Lampedusa
This minuscule strip of sand squeezed between two rocky ledges gets crowded in a hurry, but makes a convenient place to swim if you're staying at the…
Must-see attractions in Southern Italy
Gallipoli
Founded in 1878, this dusty museum of history and natural history is a 19th-century time capsule, featuring fish heads, ancient sculptures, a 3rd-century…
Praiano
In the upper village, the 16th-century Chiesa di San Luca features a colourful majolica floor, paintings by the 16th-century artist Giovanni Bernardo Lama…
Basilicata
Inside Venosa’s 15th-century Aragonese castle, this small archaeological museum exhibits finds from Roman Venusia and human bone fragments dating back 300…
Messina
Guarding Messina's harbour is the soaring golden statue of the Madonna della Lettera. A good spot to admire it and the harbour is from the seafront…
Lampedusa
On the island's southeastern edge, this cove with clear waters and a small sandy beach is conveniently close to Lampedusa town, though the rocky bottom…
Gela
Behind Gela's archaeological museum, you can see the scant remains of the city's ancient Greek acropolis. Adding little to the atmosphere are the belching…
Western Sicily
Just in from the waterfront, the ragged remains of Count Roger's Norman castle have definitely seen better days, but their forlorn ruination is…
Promontorio del Gargano
Dominated by a huge rose window, the Gothic Chiesa di San Francesco, contemporaneous with Lucera's cathedral, incorporates recycled materials from Lucera…
Cefalù
Apart from a few loose rocks and low crenellated walls, there is nothing left of Il Castello, a Norman castle built atop the old Arab citadel that once…
Stromboli
A major Stromboli landmark, San Vincenzo is the island's main church. In mid- to late afternoon, the square out front becomes a gathering point for…
Catania
Flanking the western edge of Piazza dell'Università, this handsome palazzo includes a courtyard designed by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini. The building…
Taormina
Perched atop Monte Tauro are the (inaccessible) ruins of this castle, built between the 11th and 12th centuries. The castle sits on the former site of…
Pompeii
One of Pompeii's ancient city gates, Porta Ercolano was designed with three passageways. While the central one was used for vehicles, the two peripheral…
Monasterio di Santa Lucia e Agata alla Civita
Matera
A Benedictine convent from the 14th- and 18th-centuries, this church is now used to celebrate civil marriages. The views across the Gravina are…
Agrigento
Upstairs at Monastero di Santo Spirito, the small Museo Civico is worth a quick visit as much for the views over the Valley of the Temples as its poorly…
Naples
The starting point for the deadly plague of 1656, it was on this very square that more than 200 supporters of the ill-fated Parthenopean Republic of 1799…
Naples
Piazzetta Orefici is the main square of the Borgo Orefici, a small, labyrinthine district that has housed goldsmiths, silversmiths and jewellers since…
Trapani
This golden-hued 18th-century palace – today a local government building so only viewable from the exterior – is one of Trapani's finest examples of…
Erice
This church is noteworthy for its pair of Renaissance sculptures by the Gagini family: Antonio Gagini's statue of St John the Baptist, and Antonello…
Chiesa della Santissima Trinità alla Badia
Tyrrhenian Coast
Just off the road to Petralia Soprana, this church, originally built as part of a 16th-century Dominican convent, boasts a handsome marble altarpiece…
Naples
Seat of Naples University's architecture faculty, this elegant 16th-century palazzo is one of the most significant examples of Renaissance architecture in…
Syracuse
West of the Roman amphitheatre is the 3rd-century-BC Ara di Gerone II. This monolithic sacrificial altar was a kind of giant abattoir where 450 oxen could…
Fontana del Ratto di Prosperina
Enna
Right on Piazza Crispi is this monumental creation commemorating Enna's most enduring ancient legend.
Bay of Naples
This noble house would originally have opened onto Cardo II (as yet unearthed). Its porticoed garden opens onto a triclinium (dining room) and other…
Catania
The modest, neglected ruins of this Roman theatre, below street level in Piazza Stesicoro, are worth a quick look if you're passing by. Note that opening…
Naples
It's in this 16th-century palazzo that Neapolitan musician Carlo Gesualdo murdered his unfaithful wife, Maria d'Avalos, and her handsome lover, Don…
Taranto
The gigantic rust-red 1930s Palazzo del Governo, inaugurated by Mussolini, is a forbidding and masculine structure, expressive of the fascist ideas of…
Taormina
Porta Messina was originally named Porta Ferdinanda when opened by Ferdinand IV of Bourbon in 1808. The occasion is commemorated in the plaque above the…
Bari
Exhibits artefacts from the adjacent Basilica di San Nicola, including chalices, vestments, parchments, relics and paintings.
Catania
Designed by the great baroque architect Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, this elegant 18th-century palazzo flanks the eastern edge of Piazza dell'Università.
Vieste
This esoteric shell museum has four rooms of fossils and molluscs, some enormous and all beautifully patterned and coloured. Note the seasonal opening…
Museo Civico Antonio Collisani
Tyrrhenian Coast
Focusing on the archaeology and geology of the Madonie, this small museum has an impressive display of fossils found in the area and is worth a short…
Bay of Naples
Named after the elegant brick Corinthian columns that flank its main entrance, the House of the Large Portal is home to some well-preserved wall paintings.
Puglia
Explore the ruins of the ancient city of Cannae, scene of a famous battle between the Romans and a victorious Carthaginian army led by Hannibal in 216 BC.
Museo dell'Osservatorio Vesuviano
Mt Vesuvius
About halfway up the hill, the museum tells the history of 2000 years of Vesuvius-watching.
Taormina
Located just west of the main square, Piazza IX Aprile, this 12th-century clock tower marks the entrance to Borgo Medievale, Taormina's oldest quarter.
Western Sicily
Northernmost of the temples on Selinunte's Acropolis is Temple D, built towards the end of the 6th century BC and dedicated to either Neptune or Venus.
Porta Marina Entrance & Ticket Office
Pompeii
One of two main entrances to the ruins of Pompeii, located an 80m walk south of the Pompei Scavi–Villa dei Misteri Circumvesuviana train station.
Bari
The Colonna della Giustizia (Column of Justice) is the place where debtors were once tied and lashed (in the less gentle days of the 16th century).
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