Italy’s coastline offers an abundance of coastal escapes and it’s no secret that they are all beautiful. We’ve tried to help you out with a few of our favourites… San Vito Lo Capo Sicily San Vito Lo Capo in Sicily is often described as the best beach along Italy’s coastline with its zealous atmosphere, soft […]
In the first of our new six-part series, Jon Palmer crosses the Alps into Piedmont to follow the trail of that uniquely 18th-century phenomenon, the Grand Tour The foundations of the Grand Tour can be traced back to the begin of the 17th century and a young squire called Thomas Coryat, whose travel journal was […]
Throughout the past year we sampled Italian products you can buy in the UK in our Buy Italia! feature and brought you our recommendations. Now we can tell you what our favourites have been. And here they are, at the… Now that we’ve got the old year properly packed off to bed and tucked up nicely, […]
Sarah Lane heads to Abruzzo to explore the noble city of L’Aquila and the surrounding Gran Sasso National Park, an area of stunning natural beauty, wildlife and good-tempered sheep. The medieval city of L’Aquila has a remarkable setting amid the high mountains of the Apennines in inland Abruzzo. With a self-sufficient character and persistent links […]
Italia! investigates a very different view of this renowned Italian lakeside town, with a visit to a dizzying sculpture in Piazza Camerlata, in Como What do you envisage when you think of the Italian Lakes? It probably isn’t a design movement called Italian Rationalism, but the town of Como, on the lake of the same […]
Italy has too many glorious mosaics to mention. Rich in artistry, history and beauty they truly are a labour of love. 1. Emperor Justinian Ravenna Ravenna was once the capital of the Western Roman Empire, and the town where Dante wrote much of the Divine Comedy. This is a town with a vast cultural heritage […]
Artists’ inspiration and magnificent feat of engineering, but the Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute on Venice’s Grand Canal was originally built to stave off the plague The year is 1629 and a great plague has hit Venice, turning it into a watery tomb. Prayers and processions to Venetian churches fail to stem the tide […]
A country with a wealth of artistic wealth of artistic treasures picking the best of Italy’s galleries is no easy task. This month, we highlight some of the peninsula’s unmissable art archives. 1. Gli uffizi Florence Had Florence’s biggest and busiest gallery failed to top the list of Italy’s best galleries, it would have looked […]
Whether you want glorious scenery, peaceful walks or adrenalin-packed watersports, Italy’s inland waters boast it all. Here’s Italia!’s pick of the country’s beautiful lakes 1. Lake Garda The largest of Italy’s lakes and ‘the land where the lemon trees grow’, Lake Garda’s elephantine shape drapes itself across Lombardy, the Veneto and Trentino. The lake’s Mediterranean […]
The Italian love for luxury fast cars is well documented, but the manufacturing record for superbikes is pretty impressive, too. Italia! takes a look at the fastest bikes on the track 1. Ducati It’s fairly safe to say that Ducati is a legend in the motorbike industry. Its newest bikes resemble two-wheeled Ferraris, super-slick and […]