Italy's coast changes character every hundred kilometres: the Ligurian cliffs of the Cinque Terre, the Amalfi terraces, the Salento's transparent shallows, Sardinia's granite coves, Sicily's volcanic archipelagos. The smaller islands are destinations in their own right — Capri, Ischia and Procida in the Bay of Naples, the Aeolians off northern Sicily, Elba in the Tuscan Archipelago, the Tremiti and the Pontine Islands.
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If you only do 5 things on this theme.
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Amalfi Coast Fifty kilometres of terraced cliff, lemon groves and hairpin corniche -
Capri Limestone cliffs, the Blue Grotto and the most famous piazzetta in Italy -
Cinque Terre Five cliff villages joined by footpaths, terraces and a railway -
Aeolian Islands Seven volcanic islands off northern Sicily — one of them still erupting -
Golfo di Orosei Limestone cliffs with beaches — Cala Goloritzé, Cala Mariolu — reachable only by boat or on foot
Everywhere else on this theme
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Venice A city on 118 islands, with no roads and no equal -
Naples Loud, layered and the birthplace of pizza -
Genoa A maritime republic's palaces above Europe's densest old town -
Trieste Habsburg grandeur on the Adriatic, and Italy's coffee capital -
Rimini Fifteen kilometres of Adriatic beach — and Fellini's home town -
Bari Puglia's port capital and the gateway to the whole heel -
Lecce Baroque carved in soft golden stone — the Florence of the south -
Syracuse Ortigia's island old town and the greatest Greek theatre in Sicily -
Taormina A cliff-top Greek theatre looking straight at Etna -
Cagliari Sardinia's capital — a walled hill town with a city beach - Alghero A Catalan-speaking walled port on Sardinia's north-west coast
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Sorrento The classic base for Capri, Pompeii and the Amalfi Coast -
Positano Pastel houses stacked down a cliff to a grey-sand beach -
Ravello Two garden terraces 350 m above the Amalfi Coast, and a summer festival -
Ostuni The white town on a hill above the olive groves -
Tropea A cliff-top old town above one of the Mediterranean's best beaches -
Sanremo The Riviera dei Fiori's belle-époque resort and Italy's song festival -
Portofino A fishing harbour that became the Riviera's most photographed address - Pescara Abruzzo's beach city and its airport — 16 km of Adriatic sand
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Termoli A walled old town on a promontory, and the ferry port for the Tremiti -
Maratea Basilicata's 30 km of Tyrrhenian coast, under a 21-metre marble Christ -
Reggio Calabria A seafront promenade facing Sicily, and the Riace Bronzes -
Ancona The Marche's port and airport, on the only headland of the central Adriatic -
La Spezia The practical, affordable base for the Cinque Terre -
Olbia Sardinia's north-east gateway — the airport for the Costa Smeralda -
Ischia A volcanic spa island — thermal parks, hot springs and a castle on a rock -
Procida Italy's Capital of Culture 2022 — and the least developed island in the bay -
Elba Napoleon's exile island — and the biggest in the Tuscan Archipelago -
Isola del Giglio A granite island with a walled hill village and very clear water -
Favignana & the Egadi Islands Tuna-fishery islands off Trapani, with Europe's largest marine reserve -
Pantelleria A black volcanic island closer to Africa than to Sicily, with no beaches and famous wine -
Lampedusa & the Pelagie Islands Italy's southernmost point — geologically African, with Rabbit Beach -
Ustica A small volcanic island north of Palermo, and Italy's first marine reserve -
Tremiti Islands The Adriatic's only archipelago, off the Gargano -
Ponza & the Pontine Islands Rome's own islands — volcanic cliffs, sea caves and Chiaia di Luna -
La Maddalena Archipelago A national park of granite islets off Sardinia's north-east corner -
Isola di San Pietro A Ligurian-speaking island off south-west Sardinia, founded by Genoese coral fishers -
Asinara A former prison island turned national park, with albino donkeys and no residents -
Palmaria & Portovenere The UNESCO bookend to the Cinque Terre, with three islands offshore -
Sperlonga A whitewashed cliff village above the best beaches in Lazio -
Maremma Regional Park Pine forest, dunes and long-horned cattle on Tuscany's wildest coast -
Versilia & Forte dei Marmi Tuscany's grand beach-club coast under the Apuan Alps -
Murano & Burano Glass furnaces on one lagoon island, painted fishermen's houses on the next -
Blue Grotto, Capri A sea cave lit from below to an impossible blue — enter lying flat in a rowing boat -
Path of the Gods The Sentiero degli Dei — a cliff path 600 m above Positano -
Cilento National Park Mountains, an empty coast and the birthplace of the Mediterranean diet -
Polignano a Mare A white town on a limestone cliff above a beach in a ravine -
Gargano & the Foresta Umbra An ancient beech forest on the spur of Italy, above sea stacks and coves -
Otranto Italy's easternmost town, with a cathedral floor mosaic of the whole world -
Gallipoli A walled island old town on the Salento's Ionian side -
Scilla & Chianalea Homer's monster, and a fishing quarter built straight into the rocks -
Capo Vaticano Granite headlands and white sand coves on the Coast of the Gods -
Scala dei Turchi A blinding white marl cliff stepping down into the sea -
Stromboli An island volcano that has erupted every few minutes for 2,000 years -
Cefalù A Norman cathedral, a crag and a beach — all in one small town -
San Vito lo Capo A crescent of white sand under a limestone cape, and a couscous festival -
Riserva dello Zingaro Sicily's first nature reserve — seven kilometres of road-free coast path -
Costa Smeralda Fifty kilometres of granite and turquoise, developed from nothing in 1962 -
La Pelosa, Stintino Shallow white sand facing Asinara — numbers capped and shoes banned in summer -
Neptune's Grotto A stalactite cave at the foot of Capo Caccia, down 654 steps or in by boat -
Bosa Coloured houses along a river under a Malaspina castle -
Conero Riviera White cliffs and pebble coves — the only real headland on the central Adriatic -
Costa dei Trabocchi Spidery wooden fishing platforms on stilts — several now serve dinner -
Miramare Castle A white Habsburg castle on a promontory, inside a marine reserve -
Grado & the lagoon A sandy island resort with an early-Christian centre, in its own lagoon -
Camogli Tall painted fishermen’s houses on a pebble bay, and the boat to San Fruttuoso -
Abbazia di San Fruttuoso A tenth-century abbey in a cove reachable only on foot or by boat -
Metaponto Fifteen standing Doric columns of a Greek temple where Pythagoras is said to have died
The regions that deliver on it
- Liguria The Italian Riviera — Cinque Terre, Portofino and pesto's home port
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Veneto Venice, Verona, Palladio's villas and the Dolomites of Cortina - Friuli Venezia Giulia Habsburg Trieste, Roman Aquileia and Italy's finest white wines
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Emilia-Romagna Parmigiano, prosciutto, Ferrari and Ravenna's mosaics -
Tuscany The Renaissance, the Chianti hills and the coast most visitors miss - Marche Renaissance Urbino, the Conero cliffs and the Sibillini mountains
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Lazio Rome and the Vatican — and Etruscan tombs, volcanic lakes and a coast -
Abruzzo The wildest Apennines — bears, national parks and a trabocchi coast -
Molise The region Italians joke doesn't exist — mountains, tratturi and Samnite ruins -
Campania Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and the islands of the bay -
Puglia Trulli, baroque Lecce, whitewashed towns and two seas -
Basilicata Matera's cave city, the Lucanian Dolomites and a sliver of Tyrrhenian coast -
Calabria Tropea's cliffs, three national parks and the Riace Bronzes - Sicily Greek temples, Arab-Norman Palermo, Etna and its own archipelagos
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Sardinia Caribbean-clear water, 7,000 nuraghi and a mountain interior
Other ways to travel Italy
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Art & culture More UNESCO World Heritage sites than any other country on earth -
Food & wine Regional to the point of parochial — and all the better for it -
Italian lakes Como, Garda, Maggiore — the Grand Tour's original destination -
Mountains & the Dolomites The Dolomites, the western Alps and the wild Apennines -
UNESCO Italy Sixty World Heritage sites — the largest tally of any country -
Borghi & villages The hill towns that carry I Borghi più belli d'Italia and the Orange Flag -
Nature & national parks 25 national parks, from alpine glaciers to volcanic islands -
Spirituality & pilgrimage Rome, Assisi, and the pilgrim roads that connect them -
Thermal baths & wellness Volcanic Italy's other output — hot water, since the Romans -
Sport & the outdoors Dolomiti Superski, the Giro's climbs and Garda's windsurfing -
Shopping & markets Milan's Quadrilatero, Florence's leather and the weekly market habit -
Events & festivals The Palio, Carnevale, the Biennale and an opera season in a Roman arena -
Luxury Italy Portofino, the Costa Smeralda, Capri and the great lake villas