Italy

The harbour entrance into PortoferrioBest known for being the place of Napoleon’s exile in 1814, Elba is the biggest island of the Tuscan archipelago and Italy’s third-largest island, after Sardinia and Sicily.  It’s also part of the Arcipelago Toscano National Park.  It has so much to offer:  there are pretty beaches, good diving, charming towns, dramatic historic fortresses and great food.  …

  Manarola, one of the five towns that comprise the Cinque Terre on Italy’s Ligurian coast.  Photo, Shutterstock A century ago, the Cinque Terre were simply five fishing villages on an unforgiving, incredibly rugged stretch of the Ligurian coast of northwest Italy.  With modern transport came tourism, and now hordes arrive daily to experience it all:  the startlingly vibrant colour …

The entrance of Villa Farnesina facing into the garden. For those of us who have been to Rome numerous times and have seen all or most of the city’s major monuments and museums, it’s great to come across two lesser-known attractions.  These two museums are complete opposites to each other: one being a small, very fine Renaissance villa set in a beautiful garden, while the other is Rome’s ne…

Aerial view of Castel del Monte. Not to be missed on a visit to Puglia is a 13th century citadel, the magnificent Castel del Monte, about 70kms north of Matera.  Strategically perched on a hilltop in the Murgia region at an altitude of 540m that can be seen from many kms away, it seems to dominate the entire Kingdom of Sicily, of which Puglia was a part at that time.  Another site, that’s o…

The Sassi cave houses of Matera Italy’s southernmost region has many great sights and attractions, including huge fortress palaces, white-washed towns and villages, the extraordinary trullis that are only found in the Valle d’Itria, and some stunning beaches.  As well as these treasures, there is one spectacular place that no visitor should miss.  Matera is one of the most extraordinary des…

The white-washed town of Ostuni, Puglia. Photo, Alamy The Valle d’Itria is, for many people, the heart of Puglia.  It’s where you’ll see the white rendered trulli houses with their stone conical roofs for which Puglia is famous, along with white-washed villages such as Alberobello and Locorotondo, and larger towns like Martina Franca and Ostuni.  The rolling green valley is criss-crossed by…

The enormous fortified castle at Gallipoli. Photo, Alamy Puglia is a land of conquests and domination.  Strongholds and castles stud the countryside throughout the region, majestic symbols of ancient nobility, but also a turbulent past.  The castles were not built purely as residences, but rather as heavily-fortified bastions that could stand strong and invincible against all comers, whethe…

The magnificent Baroque Basilica di Santa Croce, Lecce The capital of the province of Puglia, located in the Salento region of the “heel” of Italy, Lecce is a dazzling Baroque jewel.  Constructed in the local creamy limestone, the buildings of Lecce are covered with joyous, ornate carvings and adornments executed with exuberance and great skill.  It is the cultural capital of Puglia, with s…

  The moat and drawbridge of the medieval fortress guards the entrance into Sirmione. Photo, Alamy There aren’t many places in Europe more beautiful than Italy’s Lago di Garda.  Its stunning scenery is due to the extensive backdrop of the Dolomite mountains to the north, together with all the picturesque towns and medieval villages dotted along its shore, it’s the perfect region to …

Castello Estense is in the centre of Ferrara. Photo, Alamy The north of Italy has an abundance of riches for the visitor, and it’s almost impossible to make a list of top favourites.  There’s the sublime beauty of the various lakes, the glories of Venice, and numerous small Renaissance cities to choose from.  We’ve spent many wonderful trips exploring these Renaissance gems over decades, an…

Venice is always magical whether it’s a Biennale year or not. We revisited Venice a few weeks ago for the first time since COVID shut down the world for travellers.  Venice has been one of our top favourite cities for many decades, and this was to be our 4th Biennale, so we were interested to see what changes had occurred to La Serenissima since our last visit.  Would it still be magical, o…

Statue of Caesar Augustus at Monte Solaro.  Lying at the southern edge of the Bay of Naples, beyond the Sorrentine peninsula, the rocky island of Capri has been renowned as a holiday destination for about two thousand years.  It’s an island of myths, Roman emperors and their infamous orgies, luxury yachts and the occasional A-list celebrity, but above all, the most spectacular vistas imagin…

Beautiful Lake Como. Northern Italy offers a wonderful series of lakes, and Lake Como is generally regarded as the most spectacular of them all.  Its unmistakable upturned Y shape was carved out of a glacier that was forced to split into two by the mountain that stood in its path.  Today, the dramatic Dolomites surround the lake, with often a dusting of snow at the highest peaks visible e…

‘Aida’ at the Arena This year was the 96th season of opera to be held in the spectacular Roman Arena at Verona.  A little older than Rome’s Coliseum, it was built around 30AD during the reign of the Emperor Caligula, and was said to be capable of holding more than 30,000 spectators.  Its outstanding acoustics has ensured its popularity for centuries, with the first operatic performances t…

Scaglieri Castle, the entrance into Sirmione.  ‘The pearl of islands!’ wrote the Roman poet Catullus in the 1st century BCE, describing the town of Sirmione, on the southern shore of beautiful Lake Garda in northern Italy.  Less than 40 kms from Verona and 150 kms from Venice, Lake Garda is ideally placed to visit one of the loveliest parts of northern Italy.