Overview to Italy: Travel Guide and Tourist Information
Italy is a traveler’s treasure trove; the entire country is overflowing with Roman ruins and classical architecture, world-renowned art, gorgeous beaches and sublime food. It’s also a country of contrasts, from skiing in the Italian Alps to sleepy southern towns surrounded by dusty olive groves which slowly roast in the heat.
The Italian coast is obviously a major draw; the five Ligurian towns of Cinque Terre are almost too good to be true. The stunning Amalfi coastline and the glamorous Island of Capri are known for their sandy beaches and sparkling blue waters.
But it’s the overwhelming number of unmissable cities that really makes Italy stand out. Ravishing Rome is possibly the world’s richest city in terms of monuments. The vast Vatican City, with its Michelangelo masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter’s Cathedral is truly awe-inspiring. Then there’s the Colosseum and the rest of the Roman remains…
Fashionable Milan, Pisa with its crooked tower and the mannered cultural cities of Florence and Venice all demand a visit. Florence’s Duomo crowns one of the country’s most beautiful cityscapes, whilst Venice’s canals and bridges need little introduction.
Naples – in the shadow of Mt Vesuvius and with the troubling ruins of Pompeii nearby – is totally different from the northern cities, whilst charming Palermo manages to lure visitors yet further south to Sicily.
But Italy is also about less grand pleasures, from sipping coffee in a piazza in the evening sunlight to the hum of Vespas and the lyrical sound of spoken Italian. You really can’t ‘do’ Italy – it would take a lifetime to see, hear, smell and taste everything it offers...