Must SEE ITALY
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Latest page update: 5 December 2024
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By Dion Protani
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First of all let's be clear: you must see Italy! The sheer scale and breadth of things to see in Italy makes the task of showcasing a selected number of highlights quite tricky.
Italy is a country full of beautiful scenery, charming villages, imposing ancient monuments, a wide variety of climates and a rich history that has all combined to make it the favourite destination for visitors in search of culture, excitement and jaw-dropping natural beauty. A sign of Italy's allure comes when you ask yourself to think of an image that best represents the country. You'll find a whole sequence of dozens of monuments, landscapes, food, cars and of course the beautiful people flashing through your mind. |
Vernazza, Cinque Terre, Liguria
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This alone tells us that rather than the desire to see a single thing, place or monument, we travel to Italy to feel in some way Italian for a short while, to eat Italian food, enjoy a laid-back atmosphere and soak up La Dolce Vita. So whilst this guide will of course show you the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, it will also highlight the fabulous places that you might not have heard of yet.
The Italy Review guide is designed to help you locate the very best of Italy by giving you ideas, detailed descriptions, useful travel information and great images of these beautiful places. Within the 10 categories below, you'll find Italy's greatest treasures, listed in order of importance of preference depending on the category type. You can use these pages to determine which sights are most attractive to you, or even the type of holiday you'd like to plan.
The Italy Review guide is designed to help you locate the very best of Italy by giving you ideas, detailed descriptions, useful travel information and great images of these beautiful places. Within the 10 categories below, you'll find Italy's greatest treasures, listed in order of importance of preference depending on the category type. You can use these pages to determine which sights are most attractive to you, or even the type of holiday you'd like to plan.
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CITIES OF ITALY
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The cities of Italy are often the starting point of a holiday in the country; whether that's because you're flying in to one of the main airports or if you've decided to take a city break.
Most people have heard of the main half a dozen or so of the major cities of Italy with the most popular three in terms of tourism being Rome, Venice and Florence, more or less in that order. Beyond the major cities there are more than a hundred provincial capitals: the main city or large town of each province. They all have something to offer but some are in a category just like the name of this page and this is where you'll find ten must see Italian cities. |
The Rialto Bridge in Venice, Veneto
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For a more in-depth overview you can go to the beautiful Italian cities page which lists the top 30 or so in terms of sightseeing. Many visitors to the country are wowed by the splendour of the Renaissance cities and towns of Italy that were either hotbeds of artistic brilliance or developed along the guiding principles of the movement that was so crucial in the development of mankind as we now know it.
Towns and Villages of Italy
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The towns and villages of Italy are the next category down in terms of size, after the cities. Smaller not only in dimension but population numbers, they are however where the country's traditions are jealously guarded, slightly away from the ravages of modernity and change.
Built in clearly defensive positions, the hill towns of Italy pepper the landscape and clearly speak to us of another era. They are the hotbed of campanilismo, a sense of pride in one's town, married with a healthy suspicion of the ways of neighbouring towns. It may appear humorous or perhaps naive from the outside, but it's an attitude that's helped to shape the culture and aesthetics of Italy. |
Cività di Bagnoregio, Lazio
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A similar section details the historic towns of Italy which could in truth, include many of the hill towns mentioned above. The historic towns include places that were either the scene of a major event in history, the birthplace of a famous Italian or full of historic architecture. The beautiful mountain towns of Italy are scattered across the Alpine regions of the north and supplemented by a separate section on the ski resorts of Italy. Noticeable in all of those Alpine towns is a sense of colour and how surprisingly busy they are in the summer as well.
In fact, you'll find another section that picks out some of the most colourful Italian towns along with Italy's most beautiful villages as voted by Italy Review, the full list of Borghi Più Belli d'Italia and the Orange Flag towns of Italy which have earned the Bandiera Arancione from the Touring Club Italiano association.
The vineyard towns of Italy and the spa towns of Italy speak for themselves but how about the final two categories? Well, the mural towns of Italy cover the fairly modern phenomenon of towns whose houses and main buildings are painted by local artists to quite astonishing effect. Then finally we have the ghost towns of Italy where you might be disappointed to not find actual ghosts so to speak, but arguably even more fascinating, the scenes of these towns that were abandoned due to natural or economic crises.
In fact, you'll find another section that picks out some of the most colourful Italian towns along with Italy's most beautiful villages as voted by Italy Review, the full list of Borghi Più Belli d'Italia and the Orange Flag towns of Italy which have earned the Bandiera Arancione from the Touring Club Italiano association.
The vineyard towns of Italy and the spa towns of Italy speak for themselves but how about the final two categories? Well, the mural towns of Italy cover the fairly modern phenomenon of towns whose houses and main buildings are painted by local artists to quite astonishing effect. Then finally we have the ghost towns of Italy where you might be disappointed to not find actual ghosts so to speak, but arguably even more fascinating, the scenes of these towns that were abandoned due to natural or economic crises.
ITALIAN COASTAL and Lake Resorts
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It's fair to say that a large proportion of the country's visitors come for the summer sunshine and as a consequence, head for any of the numerous Italian coastal areas and lake resorts. With thousands of kilometres of coastline and some of Europe's most famous lakes, there's a dazzling array of waterside options.
So again, in an effort to showcase the best of everything, we have various categories to explore such as the top ten Italian beach resorts or the more detailed seaside towns of Italy which deals with the slightly larger municipalities. Away from those two "best of' categories you can find another section for both the coastal towns of southern Italy and the coastal towns of northern Italy. |
Positano, The Amalfi Coast
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Our first thoughts are usually towards the seaside when we want to be beside the water but the lakeside towns of Italy provide a very tempting alternative. The towns around the three famous lakes of the north (Lake Garda, Lake Maggiore and Lake Como) get the most attention but there are numerous other lake resorts across the country worthy of consideration.
The Italian coastal areas include the world-famous Amalfi Coast as well as a dozen or so other less famous coastlines that are equally dazzling. Within those coastlines as well as on the islands, we find an incredible collection of Italian beaches, characterised by their turquoise waters and soft, golden sand. The beaches come into their own during the summer but you can enjoy the idyllic fishing villages of Italy all year round with pretty boats and fishermen quietly tending their nets setting the scene.
The Italian coastal areas include the world-famous Amalfi Coast as well as a dozen or so other less famous coastlines that are equally dazzling. Within those coastlines as well as on the islands, we find an incredible collection of Italian beaches, characterised by their turquoise waters and soft, golden sand. The beaches come into their own during the summer but you can enjoy the idyllic fishing villages of Italy all year round with pretty boats and fishermen quietly tending their nets setting the scene.
ITALIAN ISLANDS
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Some of Italy's most sparkling beauty can be found among its islands. There are around 60 Italian islands featured on this website, including all the major island groups, individual islands and those in lakes such as the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore.
The largest islands of Sicily and Sardinia are two of the official twenty regions of Italy, but both have their own smaller islands or island groups such as the Aeolian Islands, Aegadian Islands and Pelagie Islands of Sicily or the La Maddalena Archipelago of Sardinia. Among the most striking individual islands are Ischia and Capri in the Gulf of Naples or the tiny Asinara in Sardinia, partially named after the donkeys that roam freely there. |
Tavolara, Sardinia
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Another significant island group is the Tuscan Archipelago of which Elba is the most famous. It can also boast the beautiful island of Giglio with its stunning beaches and the tiny Pianosa among others. The Pontine Islands of Lazio include Ponza, a favourite getaway for Romans, while across on the other side of the country, the Tremiti Islands are a small cluster in Puglia with incredible emerald-colour seas.
Man-Made LANDMARKS OF ITALY
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Some of those images that first flash across your mind are undoubtedly the famous landmarks such as the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa which is indeed, the subject of our logo.
However, just a little scratching of the surface reveals thousands of incredible man-made landmarks of Italy which have been divided up into more manageable, smaller groups. Italy is positively bursting with historic landmarks with hundreds of medieval castles, incredible squares and of course Roman monuments. Aside from the famous one in Pisa, there are dozens of towers of all shapes and sizes and landmark bridges. |
Leaning Tower of Pisa, Tuscany
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The modern landmarks of Italy section details not those built most recently, but everything from the eighteenth century onwards; within this collection we find the likes of the Trevi Fountain and the sumptuous Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan. The monuments of Magna Graecia take us back to the time before the Romans when southern Italy was dominated by the Greek culture of "Greater Greece".
Natural Landmarks of Italy
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The natural landmarks of Italy range from an extraordinary collection of lakes to the country's rivers, mountains and mountain ranges. There are also mountain and valley regions such as the exquisite Val d'Orcia which provides the most iconic images of Tuscany. Within this section we also find the wine regions of Italy.
Italy's landscape is a rich and diverse tapestry of features where you can find waterfalls, caves and strange rock formations. The Blue Grotto on the island of Capri is one of the most famous caves while the island's emblematic symbol comes in the form of two giant sea stacks called the Faraglioni. |
Lago di Fusine Superiore, Friuli Venezia Giulia
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The Marmore waterfalls in Umbria, the martian environs of the Cava di Bauxite in Puglia and the majestic turquoise shades of the Specchio di Venere in Pantelleria show just how diverse Italy's landscape can be. One of the most engaging places to visit is the Frasassi Caves complex in Marche with its stalagmites and stalactites.
Religious Buildings of Italy
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Another important section of the website brings history and architecture together; Italy is of course the home to Roman Catholicism and can boast an enviable collection of monuments.
There are around 64,000 churches in the country and the religious buildings of Italy section details the very best Cathedrals, the pick of the Basilicas and further sections for Abbeys & Monasteries, Chapels, Baptisteries and Religious Sanctuaries. Highlights here include the magnificent Milan Cathedral, the Basilica di San Vitale in Ravenna and the Florence Baptistery with its famous bronze doors which alone took six years to perfect. |
Basilica di San Vitale, Ravenna, Emilia Romagna
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Cultural Institutions of Italy
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Italy is of course a hotbed of history; not only did the Romans leave their greatest legacies here but the Greeks that came long before them and the Etruscans who brought their Greek culture to the Italian peninsula. Many other empires and countries left their mark on Italy during Medieval times before the Renaissance and Enlightenment periods which had such a profound effect on the country's architecture and laid the foundations for future thought.
We have a section called cultural institutions of Italy which includes everything from Archaeological Sites to Museums, Art Galleries, Palaces, Theatres and Gardens where you can pick up the trail of Italian history and find some of its finest works of art. |
The National Museum of Science and Technology, Milan
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UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITES IN ITALY
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The historical trail is strengthened further by the list of UNESCO World Heritage sites in Italy of which there are more than 50 listings, a greater number than in any other country on the planet.
This is perhaps the most varied collection of sights detailed on the website. The total number of 55 inscriptions relates to towns, cities, groups of monuments within a particular area or location, islands, archaeological sites and religious buildings. Among the most quirky but certainly meeting the criteria of must see Italy are the delightful trulli houses of Alberobello in Puglia while the Savoy Residences in Piedmont are all about grandeur. |
The Trulli Houses of Alberobello, Puglia
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Parks of Italy
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Both inland and in the coastal areas of Italy you can find a large number of park; these are either the larger National Parks, the slightly smaller Regional Parks and Nature Reserves, as well as some of the most notable City Parks such as the expansive Villa Borghese in Rome or Parco Sempione in Milan.
There are 25 national parks of Italy to discover; vast open spaces covering a variety of landscapes from the Alpine regions of the north to the Apennines that form the country's spine. Among the regional parks we also find unmissable coastal areas such as the Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro in Sicily. |
Gran Sasso National Park, Abruzzo
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