Italy Travel Guide

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Stylish, cultured, good-humored and volatile - Italy, with its golden light, stunning landscapes and rich cultural heritage, has inspired poets and painters for centuries.

Today, besides the renowned cities of Venice, Florence, Siena and Naples, each with its own unique identity and architecture, Italy features romantic medieval hill towns, such as San Gimignano in Tuscany, and unspoiled fishing villages, like Positano on the Amalfi coast.

Throughout the country visitors can find vineyards and cellars to taste fine regional wines, workshops where crafts are produced by hand, and friendly trattorie where simple but superb dishes are served.

Italy combines art, history and contemporary fashion with stunning natural landscapes: the turquoise waters of Sardinia's Costa Smeralda offer one of Europe's most beautiful stretches of sand, sea and sunshine, while the snow-covered slopes of the Dolomite mountains are a haven for winter sports enthusiasts.

Geography

Italy is situated in Europe and attached in the north to the European mainland. To the north, the Alps separate Italy from France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia. Northern Italy: The Alpine regions, the Po Plain and the Dolomites. Piedmont and Val d'Aosta contain some of the highest mountains in Europe and are good areas for winter sports. Central Italy: The northern part of the Italian peninsula. Tuscany (Toscana) has a diverse landscape with snow-capped mountains, lush countryside, hills and a long sandy coastline. To the east is Umbria, known as the ‘green heart of Italy'; hilly with broad plains, olive groves and pines, and Le Marche - a region of gentle mountains, rivers and small fertile plains. Further south lies Rome, Italy's capital city. Within its precincts is the Vatican City. Southern Italy: The south is wilder than the north, with mile upon mile of olive trees, cool forests and rolling hills. The islands of Capri, Ischia and Procida in the Tyrrhenian Sea are also part of Campania. Puglia, the ‘heel of the boot', is a landscape of volcanic hills and isolated marshes. The Islands: Sicily (Sicilia), visible across a 3km (2-mile) strait from mainland Italy, is famed for its active volcano Mount Etna and lava fields. Sardinia (Sardegna) has a mountainous landscape, fine sandy beaches and rocky offshore islands.