be the Tomb of St Peter. In 1942,…
Southeastern Sicily
This is the most beautiful of the beaches in the Riserva Naturale di Vendicari, a protected stretch of coastline around 11km south of Noto. Located at the…
Mausoleo delle Fosse Ardeatine
Southern Rome
This mausoleum is dedicated to the victims of Rome’s worst WWII atrocity. Buried here, outside the Ardeatine Caves, are 335 Italians shot by the Nazis on…
Western Sardinia
Off the SS131 just north of Paulilatino, the Nuraghe Losa is one of Sardinia's most impressive nuraghi. The site’s centrepiece is a three-sided keep…
Mantua
Piazza Sordello is the oldest square in Mantua, and was probably the location of the Etruscan town. The existing layout is thanks to the Gonzagas, whose…
Parco Naturale Regionale Molentargius
Cagliari
The protected reed-fringed wetlands of the Parco Naturale Regionale Molentargius lie slightly east of Cagliari towards Quartu Sant’Elena. A housing estate…
Ancient Rome
The Casa delle Vestali, situated in the heart of the Roman Forum, was home to the Vestal Virgins who tended the sacred flame in the adjoining Tempio di…
Friuli Venezia Giulia
Cividale’s 16th-century, Venetian-Gothic cathedral sits on an ancient 8th-century church and is filled with unusual treasures. Among them is the lacquered…
Val d'Orcia
Stand in this magnificent square and spin 360 degrees. You've just taken in an overview of Pienza's major monuments. Gems of the Renaissance constructed…
Puglia
Head to San Domino for walks, grottoes and coves. It has a pristine, marvellous coastline and the islands' only sandy beach, Cala delle Arene. Alongside…
Cefalù
This small, privately owned museum showcases a collection amassed by parliamentarian, archaeologist and natural-history buff, Baron Mandralisca (1809–64)…
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