Few parts of the world can claim such a variety of natural beauty as Italy. Time and time again Italy features high on traveler’s bucket lists and encourages more than 420 million visitors a year. More recently it was named are the most researched destination on the Travelsupermarket.com website. Rome, Florence and Venice topped the list of locations closely followed by Sicily, the Amalfi Coast and Cinque Terre.
What’s not to love about Italy, it offers, sunshine, beaches, landscapes, landmarks, culture, history, food, wine and Italians with hearts of gold, never letting language be a barrier to their warm welcome.
Italy enjoys a wonderful climate, the good weather (fine and sometimes crisp) starts in early April and the warmer weather in the Summer months starts in June. We live in Northern Tuscany and the swimming pool normally opens mid May, all the way up to late September. Swimming pools in hotels tend to close around the end of September but this does vary depending where you are in Italy and, of course you always have the sea to enjoy if you love the seaside. If you choose to travel in the latter part of the year, I recommend that you layer your clothing as the weather can vary on a day to day basis.
Beaches vary enormously in Italy (depending on the geography) and it is always important to research whether your beach is a sandy or a pebble beach, it makes a huge difference especially when traveling with toddlers.
Also worth knowing is that many of the beaches have a small public area to sunbathe but a large percentage of beaches are privately owned and therefore you have the opportunity to enjoy the beach but must purchase a sun lounger and umbrellas and you can do so at a half day or the full day rate.
If you are after picture perfect photo destinations or incredible landscapes, then you must to visit:
- Lake Garda
- Lake Como
- Terme di Saturnia
- Venice
- Mount Etna
- Dolomites
- Cinque Terre
- Grottos in Amalfi
- Alberbello in Puglia
- Sardinia
Sites that will be memorable include:
- Uffizi Gallery, Florence
- Burano, Venice
- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, Milan
- Trastevere, Rome
- La Maddalena, Sardinia
- Il Duomo, Florence
- Lucca, Tuscany
- Villa Rufolo, Ravello
- San Gimignano, Tuscany
Food to enjoy:
- Spaghetti Carbonara
- Tagliatella al ragu
- Porchetta
- Bistecca alla Fiorentina
- Pizza
- Arancini
- Tortellini brood
- Pane
- Gelato
- Tiramisu
Wine to drink:
- Sangiovese
- Barbera
- Valpolicella
- Brunello
- Barbaresco
- Barolo
- Vermentino
- Vernaccia
- Soave
- Frascati
