Italy's calendar is its own reason to travel. Venice's Carnevale in February and its Biennale and Film Festival later in the year; Siena's Palio on 2 July and 16 August, run bareback around the Campo; the Verona Arena opera festival through the summer; Umbria Jazz in July; Alba's white truffle fair in October and November; and a sagra — a village food festival — somewhere within reach on almost any weekend.
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If you only do 5 things on this theme.
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Piazza del Campo The shell-shaped square the Palio is run around, twice each summer -
Venice A city on 118 islands, with no roads and no equal -
Verona Arena A first-century amphitheatre that stages a full opera season every summer -
Perugia Etruscan walls, a hilltop corso and Umbria Jazz every July -
Langhe, Barolo & Barbaresco UNESCO vineyard hills, the white truffle capital, and Italy's greatest reds
Everywhere else on this theme
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Verona A Roman arena that still stages opera every summer -
Siena A Gothic city built around the shell-shaped Campo -
Rimini Fifteen kilometres of Adriatic beach — and Fellini's home town -
Ravello Two garden terraces 350 m above the Amalfi Coast, and a summer festival -
Sanremo The Riviera dei Fiori's belle-époque resort and Italy's song festival -
Alba The Langhe's capital — white truffles, Barolo and a hundred towers once -
Arezzo Antiques Fair Italy's biggest antiques market, on the Piazza Grande every first weekend -
Taormina Greek Theatre A Hellenistic theatre framing Etna — still used for summer concerts -
San Vito lo Capo A crescent of white sand under a limestone cape, and a couscous festival
The regions that deliver on it
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Piedmont Barolo, white truffles, royal Turin and the Alps at the foot of the plain -
Liguria The Italian Riviera — Cinque Terre, Portofino and pesto's home port -
Veneto Venice, Verona, Palladio's villas and the Dolomites of Cortina -
Emilia-Romagna Parmigiano, prosciutto, Ferrari and Ravenna's mosaics -
Tuscany The Renaissance, the Chianti hills and the coast most visitors miss - Umbria The green heart of Italy — Assisi, hill towns and no coastline
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Campania Naples, Pompeii, the Amalfi Coast and the islands of the bay -
Sicily Greek temples, Arab-Norman Palermo, Etna and its own archipelagos
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 -
Coast & islands 7,900 km of coastline and around eighty inhabited islands -
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 -
Luxury Italy Portofino, the Costa Smeralda, Capri and the great lake villas