Naples
Housed in the 18th-century Palazzo Carafa di Roccella, PAN offers a hit-and-miss programme of temporary art exhibitions. The focus is mainly on modern and…
Naples
Housed in the 18th-century Palazzo Carafa di Roccella, PAN offers a hit-and-miss programme of temporary art exhibitions. The focus is mainly on modern and…
The Amalfi Coast
Once a flourishing religious centre with more than a hundred churches, Scala is now a sleepy place where the wind whistles through empty streets and…
Ancient Rome
A few marble remnants are all that survive of the Miliarium Aureum, a bronze-clad column erected by Augustus in 20 BC that served as the symbolic starting…
Monti, Esquilino & San Lorenzo
Hidden behind a stark rectangular facade, the Aula Ottagona (Octangonal Classroom) was once part of the Diocletian Bath complex. In the 1920s the huge…
Ischia
Wedged in between Ischia Porto and Ischia Ponte is the island's most down-to-earth seaside beach – think colourful vintage fishing boats, soccer matches…
Venice
One of two twin granite columns in the Piazzetta di San Marco, bearing the two patron saints of Venice. This column bears the image of warrior-saint…
Costa Smeralda
This tomba di gigante is quite striking. The central east-facing stele, part of which was snapped off and later restored, dominates the surrounding…
Rome
In Villa Torlonia park, the Casina delle Civette is a bizarre mix of Swiss cottage, Gothic castle and twee farmhouse decorated in art-nouveau style. Built…
Trentino & South Tyrol
The Weinstrasse's little Lake Kaltern may look rather small compared to Northern Italy's splendid collection of lakes, but up close it's a stunningly…
Tridente, Trevi & the Quirinale
This gallery housed in an 18th-century Carmelite convent has a collection of art and sculpture from the 20th century that includes works by Italian…
Central Sicily
Nicosia's cathedral dates back to 1340. It's built in the Gothic style and is capped by a beautiful, painted wooden ceiling. The interior includes a…
Southwestern Sardinia
Housed in a 17th-century monastery, this small museum displays a varied collection of artefacts and artworks relating to the activities of Sardinia's…
Bologna
Adjacent to Piazza Maggiore, Piazza del Nettuno owes its name to this explicit bronze statue sculpted by Giambologna in 1566. Beneath the muscled sea god,…
Cagliari
A small strip of park in the shadows of the Castello's mighty walls, this 500m-long green space is home to seven works by leading Sardinian sculptor…
Bergamo
Worth a visit for Lorenzo Lotto’s stylistically evolved altarpiece, the Pala di San Bernardino (1521), which depicts the Madonna beneath a dynamic,…
Abruzzo
On Piazza Garibaldi, housed in the refectory of the former Santa Chiara convent, this small museum has an eclectic collection of religious and…
Montalcino
This imposing 14th-century structure was expanded under the Medici dukes and now dominates Montalcino's skyline. You can sample and purchase local wines…
Bosa
Bosa's cathedral dates to the early 19th century when it was built over an earlier Romanesque church. A rare, if not overly riveting, example of rococo …
Capri
Expensive and hugely popular beach club opposite the Isole Faraglioni where you can grab a few sq metres of rocky terrain and a beach umbrella for upwards…
Rome
A dusty arena surrounded by towering umbrella pines, Piazza di Siena is used to host Rome's top equestrian event in May. It was created in the late 18th…
Oltrarno
Looming large above Ponte Vecchio is this rectangular, five-storey stone tower, built by the Marsili family as a status symbol in the 12th century. The…
Lipari
In the sunken area opposite Lipari's cathedral, you can see the remains of a series of circular huts, the oldest of which date to the 17th century BC…
Parma
With its dramatic tower and a giant sundial added in 1829, this 17th-century palazzo dominates the north side of Piazza Garibaldi, Parma's central square…
Cagliari
Below this baroque church is a 6th-century crypt where the tomb of the early Archbishop of Cagliari, St Lucifer, rests. In earlier times the area had been…
Eastern Sardinia
In Gavoi village centre, the Chiesa di San Gavino was built in the 16th century to a Gothic-Catalan design, as evidenced by the plain red trachyte facade…
Cagliari
Cagliari's town hall from medieval times to the 19th century, the beautifully restored Palazzo di Città has been converted into a small museum. It…
Ancient Rome
According to tradition, these Iron Age huts on the Palatino, also known as the Casa Romuli, are where Romulus and Remus were brought up by the shepherd…
Ostuni
Dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, Ostuni's dramatic 15th-century cathedral has an unusual Gothic-Romanesque-Byzantine facade with a frilly…
Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Miranda
Ancient Rome
Fronted by soaring columns, the Chiesa di San Lorenzo in Miranda occupies the 2nd-century Tempio di Antonino e Faustina on the Roman Forum. Dating to the…
Museo Nazionale dell’Alta Val d’Agri
Basilicata
This modestly interesting museum charts the history of the high valley of Agri, and the nearby Roman town of Grumentum in particular. Artefacts including…
Bergamo
The white, porticoed Palazzo Nuovo defines the northern side of Piazza Vecchia. Designed in 1611 by a brilliant architectural mind from Vicenza, Vincenzo…
Todi
Housed in the striking 13th-century Palazzo del Capitano, this museum features an elegant triple window. It holds a fine, if hardly overwhelming,…
Livorno
This Franciscan church, with notably plain and stark facade, was built in the 17th century by foreign communities of the Catholic faith living in Livorno…
Cosenza
Cosenza's doughty castle, begun by the Saracens, augmented by the Normans and left in disarray by several earthquakes, has benefited from extensive…
Naples
Soaring high above beautiful Piazza del Gesù Nuovo is Giuseppe Genuino's lavish Guglia dell'Immacolata, an obelisk built between 1747 and 1750. On 8…
Cattedrale di Santa Maria della Neve
Eastern Sardinia
A big, dusky peach-coloured wedding cake of a church, the 19th-century Cattedrale di Santa Maria della Neve is one of 300 or so Italian churches dedicated…
Rimini
This imposing Gothic palazzo on the northern edge of pretty Piazza Cavour dates to the 14th century. It is not open to the public yet, but a new Museum of…
Rome
Rome’s zoo hosts a predictable collection of animals, with 200 species from five continents housed on its 18-hectare site in Villa Borghese. It probably…
Chiesa di San Paolo entro le Mura
Monti, Esquilino & San Lorenzo
With its stripy neo-Gothic exterior, Rome’s American Episcopal church is decorated with some unusual 19th-century mosaics designed by the Birmingham-born…
Assisi
Just southeast of Piazza del Comune, this baroque domed church is a peaceful place for contemplation. It was built by King Philip III of Spain in 1615…