Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista
San Polo & Santa Croce
One of Venice's five main religious confraternities, the lay brothers of St John the Evangelist performed works of charity but also supported the arts by…
Must-see attractions in Italy
Naples
Steep steps lead down to this marine reserve, rich in biodiversity and submerged Roman ruins. Due to its size, only 100 bathers are allowed through its…
Central Sicily
A 16km drive northeast of Piazza Armerina (and a 4km downhill drive from the town of Aidone) lie the noteworthy remains of Morgantina, an ancient Greek…
San Polo & Santa Croce
The stately exterior of this Baldassare Longhena–designed 1710 palazzo hides two intriguing art museums that could hardly be more different: the Galleria…
Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
This is one of Rome’s richest Renaissance churches, with a particularly impressive collection of art, including two Caravaggios: the Conversion of St Paul…
Bologna
FICO, the world's largest agri-food park, opened in 2017 to equal parts cheering and sneering in a formerly dilapidated wholesale farmers' market 7km…
Palermo
On the southern side of Piazza Bellini, this luminously beautiful 12th-century church was endowed by King Roger's Syrian emir, George of Antioch, and was…
Northwestern Sardinia
One of the largest nuraghic sites in Sardinia, the Nuraghe Santu Antine sits 4km south of Torralba. The complex is focused on a central tower, which now…
San Giovanni & Testaccio
This solemn basilica, one of Rome's most beautiful early Christian churches, was founded by Peter of Illyria around AD 422. It was enlarged in the 9th…
Catania
A Unesco World Heritage Site, Catania's central piazza is a set piece of contrasting lava and limestone, surrounded by buildings in the unique local…
Northwestern Sardinia
Porto Torres' modern, workaday streets provide the unlikely setting for Sardinia’s largest Romanesque church. Built between 1030 and 1080, the basilica is…
Trani
This dramatic seafront cathedral is dedicated to St Nicholas the Pilgrim, a Greek Christian who wandered through Puglia crying 'Kyrie eleison' ('Lord,…
Pisa
Soil shipped from Calvary during the Crusades is said to lie within the white walls of this hauntingly beautiful resting place for many prominent Pisans,…
Mt Vesuvius
Since exploding into history in AD 79, Vesuvius has blown its top more than 30 times. What redeems this slumbering menace is the spectacular panorama from…
Vatican City, Borgo & Prati
Overlooked by St Peter's Basilica, the Vatican’s central square was laid out between 1656 and 1667 to a design by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. Seen from above,…
Milan
Situated behind Castello Sforzesco, Parco Sempione was once the preserve of hunting Sforza dukes. Then Napoleon came to town and set about landscaping…
Trieste
This former rice-husking plant became a concentration camp in 1943 and has been a national monument and museum since the 1960s. The site commemorates the…
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
Built for Cardinal Ricci da Montepulciano in 1540, this sumptuous Renaissance palace was purchased by Ferdinando de' Medici in 1576 and remained in Medici…
Turin
Vittorio Amedeo II's 1706 promise, to build a basilica to honour the Virgin Mary if Turin was saved from besieging French and Spanish armies, resulted in…
Genoa
The heart of medieval Genoa – bounded by ancient city gates Porta dei Vacca and Porta Soprana, and the streets of Via Cairoli, Via Garibaldi and Via XXV…
Ragusa
Located 18km southwest of Ragusa, this sumptuous neo-Gothic palace houses the Collezione Gabriele Arezzo di Trifiletti, an extraordinary fashion and…
Basilica Santa Maria della Sanità & Catacombe di San Gaudioso
Naples
While we love the baroque paintings by Andrea Vaccaro and Luca Giordano – not to mention the two contemporary sculptures by Riccardo Dalisi – it's the…
Bay of Naples
Buried beneath the unappealing streets of Torre Annunziata, Oplontis was once a blue-ribbon seafront suburb under the administrative control of Pompeii…
Abbazia di San Vincenzo al Volturno
Molise
Founded in the 8th century, the Abbazia di San Vincenzo al Volturno is famous for its cycle of 9th-century frescoes by Epifanio (824–842) in the crypt…
Cattedrale di San Giovanni Battista
Turin
Turin's cathedral was built between 1491 and 1498 on the site of three 14th-century basilicas and, before that, a Roman theatre. Plain interior aside, as…
Lake Maggiore
The Borromean Gulf forms Lake Maggiore's most beautiful corner, sheltering the Borromean Islands and their spectacular, privately owned palaces. Closest…
Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli e San Celso
Milan
This church’s Renaissance facade festooned with statues seems distinctly un-Milanese with its gleaming Carrara marble and mannerist extravagance, but…
Museo Nazionale Romano: Palazzo Altemps
Centro Storico
Just north of Piazza Navona, Palazzo Altemps is a beautiful late-15th-century palazzo housing the best of the Museo Nazionale Romano’s formidable…
Bologna
Bologna's two leaning towers are the city's main symbol. The taller of the two, the 97.2m-high Torre degli Asinelli (the tallest leaning medieval tower in…
Lake Maggiore
In the unassuming town of Casalzuigno, about 9km east of Laveno, generations of nobles have swanned about the magnificent gardens of Villa della Porta…
Cremona
Welcome to an ecclesial colossus. Cremona’s cathedral started out as a Romanesque basilica, but the simplicity of that style later gave way to an…
Basilica della Santissima Trinità di Saccargia
Sassari
About 18km southeast of Sassari on the SS729, this is the most visually striking of the isolated Romanesque churches that spring up across the territory…
Cagliari
One of only two Pisan towers still standing, the Torre dell’Elefante was built in 1307 as a defence against the threatening Aragonese. Named after the…
Lazio
Subiaco's Monastero di Santa Scolastica is the only one of the 13 monasteries built by St Benedict still standing in the Valley of the Amiene – and still…
Northwestern Tuscany
Head up the mountain to this dusty, truck-busy cava de marmo (marble quarry), through a dramatic series of tunnels used by trains to transport marble from…
Pompeii
This restored, 90-room villa is one of the most complete structures left standing in Pompeii. The Dionysiac frieze, the most important fresco still on…
Milan
Italy’s first Triennale took place in 1923 in Monza. It aimed to promote Italian design and applied arts, and its success led to the construction of…
Trieste
Much of the graceful city-centre area north of Corso Italia dates to the 18th-century reign of Empress Maria Theresa, including the photogenic Canal…
Centro Storico
An imposing example of Counter-Reformation architecture, Rome's most important Jesuit church is a fabulous treasure trove of baroque art. Headline works…
Mount Etna
Funivia dell'Etna runs a cable car from Rifugio Sapienza (1920m) up the mountain to 2500m. Once out of the cable car you can attempt the long walk (3½ to…
