Centro Storico
Visit the atmospheric Jewish Ghetto neighborhood for art studios, kosher food and Rome's main synagogue.
Must-see attractions in Italy
Centro Storico
Il Campo is a major focus of Roman life: by day it hosts one of the city's best-known markets; by night, people come for its lively bars and restaurants.
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Vittoria
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
This modest church is an unlikely setting for an extraordinary work of art – Bernini’s extravagant sculpture, the Ecstacy of St Teresa.
Basilica di San Pietro in Vincoli
Monti, Esquilino & San Lorenzo
This 5th-century basilica draws pilgrims and art lovers to marvel at its treasures.
Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro
Venice
One of the most beautiful buildings on the Grand Canal, with a lacy Gothic facade, 15th-century Ca’ d’Oro is resplendent even without the original gold…
Venice
Basilica di San Marco's 99m-tall bell tower has been rebuilt twice since its initial construction in AD 888. Galileo Galilei tested his telescope here in…
Oltrarno
The facade of this Brunelleschi church, smart on Florence's most shabby-chic piazza, makes a striking backdrop to open-air concerts in summer. Inside, the…
Venice
Fortuna, the weathervane atop Punta della Dogana, swung Venice’s way in 2005, when bureaucratic hassles in Paris convinced art collector François Pinault…
Verona
Bristling with fishtail battlements along the river Adige, Castelvecchio was built in the 1350s by Cangrande II. Severely damaged by Napoleon and WWII…
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
Visit the antique shops, commercial art galleries and artisanal boutiques of Via Margutta, one of Rome's prettiest pedestrian cobbled lanes.
Mantua
Palazzo Te was where Frederico II Gonzaga escaped for love trysts with his mistress Isabella Boschetti, and it's decorated in playboy style with stunning…
Centro Storico
A busy transport hub, Largo di Torre Argentina is set around the sunken Area Sacra, and the remains of four Republican-era temples, all built between the…
Bosa
Commanding huge views, this hilltop castle was built in the 12th and 13th centuries by the Tuscan Malaspina family. Little remains of the original…
Alghero
Alghero's finest church is a model of architectural harmony. Originally built to a Catalan Gothic design in the 14th century, it was later given a…
Venice
Begun under Napoleon as the city's first public green space, these leafy gardens are now the main home of the Biennale. Around half of the gardens is open…
Centro Storico
This sunken area in the Largo di Torre Argentina, reckoned to be the site of Julius Caesar's murder, contains the remains of four Republican-era temples,…
Scuola Dalmata di San Giorgio degli Schiavoni
Venice
This 15th-century Dalmatian religious-confraternity house is dedicated to favourite Slavic saints George, Tryphon and Jerome, whose lives are captured…
Rimini
Built originally in 13th-century Gothic style and dedicated to St Francis, Rimini's cathedral was radically transformed in the mid-1400s into a…
Chiesa di Santa Maria della Pieve
Arezzo
This 12th-century church – Arezzo's oldest – has an exotic Romanesque arcaded facade adorned with carved columns, each individually decorated. Above the…
Museo Archeologico Nazionale 'Gaio Cilnio Mecenate'
Arezzo
Overlooking the remains of a Roman amphitheatre that once seated up to 10,000 spectators, this museum – named after Gaius Maecenas (68–8 BC), a patron of…
Bosa
Housed in an elegant 19th-century townhouse, Bosa's main museum showcases local arts and artisanal crafts. Each of the three floors has a different theme…
Como
Como’s awesome marble-clad cathedral is one of the most important buildings on the lake, incorporating a variety of styles – Romanesque, Renaissance and…
Bergamo
On the northwest side of Piazza Vecchia, the fresco-dappled Palazzo del Podestà was traditionally home to Venice's representative in Bergamo. Today, the…
Catania
The Monastero delle Benedettine covers two adjacent sites: a Benedictine convent and the Chiesa di San Benedetto. Top billing goes to the church, built…
Museo delle Maschere Mediterranee
Eastern Sardinia
Get a firsthand feel for Mamoiada's carnival at this small but engaging museum. The three-part exhibit starts with a film that allows you to vicariously…
Eastern Sardinia
High above Ulassai, the mammoth Grotta di Su Marmuri is a 35m-high cave complex. Visits are by guided tour only (minimum of four people), which take you…
Ferrara
Named after the spiky diamond-shaped ashlar stones on its facade, the late-15th-century 'diamond palace' was built for Sigismondo d'Este. It houses…
Chiesa di Nostra Signora di Regnos Altos
Bosa
Enclosed within the walls of the Castello Malaspina, this humble but hallowed 14th-century chapel is decorated with an extraordinary 14th-century fresco…
Lucca
The cathedral museum safeguards elaborate gold and silver decorations made for the cathedral's Volto Santo, including a 17th-century crown and a 19th…
Oltrarno
Astonishing. Behind the unassuming facades of Via de' Serragli lies a vast, secret garden – Europe’s largest privately owned green space...
Pisa
Pisans claim that Campo dei Miracoli is among the world's most beautiful urban spaces. Its walled lawns provide a photogenic setting for the candy-striped…
Oltrarno
Dating from 1345, iconic Ponte Vecchio was the only Florentine bridge to survive destruction at the hands of retreating German forces in 1944. Above…
Vatican City, Borgo & Prati
Entry to the dome is to the far right of the basilica's main portico, where you also buy your ticket. A small lift can take you halfway up, but it’s still…
Assisi
The upper church of the Basilica di San Francesco was built after the Basilica Inferiore and consecrated in 1253, and the change in style and grandiosity…
Assisi
The lower and earlier of the two churches comprising the Basilica di San Francesco, this basilica was commissioned by Pope Gregory IX in 1228, just two…
Central Sicily
One of a series of apartments on one side of the Ambulacro, the triclinium boasts a splendid floor illustration of the labours of Hercules, where the…
Bergamo
The Upper Town's beating heart is the cafe-clad Piazza Vecchia, lined by elegant architecture that is a testament in stone and brick to Bergamo's long and…
Complesso Monumentale di San Lorenzo Maggiore
Naples
The basilica at this richly layered religious complex is deemed one of Naples' finest medieval buildings. Aside from Ferdinando Sanfelice's facade, the…
Monti, Esquilino & San Lorenzo
Nero had his Domus Aurea constructed after the fire of AD 64 (which he is rumoured to have started to clear the area). Named after the gold that lined its…
