| • Abruzzo and Molise
One region until 1963, Abruzzo and Molise - previously just plain
Abruzzi - together make Italy's transition from north to south. Both are
sparsely populated mountainous regions prone to earthquakes, and both
have always been outside the mainstream of Italian affairs. You could
spend a whole and very varied holiday in Abruzzo . Bordered by the
Apennines, it holds some of Italy's wildest terrain: silent valleys,
vast untamed mountain plains and abandoned hill-villages, as well as
some great historic towns, many of them rarely visited by outsiders. But
this is only half the story: the Abruzzesi have done much to pull their
region out of the poverty trap, developing resorts on the long, sandy
Adriatic coastline and exploiting the tourist potential of a large,
mountainous national park.
Molise is manifestly a part of the south, its countryside gentler than
Abruzzo, its mountains less forbidding, and its villages and towns
usually modern and functional to withstand the shock of earthquakes. The
lasting impression is of new, fast roads snaking across rolling
countryside planted with grain, but although you can drive across Molise
in less than an hour on the motorway it's not a region you can get the
most out of by hurriedly passing through. This is a land which has long
experienced peasant hardship; it still has a close affinity to
traditional festivals and rituals, and demands time to be understood.
Tourism is low-key: tratturi for example - ancient sheep-droving routes
111m wide - are gaining a new life as mountain-bike or horseback riding
trails, served by occasional farmhouse guesthouses and riding stables
along the way. Other focuses are the seaside town of Térmoli; one of
Italy's least-visited Roman sites, Saepinum; and the hiking trails in
the Matese mountains on the border with Campania. Don't expect to rush
through, though; in both regions, getting around on public transport
demands patience and the careful studying of bus and train timetables.
• Calabria and Basilicata
More than any other of the regions of the Italian South, Calabria and
Basilicata represent the quintessence of the mezzogiorno . Culturally
impoverished, underdeveloped and - owing to emigration - sparsely
populated, these rural regions were long considered only good for
taxation, and even then they were mismanaged. Although agriculture was
systematized to an extent when these lands formed a part of Magna
Graecia, by the time the Normans arrived there was little infrastructure
or defence against the depredations of maritime raiders. Moreover, the
feudal era didn't really die here until the Bourbons were ejected at
Unification, and remnants of the older society persist in the widespread
system of patronage and an exaggerated use of titles. Respect for
authority co-exists with a deep scepticism and an apathy and inertia
vividly described by Carlo Levi in his Christ Stopped at Eboli - a book
that for many Italians was the introduction to the very deep problems
besetting the mezzogiorno .
Indeed, this area is if anything even more marginalized than it was
before Unification, when it was at least the geographical centre of the
Bourbon state, and today talk of the Two Nations of Italy is most
strikingly manifest in what can seem a very distant region from the
emphatically European north - to which its people provide a reluctant
supply of cheap labour. But despite lingering attitudes on both sides
that perpetuate this gulf, much has changed in the south, to the extent
that the picture drawn in Levi's book would hardly be recognized today,
thanks largely to a massive channelling of funds since the war to
finance huge irrigation and land-reclamation schemes, industrial
development and a modern system of communications, all helping to set
the southern economy on its feet. Unemployment remains the highest in
the country, and emigration is still very much a reality, but malaria
has been eradicated, previously unproductive land made fertile, and
construction is under way everywhere - though often hand-in-hand with
the forces of organized crime and with frequently dire consequences for
the physical aspect of the land.
The landscape provides the main reason to come to Basilicata and
Calabria: artistically they are the most barren regions in Italy, but
the combination of mountain grandeur and a relatively unspoilt coastline,
often in close proximity, give them a powerful appeal, and one only
beginning to be exploited by the tourist industry. Two of the main
cities, Cosenza , lying just inland of the Tyrrhenian coast, and Reggio
, at its southern tip, lie within the shadow of the forested slopes of
the Sila massif and the craggy wilderness of Aspromonte , respectively,
and Cosenza also holds Calabria's most compelling old centre, in
striking contrast to the progressive and prosperous sheen of its modern
counterpart. In Basilicata, Potenza is useful as a transport hub for the
string of medieval towns lying to the north, although the town holds
none of the fascination of the region's second city, Matera , whose
distinctive sassi - cavelike dwellings in the heart of the town - give
it a uniquely dramatic setting. Of the coasts, it's the Tyrrhenian that
is most engaging, with spots like Maratea, Tropea and Scilla favourite
hideaway resorts for discerning Italian and foreign visitors. The Ionian
coast, on the other hand, can be bleak and is visited mainly for its
ancient sites - relics of the once mighty states that comprised the
Greek colonies known as Magna Graecia.
Good transport services exist, but in hilly and coastal areas a car is
useful, especially to penetrate some of the more far-flung inland areas.
Once arrived somewhere, park up as soon as you can as a vehicle can only
be an encumbrance in the smaller places. Walking around, you'll notice a
general suspicion of strangers, especially in rural areas, though it's
reassuring to remember that violence against strangers is very uncommon,
even in Calabria, where the crime rate is notoriously high. As for
sexual harassment, this is still a reality in some parts of the south -
macho values prevail and women travelling alone will often be stared at
• Campania
The region immediately south of Lazio, Campania , marks the real
beginning of the Italian south or mezzogiorno . It's the part of the
south too, perhaps inevitably, that most people see, as it's easily
accessible from Rome and home to some of the area's (indeed Italy's)
most notable features - Roman sites, spectacular stretches of coast,
tiny islands. It's always been a sought-after region, first named by the
Romans, who tagged it the campania felix , or "happy land" (to
distinguish it from the rather dull campagna further north), and settled
down here in villas and palatial estates that stretched right around the
bay.
You might, of course, find this hard to believe now, and anyone coming
in search of the glories of the Bay of Naples is likely to be
disappointed. Industry has eaten into the land around the city so as to
render it almost unrecognizable, and even in the city the once-grand
vistas are often cluttered by cranes and smoke-belching chimneys. Many
people take one look and skate right out again, disappointed at such a
grimy welcome.
But give the area time. Naples is the obvious focus, an utterly
compelling city and one that dominates the region in every way. At just
two-and-a-half hours by train from the capital, there's no excuse for
not seeing at least this part of Campania, though of course you need
three or four days to absorb the city properly, before embarking on the
remarkable attractions surrounding it. The Golfo di Napoli , certainly,
is dense enough in interest to occupy you for a good week: there are the
ancient sites of Pompeii and Herculaneum , just half an hour away -
Italy's best-preserved and most revealing Roman remains; there is the
odd, volcanic Campi Flegrei area to the north of the city; and of course
there are the islands, Capri, Ischia and Prócida - Capri swarms with
visitors but is so beautiful that a day there is by no means time
squandered, while Ischia, which is the largest island and absorbs
tourists more readily, is a lively and attractive base from which you
can explore the bay by ferry.
Inland Campania is, by contrast, a poor, unknown region for the most
part, but the nearby towns of Cápua and Caserta repay visits and are
easily seen on day-trips. Similarly Benevento , an old stop on the Roman
route to Bríndisi, has its moments, though you might want to make this
part of a wider trip through Campania's interior (or on to Puglia),
bearing in mind that it's a difficult and not especially rewarding area
to travel through. The area south of Naples has more immediate appeal -
beach-bum territory on the whole, though certainly not to be avoided.
Sorrento , at the far east end of the bay, is a major package-holiday
destination but a cheery and likeable place for that; and the Amalfi
coast , across the peninsula, is probably Europe's most dramatic stretch
of coastline, harbouring some fantastically enticing - if crowded -
beach resorts. Further south, the port of Salerno is an inviting place
and gives access to the Hellenistic site of Paestum and the uncrowded
coastline of the Cilento just beyond.
• Emilia-Romagna
Set between Lombardy and Tuscany, and stretching from the Adriatic
coast almost to the shores of the Mediterranean, Emilia-Romagna is the
heartland of northern Italy. It is two provinces really: Emilia to the
east and the Romagna to the west - the former Papal States, joined
together after Unification. Before the papacy took charge in the area,
it was a patchwork of ducal territories, ruled over by a handful of
families - the Este in Ferrara and Modena, the Farnese in Piacenza and
Parma, and lesser dynasties in Ravenna and Rimini - who created
sparkling Renaissance courts, combining autocracy with patronage of the
arts alongside a continual jockeying for power with the Church. Their
castles and fortresses remain, preserved in towns with restored medieval
centres which, apart from a few notable exceptions, are relatively off
the tourist track, since many visitors are put off by the extreme
weather (searingly hot in summer, close to freezing in winter), or are
sidetracked by the more immediate pleasures of Tuscany and Umbria.
The region's landscape is a varied one, ranging from the foothills of
the Apennine mountains in the south to the flat fields of the northern
plain, the Pianura Padana, interrupted only by windbreaks of poplars,
shimmering in the breeze. The area has grown wheat since Roman times,
and nowadays its industry and agribusinesses are among Italy's most
advanced - there are currently more pigs than people in the Po Valley.
Emilia-Romagna remains one of the richest regions in Italy, holding some
of the country's most successful small-scale, specialist industrial
enterprises.
Carving a dead-straight route through the heart of Emilia-Romagna, from
Piacenza to Rimini on the coast, the Via Emilia is a central and obvious
reference point, a Roman military road constructed in 187 BC that was
part of the medieval pilgrim's route to Rome, and the way east to
Ravenna and Venice. The towns that grew up along here are among Emilia's
most compelling. Bologna , the region's capital, is one of Italy's
largest cities. Despite having one of the most beautifully preserved
city centres in the country, some of its finest food, and inhabitants
whose openness and seemingly unflappable temperaments contrast markedly
with the stressed-out Milanese, it has been relatively neglected by
tourists, and most people pass straight through - definitely a mistake.
Bologna also gives easy access to places like Modena and Parma (each
just an hour or so away by train): wealthy provincial towns that form
the smug core of Emilia and hold some of its finest and most atmospheric
architecture, as well as giving access to routes south into the
Apennines . With a car you can dip into the foothills at will from any
of these points, sampling local cuisine and joining in the festivals;
and even by bus it's possible to get a taste of the area, which at its
best can be very beautiful, not at all like the functional plain to the
north. If you're a keen hiker, there's the Grand Escursione Apenninica,
a 25-day-long trek following the backbone of the range from refuge to
refuge, and which can be accessed from the foothills south of Reggio
Emilia .
The north of Emilia-Romagna is less interesting than the Via Emilia
stretch, the Po disgorging into the Adriatic from its bleak delta (which
it shares with the Veneto), a desolate region of marshland and lagoons
that is mainly of appeal to birdwatchers. However, Ferrara , just half
an hour north of Bologna, is one of the most important Renaissance
centres in Italy, formerly under the tutelage of the Este family; and
Ravenna , a short way east from here, preserves probably the finest set
of Byzantine mosaics in the world in its churches and mausoleums. The
coast south is an overdeveloped ribbon of settlement, although Rimini ,
at its southern end, provides a spark of interest, with its wild seaside
strip concealing a surprisingly historic town centre.
None of this comes cheap, though: Emilia is a wealthy area that makes
few concessions to tourists; the tone is, rather like Lombardy to the
north, well mannered, well dressed and comfortable. If you need to
economize, it would be a shame to stint when it comes to food, which is
where the region excels
• Friuli-Venezia Giulia
The geographical complexity of Friuli-Venezia Giulia - around eight
thousand square kilometres of alps, limestone plateau, alluvial plain
and shelving coastlands - is mirrored in its social diversity. The
mountainous north is ethnically and linguistically Alpine; the old
peasant culture of Friuli, though now waning, still gives a degree of
coherence to the area south of the mountains; Udine seems Venetian, and
Grado , slumbering in its Adriatic lagoons, Byzantine-Venetian; while
Aquileia , a few kilometres north of Grado, is still redolent of its
Roman and early Christian past. And Trieste itself, the regional
capital, is a Habsburg city, developed with Austrian capital to be the
empire's great southern port. In spirit and appearance it is central
European, more like Ljubljana in Slovenia than anywhere else in the
region with the possible exception of Gorizia .
If one thing unites the different parts of the region, it's how far
removed they are from the conventional image of Italy, a remoteness that
intensifies the further east you travel. This area has always been a
bridge between the Mediterranean world and central Europe - that hazy
multinational entity which begins, according to Eric Newby at least, at
Monfalcone, north of Trieste. It has been invaded - sometimes enriched,
often laid waste - from east and west and north, by the Romans, Huns,
Goths, Lombards, Nazis and even the Cossacks. Venice in its heyday
controlled the coast and plain as far as Udine; Napoleonic France
succeeded the Venetian Republic, to be supplanted in turn by the
Habsburgs. Earlier this century the region saw some of the fiercest
fighting of World War I on the Carso (the plateau inland from Trieste),
where artillery shells splintered the limestone into deadly shrapnel and
the hills are still scarred with trenches. Vast war memorials and
ossuaries punctuate the landscape: the bones of 60,000 soldiers lie at
Oslavia, near Gorizia; 100,000 at Redipuglia; 25,000 in the Udine
ossuary. There was less loss of life in World War II, but just as much
terror. Fuelled by widespread and long-standing anti-Slavism, Italian
Fascism in Trieste was especially virulent, and the city held Italy's
only death camp. One of the strangest sideshows of the war was staged
north of Udine: Cossack troops, led by White Russian officers, made an
alliance with the Nazis and invaded Carnia, on the promise of a Cossack
homeland among the Carnian mountains once the Reich was secure. No more
invading armies have taken this road, but the last border dispute
between Italy and Yugoslavia was not settled until the 1970s, and when
neighbouring Slovenia became independent in June 1991 the border posts
with Italy were the scene of brief but fierce confrontations between
Slovene and Yugoslav troops. Despite Italian fears, however, the
fighting did not spill across the border.
While the Friulani want Italian nationality, they don't care for the
baggage of Italian identity. Respect for Rome and the government is in
short supply, and enthusiasm for the separatist north Italian "League"
movement has spread from Lombardy in recent years. It is unlikely that
this marks the birth of Friulian separatism, but there's no doubt that
the people here have their own ways and traditions, fostering a strong
sense of identity. The local dialect, friulano , is undergoing something
of an official revival - many road signs are bilingual in Italian and
friulano , while studies of the dialect's history and many local
variants are published by the Società Filologica Friulana in Udine. (Pier
Paolo Pasolini, who grew up in Casarsa, near Pordenone, wrote his early
poetry in friulano .) Economically the region is in fairly good shape:
Udine and Pordenone are thriving, while Trieste is a focus for container
traffic and is becoming a centre of computer technology and electronics.
Tourism is growing too. Increasing numbers of visitors, mostly Italian
and German, are discovering places which almost rival the claims of the
neighbouring Veneto, with none of the crowds or the cynical attitudes to
tourists. Notwithstanding it's post-industrial atmosphere, Trieste makes
a good base for walking trips into the extraordinary, cave-riven
landscape of the Carso, with the option of a day at one of the purpose-built
beach resorts along the Triestine Riviera - which isn't as glamorous as
it sounds. Udine , with its beautiful Venetian centre and excellent art
collections, is within easy reach to the north, as is tiny Cividale del
Friuli , which preserves a picturesque historic centre perched on the
gorge of the Natisone, as well as some fascinating Lombard remains. The
archeologically minded will head straight for Aquileia , however, which
has some of the most important Roman and early Christian remains in
Italy, and is fifteen minutes from the lagoon resort of Grado , which
conceals a tiny early Christian centre amid the beach hotels. Further
north, towards the Austrian border, the Carnia is struggling to develop
itself as a rival to the Dolomites for skiing and hiking, though in
truth it has little over its neighbour other than peace and quiet.
• Lazio
Of all Italy's historic cities, it's perhaps Rome which exerts the
most compelling fascination. There's more to see here than in any other
city in the world, with the relics of over two thousand years of
inhabitation packed into its sprawling urban area. You could spend a
month here and still only scratch the surface. As a historic place, it
is special enough; as a contemporary European capital, it is utterly
unique.
Perfectly placed between Italy's North and South, and heartily despised
by both, Rome is perhaps the perfect capital for a country like Italy.
Once the seat of a great empire, and later the home of the papacy, which
ruled its dominions from here with a distant and autocratic hand, it's
still seen as a place somewhat apart from the rest of Italy, spending
money made elsewhere on the corrupt and bloated government machine that
runs the country. Romans, the thinking seems to go, are a lazy lot, not
to be trusted and living very nicely off the fat of the rest of the land.
Even Romans find it hard to disagree with this analysis: in a city of
around four million, there are around 600,000 office-workers, compared
to an industrial workforce of one sixth of that.
For the traveller, all of this is much less evident than the sheer
weight of history that the city supports. There are of course the city's
classical features, most visibly the Colosseum, and the Forum and
Palatine Hill; but from here there's an almost uninterrupted sequence of
monuments - from early Christian basilicas, Romanesque churches,
Renaissance palaces, right up to the fountains and churches of the
Baroque period, which perhaps more than any other era has determined the
look of the city today. There is the modern epoch too, from the
ponderous Neoclassical architecture of the post-Unification period to
the self-publicizing edifices of the Mussolini years. All these various
eras crowd in on one another to an almost overwhelming degree: there are
medieval churches atop ancient basilicas above Roman palaces; houses and
apartment blocks incorporate fragments of eroded Roman columns, carvings
and inscriptions; roads and piazzas follow the lines of ancient
amphitheatres and stadiums.
Inevitably, Rome is not an easy place to absorb on one visit, and you
need to approach things slowly, even if you only have a few days here.
You can't see everything on your first visit to Rome, and there's no
point in even trying. Most of the city's sights can be approached from a
variety of directions, and it's part of the city's allure to stumble
across things by accident, gradually piecing together the whole, rather
than marching around to a timetable on a predetermined route. In any
case, it's hard to get anywhere very fast. Despite regular pledges to
ban motor vehicles from the city centre, the congestion can be awful. On
foot, it's easy to lose a sense of direction winding about in the
twisting old streets. In any case, you're so likely to come upon
something interesting it hardly makes any difference.
Beyond Rome, the region of Lazio inevitably pales in comparison, with
relatively few centres of note and a landscape that varies from the
gently undulating green hills of its northern sector to the more
inhospitable mountains south and east of the capital. It's a fairly poor
region, its lack of identity the butt of a number of Italian jokes, and
it's the closest you'll get to the feel of the Italian south without
catching the train to Naples. Much, however, can be easily seen on a day-trip
from the capital, not least the ancient sites of Ostia Antica and the
Roman Emperor Hadrian's villa at Tivoli - two of the area's most
important ancient sites. Further afield, in the north of Lazio the
Etruscan sites of Tarquinia and Cerveteri provide the main and most
obvious tourist focus, the slightly gloomy town of Viterbo the best
base; Romans, meanwhile, head out at weekends to soak up the gentle
beauty of lakes Bracciano , Vico and Bolsena . The region east of Rome
is sparsely populated and poor, though scenically appealing, its high
hills unfolding beyond the main, rather dull, regional centre of Rieti .
The south, on the other hand, is the one part of Lazio where you might
want to spend a little longer, especially if you're beating a leisurely
path to Naples. You can see coastal resorts like Anzio and Nettuno as a
day-trip too, and they make the best places to swim while based in the
capital. But the coast beyond demands more attention: resorts like
Terracina and Sperlonga are relatively unknown outside Italy; and
islands like Ponza one of the loveliest spots, out of season at least,
on the entire west coast. Inland, much is mountainous and fairly
inaccessible, but that's part of its appeal: the monasteries at Subiaco
and Montecassino are just two worthwhile stops on what might be a
rewarding and original route south.
• Liguria
Sheltering on the seaward side of the mountains that divide Piemonte
from the coast, Liguria is the classic introduction to Italy for
travellers journeying overland through France. There's an unexpected
change as you cross the border from Nice and Monaco: the Italian Riviera
(as Liguria's commercially developed strip of coast is known) has more
variety of landscape and architecture than its French counterpart, and
is generally less frenetic. The mountains which, in places, drop sheer
to the sea are treated as an irrelevance by most visitors eager to press
on to their chosen resort, but Liguria's lofty hinterland can offer
respite from the standard format of beach, beach and more beach.
Teetering on slopes carpeted with olives and vines are isolated mountain
villages that retain their own rural culture and cuisine.
The chief city of the region is Genoa , an ancient, sprawling port often
acclaimed as the most atmospheric of all Italian cities. It has a dense
and fascinating old quarter that is complemented by a vibrant social and
ethnic mix and a newly energized dockside district. The city stands
midway between two distinct stretches of coastline. To the west is the
Riviera di Ponente , one long ribbon of hotels packed out in summer with
Italian families who book a year ahead to stay in their favourite spot.
Picking your route carefully means you can avoid the worst of it. San
Remo , the grande-dame of Riviera resorts, is flanked by hillsides
covered with glasshouses, and is a major centre for the worldwide export
of flowers; Albenga and Noli are attractive medieval centres that have
also retained a good deal of character; and Finale Ligure is a
thoroughly pleasant Mediterranean seaside town.
On Genoa's eastern side is the more rugged Riviera di Levante . Umbrella
pines grow horizontally on the cliff-faces overlooking the water, and in
the evening a glassy calm falls over the little bays and inlets. Walks
on Monte di Portofino and in the coastal scenery of the famed Cinque
Terre take you through scrubland and vineyards for memorable vistas over
broad gulfs and jutting headlands. This mix of mountains and fishing
villages accessible only by boat appealed to the early nineteenth-century
Romantics, who "discovered" the Riviera in the eighteenth century,
preparing the way for other artists and poets and the first package
tourists. Now the whole area explodes into quite a ruck every July and
August, with resorts like Portofino qualifying as amongst the most
expensive in the country - although nearby Santa Margherita Ligure has
its unpretentious moments, and Lévanto is a great place to make for if
you just want to soak up the sun on a budget. Visiting out of season, of
course, is a peaceful way to enjoy the beauty without the hubbub.
In the summer months, though, the only real way to avoid the crowds is
to travel inland. Minor roads and mule tracks link villages built spiral-fashion
around hilltops, originally as protection against Saracen invasion. A
testing long-distance footpath, the Alta Via dei Monti Liguri runs from
pass to mountain pass along the length of Liguria, but aside from the
odd section accessible on public transport from the coast it's mainly
for hardened pros. Nonetheless, high-altitude resorts such as Santo
Stefano d'Aveto and Torriglia offer plenty of summer walking (and, in
places, winter skiing) that can lift you a world away from the resorts
down below on the sea.
In a car , the shore road is for the most part a disappointment: the
coast is extremely built up, and in fact you get a much better sense of
the beauty of the region by taking the east-west autostrada which cuts
through the mountains a few kilometres inland by means of a mixture of
tunnels and viaducts. Fleeting bursts of daylight between tunnels give
glimpses of the string of resorts along the coast, silvery olive groves
and a brilliant sea. However, the easiest way to take in the region is
by train : there are regular services stopping just about everywhere and,
because the track is forced to squeeze along the narrow coastal strip,
stations are invariably centrally located in towns and villages.
Liguria's regional tourist office is based at Piazza Matteotti 9, Genoa
(tel 010.530.8201, www.turismo.liguriainrete.it ) - check out their
encyclopedic website, which has information in English on every town and
village in the region, plus the option to reserve at any hotel, campsite
or agriturismo farmhouse. The excellent spiral-bound Liguria Tourist
Atlas , published by the regional government in collaboration with
cartographers DeAgostini, is invaluable if you're spending any time in
the region and has useful detailed plans of town centres.
• Lombardy and the lakes
Lombardy , Italy's richest and most developed region, often seems to
have more in common with its northern European neighbours than with the
rest of Italy. Given its history, this is hardly surprising: it was
ruled for almost two centuries by the French and Austrians and takes its
name from the northern Lombards, who invaded the region and ousted the
Romans. As a border region, accessible through numerous mountain passes,
Lombardy has always been vulnerable to invasion, just as it has always
profited by being a commercial crossroads. It was long viewed by
northerners as the capital of Italy - emperors from Charlemagne to
Napoleon came to Lombardy to be crowned king - and northern European
business magnates continue to take Lombardy's capital, Milan, more
seriously than Rome, the region's big businesses and banks wielding
political as well as economic power across the nation.
The region's landscape has paid the price for economic success: industry
chokes the peripheries of towns, sprawls across the Po plain in the
south, and even spreads its polluting tentacles into the northern lakes
and mountain valleys. Nonetheless Lombardy has its attractions: the
upper reaches of its valleys are largely unspoilt; its towns and cities
all retain wanderable medieval cores; and the stunning scenery and lush
vegetation of the lakes make it easy to forget that the water is not
sparkling clean.
As for Lombardy's people, from the cossetted residents of the provincial
towns to Milan's workaholics, they hardly fit the popular image of
Italians. In fact, they don't have much time for a substantial
proportion of their compatriots: urban northerners are rather dismissive
of the south, derisive of Rome and historically all too ready to exploit
the so-called terroni (literally earth-people) - a highly insulting term
for southern Italians who leave their poverty-stricken villages to find
work in the north.
Milan , a natural gateway to the region, and where you may well arrive,
dominates the plain that forms the southern part of Lombardy. The towns
across here - Pavia , Cremona , Mantua - flourished during the Middle
Ages and Renaissance, and retain their historical character today,
albeit encircled by burgeoning suburbs. To the north, Lombardy is quite
different, the lakes and low mountains of the edge of the Alps
sheltering fewer historic towns, though Bergamo and Brescia are notable
exceptions. This has long been popular tourist territory, particularly
around the lakes of Maggiore , Como and Garda , and wealthy Italian
holiday-makers and day-trippers are much in evidence. Although the
western shore of Lago Maggiore and the eastern and northern shores of
Lago di Garda are, strictly speaking, in Piemonte, Veneto and Trentino
respectively, the lakes region and all its resorts are all covered in
this section.
• Marche
Lying between the Apennines and the Adriatic, Marche (sometimes
anglicized as The Marches) is a varied region, and one you could spend
weeks exploring. Large areas of it are unspoilt, particularly in the
southwest between Macerata and the Sibillini mountains, where crumbling
hill-villages make atmospheric bases for hikes into the stunning Monti
Sibillini range. Not that all of Marche is free from tourism; much of
its coastline is studded with modern grid-plan resorts, and ranks of sun-umbrellas
fill many of its beaches. The area also has a fair amount of industry -
in particular light engineering, shoe manufacturing and ceramics -
heaviest around the port of Ancona and along the main road and rail
route from Umbria.
Of Marche's old-fashioned and slightly forgotten seaside resorts, Pésaro
is the largest with a Renaissance centre maintaining its dignity behind
the package-tour seafront; for more interesting sunning and swimming
it's a better idea to head to the south of Ancona to the Cónero Riviera
, a spectacular stretch of coast, with small beaches nestling beneath
the dramatic cliffs of Monte Cónero. San Benedetto del Tronto has six
kilometres of beach, five thousand palm trees, and numerous discos, but
is not exactly a happening place compared with say Rimini . Really,
though, the most appealing - and best known - of Marche's sights are the
small hilltop town of Urbino , with its spectacular Renaissance palace,
and the fortress of San Leo , just across the border from San Marino.
Further south, Macerata is a sleepy university town surrounded by lovely
countryside, and, right on the regional border, the fascinating city of
Áscoli Piceno is a worthy stop-off on the way into Abruzzo .
Getting around on public transport is not too much of a problem, though
you'll obviously save time in the remotest parts of the region with your
own vehicle. The provincial capitals - Urbino, Pésaro, Macerata, Ancona
and Áscoli Piceno - are all well served by public transport; and Ancona
is also a major port for ferries to Greece and Croatia. For hiking in
the Sibillini, Amandola has the best bus service; if you don't mind
relying on fewer buses, Montefortino is a prettier base.
• Piemonte and Valle d'Aosta
Fringed by the French and Swiss Alps and grooved with mountain
valleys, there are no less "Italian" regions than Piemonte and Valle
d'Aosta , in the extreme northwest of the country. French was spoken in
Piemonte until the end of the nineteenth century and still influences
Piemontese dialects; Valle d'Aosta remains bilingual. Piemonte (literally
"at the foot of the mountains", and indeed more than forty percent of
its surface is mountainous) is one of Italy's wealthiest regions, known
for its fine wines and food and for being home to key Italian
corporations such as Fiat and Olivetti. The mighty River Po, Italy's
longest, begins here, and the towns of its vast plain - which stretches
right across northern Italy - have grown rich on both manufacturing and
rice, cultivated in sweeping paddy fields.
Turin , on the main rail and road route from France to Milan, is the
obvious first stop: despite being Italy's second industrial city, it
retains a Baroque core and is well placed for days out. South of Turin,
Alba and Saluzzo are perhaps the most enticing centres, the former a
good base for visiting the wine cantinas, the latter convenient if you
want to explore the western valleys; Asti , to the southeast, really
comes to life during its famous medieval Palio. For the rest, winter
sports and walking are the main activities, with Sestriere the main
skiing centre and the ascent of Monviso in the far west appealing to the
climbing fraternity. Greater challenges - and more spectacular views -
are to be found in the adjoining region of Valle d'Aosta . Cut off from
Switzerland and France by the highest of the Alps - Monte Rosa , the
Matterhorn and Mont Blanc - and with a national park around the Gran
Paradiso mountain, this is serious skiing and hiking country. The main
town of Aosta itself repays a visit, and the surrounding countryside is
sprinkled with castles .
• Puglia
Puglia is the long strip of land, 400km from north to south, that
makes up the "heel" of Italy. It was for centuries a strategic province,
colonized, invaded and conquered (like its neighbours, Calabria and
Sicily) by just about every major power of the day, from the Greeks
through to the Spanish. As elsewhere in the South, each ruling dynasty
left its own distinctive mark on the landscape and architecture - as
seen, for example, in the surviving traces of Roman agricultural schemes
and the fortified medieval towns. There's no escaping some of the
historical influences in Puglia. Perhaps most distinctive are the
Saracenic kasbah-like quarters of many towns and cities, the one at Bari
being the biggest and most atmospheric. The Normans endowed Puglia with
splendidly ornate cathedrals; there's one at Trani which skilfully
blends many strands of regional craft traditions from north and south.
And the Baroque exuberance of towns like Lecce and Martina Franca are
testament to the Spanish legacy. But if there's one symbol of Puglia
that stands out, it's the imposing castles built by the Swabian
Frederick II, all over the province - foremost of which are the Castel
del Monte and the remnants of the palace at Lucera .
Clean seas and reliable sunshine have made Puglia a popular spot for
holidays, with acres of campsite-and-bungalow type tourist villages - as
well as a large number of flashy four-star hotels - principally serving
tourists from Italy and Germany. The cities, however, including Bari,
have little that's characteristic enough to warrant long stays: Táranto
and its surroundings have fought a losing battle with the local steel
industry, while Bríndisi is known and visited only for its ferry
connections with Greece; even Lecce has little to hold you once you've
trekked your way along modern boulevards to see the crazed confectionery
of its Baroque churches. Nevertheless, there's a geographical diversity
to Puglia that can be very attractive, though to get to the best of the
province you either need your own transport or the patience to use the
often erratic local buses. The very southern tip, the Salentine
peninsula , is rocky and dry, more Greek than Italian, while there's
plenty of barren mountain scenery in the undulating plateau of Le Murge
, in the centre of the province. The best escape, though, is north to
the mountains, forests and beaches of the Gargano promontory with some
of the finest unpolluted sand and sea to be found anywhere on the
Adriatic.
Getting around Puglia by public transport is fairly easy, at least as
far as the main towns and cities go. FS trains connect nearly all the
major places, while small, private lines head into previously remote
areas - in the Gargano and on the edges of Le Murge. Most other places
can be reached by bus , though as ever services are often infrequent or
inconveniently early - a problem that can only really be solved by
taking, or renting, your own car . Incidentally, if you're on your way
to Greece , it's worth noting that you don't have to leave from Bríndisi:
there are also departures from Bari and from Otranto , south of Lecce.
• Sardinia
A little under 200km from the Italian mainland, slightly more than
that from the North African coast at Tunisia, Sardinia is way off most
tourist itineraries of Italy: D.H. Lawrence found it exotically
different when he passed through here in 1921 - "lost", as he put it, "between
Europe and Africa and belonging to nowhere." Your reasons for coming
will probably be a combination of plain curiosity and a yearning for
clean beaches. The island is relatively free of large cities or heavy
industry, and its beaches are indeed some of the cleanest in Italy and
are on the whole uncrowded, except perhaps for peak season, when ferries
bring in a steady stream of sun-worshippers from what the islanders call
il continente , or mainland Italy. But Sardinia offers plenty besides
sun and sea - the more so if you are prepared to penetrate into its
lesser-known interior.
Although not known for its cultural riches, the island does hold some
surprises, not least the remains of the various civilizations that
passed through here. Its central Mediterranean position ensured that it
was never left alone for long, and from the Carthaginians onwards the
island was ravaged by a succession of invaders, each of them leaving
some imprint behind: Roman and Carthaginian ruins, Genoan fortresses, a
string of elegant Pisan churches, not to mention some impressive Gothic
and Spanish Baroque architecture. Perhaps most striking of all, however,
are the remnants of Sardinia's only significant native culture, known as
the nuraghic civilization after the 7000-odd nuraghi that litter the
landscape. These mysterious, stone-built constructions, unique to
Sardinia, are often in splendid isolation, which means they're fairly
difficult to get to without your own transport, but make the effort to
see at least one during your stay - or failing that, drop in on the
museums of Cágliari or Sássari to view the lovely statuettes and
domestic objects left by this culture.
On the whole, Sardinia's smaller centres are the most attractive, but
the capital, Cágliari - for many the arrival point - shouldn't be
written off. With good accommodation and restaurants, it makes a useful
base for exploring the southern third of the island. The other main
ferry port is Olbia in the north, little more than a transit town but
well geared for accommodation and conveniently close to the jagged
northern coast. The Costa Smeralda , a few kilometres distant, is
Sardinia's best-known resort area and lives up to its reputation for
opulence. The prices may preclude anything more than a brief visit,
although there are campsites for those outside the ranks of the super-rich.
Both Olbia and Cágliari have airports, as does Sardinia's main package
destination of Alghero - a fishing port in the northwest of the island
that has been known to British holiday-makers for years, yet retains a
friendly, unspoiled air. But Alghero's main attraction is its Spanish
ambience, a legacy of long years in which the town was a Catalan colony,
giving it a wholly different feel from the rest of the island. Inland,
Nuoro has impressive literary credentials and a good ethnographical
museum. As the biggest town in Sardinia's interior, it also makes a
useful stopover for visiting some of the remoter mountain areas, in
particular the Gennargentu range, covering the heart of the island. This
is where you can find what remains of the island's traditional culture,
best embodied in the numerous village festivals .
• Sicily
like Sicily extremely - a good on-the-brink feeling - one hop and
you're out of Europe &
- D. H. Lawrence in a letter to Lady Cynthia Asquith, 1920
The Sicilians aren't the only people to consider themselves, and their
island, a separate entity. Coming from the Italian mainland, it's easy
to spot that Sicily (Sicilia) has a different feel, that socially and
culturally you are all but out of Europe. Occupying a strategically
vital position, and as the largest island in the Mediterranean, Sicily's
history and outlook are not those of its modern parent but of its
erstwhile foreign rulers - from the Greeks who first settled the east
coast in the eighth century BC, through a dazzling array of Romans,
Arabs, Normans, French and Spanish, to the Bourbons seen off by
Garibaldi in 1860. Substantial relics of these ages remain: temples,
theatres and churches are scattered about the whole island. But there
are other, more immediate hints of Sicily's unique past. A hybrid
Sicilian language, for a start, is still widely spoken in the
countryside; the food is noticeably different, spicier and with more
emphasis on fish and vegetables; even the flora echoes the change of
temperament - oranges, lemons, olives and palms are ubiquitous.
Sicily also still promotes a real sense of arrival . The standard
approach for those heading south from the mainland is to cross the
Straits of Messina, from Villa San Giovanni or Reggio di Calabria: this
way, the train-ferry pilots a course between Scylla and Charybdis , the
twin hazards of rock and whirlpool that were a legendary threat to
sailors. Coming in by plane, too, there are spectacular approaches to
either of the coastal airports at Palermo and Catania.
Once on land, deciding where to go is largely a matter of time.
Inevitably, most points of interest are on the coast: the interior of
the island is often mountainous, always sparsely populated and
relatively inaccessible. The capital Palermo is a memorable first stop,
a bustling, noisy city with an unrivalled display of Norman art and
architecture and Baroque churches, combined with a warren of medieval
streets and markets. From modern and earthquake-ravaged Messina , the
most obvious trips are to the chic resort of Taormina and the lava-built
second city of Catania . A skirt around the foothills, and even up to
the craters of Mount Etna , shouldn't be missed on any visit to the
island; while to the south sit Siracusa , once the most important city
of the Greek world, and a Baroque group of towns centring on Ragusa .
The south coast's greatest draw is the Greek temples at Agrigento ,
while inland, Enna is typical of the mountain towns that provided
defence for a succession of the island's rulers. Close by is Piazza
Armerina and its Roman mosaics, and to the west, most of Sicily's
fishing industry - and much of the continuing Mafia activity - focuses
on the area around Trápani . To see all these places, you'll need at
least a couple of weeks - more like a month if you want to travel
extensively inland, a slower and more traditional experience altogether.
• Trentino-Alto Adige
Trentino-Alto Adige is something of an anomaly: a mixed German-Italian
region, much of which has only been part of Italy since 1919. Before
then Alto Adige was known as the South Tyrol and was part of Austria. At
the end of World War I, Austria ceded South Tyrol to the Italians, and,
in a bid to make the new territory instantly Italian, Mussolini turned
the name on its head, naming it after the upper reaches of the Adige
River, which bisects the region. Many Tyroleans opted for resettlement
in Germany, but others stayed and have clung tenaciously to their
language, culture and traditions.
Even now, one of the first things you'll notice about Alto Adige is its
German character. Gothic onion-domed churches dot the landscape of
vineyards and forests, street signs are in German, and there's
sauerkraut and strudel on the menu. By contrast Trentino , just to the
south, is 98 percent Italian-speaking, and the food and architecture
belong more to the Mediterranean world than to the Alps. Both parts of
the region enjoy semi-autonomy from central government, along with one
of the highest standards of living in Italy, a consequence of special
grants and aid they receive from Rome - intended to defuse the ethnic
tension that has existed ever since enforced union took place.
If some German speakers are unwilling to remain part of Italy, there are
right-wing Italian speakers who would be equally pleased to see them go.
Friction between the two camps flared up in the Sixties, when Germanic
activists staged disturbances. Talks between the Austrian and Italian
governments brought about a package of concessions and promises from
central government, known as the pachetto , all the provisions of which
have now been implemented. These days, the political climate has shifted
slightly: in the 1993 general elections, the fascist MSI (Movimento
Sociale Italiano), once the most popular party among Italian-speakers,
lost votes; and German-speakers moved away from the extreme nationalist
Union Für Südtirol towards the Northern League and the Greens.
Tourism, farming and wine production are the mainstays of the economy,
and there are plenty of good, reasonably cheap guesthouses and
agriturism places in the mountains and vineyards. Although the region's
resorts can be lethargic, the landscape, dominated by the stark and
jagged Dolomites , is among the most beautiful in the country. Circling
the spiked towers of rock that characterize the range, a network of
trails follows the ridges, varying in length from a day's walk to a two-week
trek; the long-distance trails, called alte vie , can be picked up from
the small resorts.
The chief towns of Trento and Bolzano are the transport hubs for the
region. Trento gives access to most of the western Dolomites: the Pale
di San Martino , a cluster of enormous peaks encircling the high, rocky
plain above San Martino di Castrozza; the Catinaccio (or Rosengarten)
range between the Val di Fassa and Bolzano; the Gruppo di Sella , with
its vie ferrate ; and the glacier-topped Marmolada . Still in the
western Dolomites, but with easier access from Bolzano, are the Alpe di
Siusi , a magical plateau of grass and wetland, high above the valley.
The alpe are enclosed by the peaks of Sasso Lungo (or Langkofel) and
Sciliar (or Schlern); to the north is the quieter Odle (or Geisler
Gruppe). Even further to the west, on the other side of Trento, are the
Dolomiti di Brenta , a collection of wild peaks above the meadows of
Valle Rendena.
The eastern Dolomites start on the opposite side of the Adige Valley,
past Passo di Campolongo and Corvara, with activity focusing on Cortina
d'Ampezzo , self-styled "Queen of the Dolomite resorts" - though
actually just across the regional border in the Veneto. In summer, avoid
the overpopulated peaks like the Tre Cime di Lavaredo and head for
Sorapiss or Monte Pelmo to the south, or Le Tofane and the mountains of
the Fánes-Sénnes-Bráies group to the west. In winter, Cortina comes into
its own as an upmarket ski resort with excellent, if expensive,
facilities.
• Tuscany
Tuscany harbours the classic landscapes of Italy, familiar from
Renaissance paintings and TV travel shows alike, with their backdrop of
medieval hill-towns, rows of slender cypress trees, vineyards and olive
groves, and artfully sited villas and farmhouses. It's a picture that
has long held an irresistible attraction for northern Europeans.
The expat's perspective may be distorted, but Tuscany is indeed the
essence of Italy in many ways. The national language evolved from Tuscan
dialect, a supremacy ensured by Dante, who wrote the Divine Comedy in
the vernacular of his birthplace, Florence, and Tuscan writers such as
Petrarch and Boccaccio. But what makes this area pivotal to the culture
of Italy and all of Europe is the Renaissance , which fostered painting,
sculpture and architecture that comprise an intrinsic part of a Tuscan
tour. The very name by which we refer to this extraordinarily creative
era was coined by a Tuscan, Giorgio Vasari, who wrote in the sixteenth
century of the "rebirth" of the arts. Florence was the most active
centre of the Renaissance, flourishing principally through the all-powerful
patronage of the Medici dynasty. Every eminent artistic figure from
Giotto onwards - Masaccio, Brunelleschi, Alberti, Donatello, Botticelli,
Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo - is represented here, in an unrivalled
gathering of churches, galleries and museums.
Few people react entirely positively to Florence's crowds and its rather
draining commercialism. Siena provokes less ambiguous responses. This is
one of the great medieval cities of Europe, almost perfectly preserved,
and with superb works of art in its religious and secular buildings. Its
beautiful Campo - the central, scallop-shaped market square - is the
scene, too, of Tuscany's one unmissable festival, the Palio , which sees
bareback horse-riders careering around the cobbles amid the brightest
display of pageantry this side of Rome. Other major cities, Pisa and
Lucca , provide convenient entry points to the region, either by air (via
Pisa's airport) or along the coastal rail route from Genoa. Arezzo
serves as the classic introduction to Tuscany if you're approaching from
the south (Rome) or east (Perugia). All three have their splendours -
Pisa its Leaning Tower, Lucca a string of Romanesque churches, Arezzo an
outstanding fresco cycle by Piero della Francesca.
Tucked away to the west and south of Siena are dozens of small hill-towns
that, for many, epitomize the region. San Gimignano is the best-known,
and is worth visiting as much for its spectacular array of frescoes as
for its much-photographed bristle of medieval tower-houses, though it's
now a little too popular for its own good. Montepulciano, Pienza and
Cortona are each superbly located and dripping with atmosphere, but the
best candidates for a Tuscan hill-town escape are little-mentioned
places such as Volterra, Massa Maríttima or Pitigliano , in each of
which tourism has yet to undermine local character.
If the Tuscan countryside has a fault, it's the popularity that its
seductiveness has brought, and you may find lesser-known sights proving
most memorable - remote monasteries like Monte Oliveto Maggiore , the
sulphur spa of Bagno Vignoni , or the striking open-air art gallery of
the Tarot Garden . The one area where Tuscany fails to impress is its
over-developed coast , with uninspired beach-umbrella compounds filling
every last scrap of sand. The Tuscan islands have rather more going for
them - Elba may be a victim of its own allure, but the smaller islands
such as Giglio and Capraia retain a tranquil isolation.
Tuscany's tourist office is based at Via di Novoli 26, I-50127 Firenze (tel
055.438.2111, www.turismo.toscana.it ) - their Web site gives access to
a comprehensive accommodation database and links to all fifteen of
Tuscany's area tourist offices. Finding accommodation can be a major
problem in the summer: you should definitely reserve in advance, even at
budget level. Be warned that the region is also expensive, even by
northern Italian standards, with few hotel doubles costing less than
L80,000/¬42.32 in high season (L100,000/¬51.65 in Florence). Agritourism
is big business, with a plethora of family-run places dotted around the
countryside offering anything from budget rooms in a farmhouse up to
luxury apartments within restored castles or Renaissance villas set
amidst wine estates. The regional government's Web site (
www.agriturismo.regione.toscana.it ) has plenty of information. Call the
toll-free number tel 800.570.530 for timetable and fare information for
all forms of transport - trains, buses and boats.
• Umbria
Often referred to as "the green heart of Italy", Umbria is a
predominantly beautiful region of rolling hills, woods, streams and
valleys, and despite the growing number of visitors has largely retained
an unspoilt air. Within its borders it also contains a dozen or so
classic hill-towns, each resolutely individual and crammed with artistic
and architectural treasures to rival bigger and more famous cities. To
the east, pastoral countryside gives way to more rugged scenery, none
better than the dramatic twists and turns of the Valnerina and the high
mountain scenery of the Parco Nazionale dei Sibellini.
Umbria was named by the Romans after the mysterious Umbrii , a tribe
cited by Pliny as the oldest in Italy, and one that controlled territory
reaching into present-day Tuscany and the Marche. Although there is
scant archeological evidence pertaining to them, it is known that their
influence was mainly confined to the east of the Tiber; the darker and
bleaker towns to the west - such as Perugia and Orvieto - were founded
by the Etruscans , whose rise forced the Umbrii to retreat into the
eastern hills. Roman domination was eventually undermined by the
barbarian invasions, in the face of which the Umbrians withdrew into
fortified hill-towns, paving the way for a pattern of bloody rivalry
between independent city-states that continued through the Middle Ages.
Weakened by constant warfare, most towns eventually fell to the papacy,
entering a period of economic and cultural stagnation that has continued
almost to the present day.
Historically, however, Umbria is best known as the birthplace of several
saints, St Benedict and St Francis of Assisi being the most famous, and
for a religious tradition that earned the region such names as Umbra
santa, Umbra mistica and la terra dei santi ("land of saints"). The
landscape itself has contributed much to this mystical reputation, and
even on a fleeting trip it's impossible to miss the strange quality of
the Umbrian light, an oddly luminous silver haze that hangs over the
gentle curves of the land.
After years as an impoverished backwater, Umbria has begun to capitalize
on its charms. Foreign acquisition of rural property is now as rapid as
it was in Tuscany twenty years ago, though outsiders have done nothing
to curb the region's renewed sense of identity and youthful enthusiasm,
nor to blunt the artistic initiatives that have turned Umbria into one
of the most flourishing cultural centres in Italy. Headline-grabbing
earthquakes in 1997 briefly dented tourist numbers, but they have had a
negligible long-term effect - at least as far as visitors are concerned
- as the majority of sights suffered little damage.
Most visitors head for Perugia, Assisi - with its extraordinary frescoes
by Giotto in the Basilica di San Francesco - or Orvieto , where the
duomo is one of the greatest Gothic buildings in the country. For a
taste of the region's more understated qualities, it's best to
concentrate on lesser-known places such as Todi , Gubbio , ranked as the
most perfect medieval centre in Italy, and Spoleto , for many people the
outstanding Umbrian town. Although there are few unattractive parts of
the Umbrian landscape (the factories of Terni and the Tiber Valley being
the largest blots), some districts are especially enticing: principally
the mountainous Valnerina , Piano Grande and Lago Trasimeno , the last
of which is the largest lake in the Italian peninsula, with plenty of
opportunities for swimming and watersports.
Getting around the region by public transport presents no problems.
Distances between the main sights are short, and there are excellent
rail links both within the region and to Florence and Rome
• Venice and the Veneto
The first-time visitor to Venice arrives with a heavy freight of
expectations, most of which turn out to be well founded. All the
photographs you've seen of the Palazzo Ducale, of the Basilica di San
Marco, of the palaces along the Canal Grande - they've simply been
recording the extraordinary truth. All the bad things you've heard about
the city turn out to be right as well. Economically and socially
ossified, it is losing people by the year and plays virtually no part in
the life of modern Italy. It is deluged with tourists - the annual
influx exceeding Venice's population two-hundredfold. Occasionally
things get so bad that entry into the city is barred to those who
haven't already booked a room. And it is expensive - the price of a good
meal almost anywhere else in Italy will get you a lousy one in Venice,
and its hoteliers make the most of a situation where demand will always
far outstrip supply.
As soon as you begin to explore Venice, though, every day will bring its
surprises, for this is an urban landscape so rich that you can't walk
for a minute without coming across something that's worth a stop. And
although it's true that Venice can be unbearably crowded, things aren't
so bad beyond the magnetic field of San Marco and the kitsch-sellers of
the vicinity, and in the off-season (October to Christmas and January to
Easter) it's even possible to have parts of the centre virtually to
yourself. As for keeping your costs down, Venice has plenty of markets
in addition to the celebrated Rialto, there are some good-value eating
places, and you can, with planning, find a bed without spending a
fortune.
Tourism is far from being the only strand to the economy of the Veneto ,
however. The rich, flat land around the Po supports some of Italy's most
productive farms and vineyards, and industrial development around the
main towns rivals even the better-known areas around Milan, making the
region one of the richest in Europe. At Marghera, just over the lagoon
from Venice, the Veneto has the largest industrial complex in the
country, albeit one that is now in decline. But tourism is important,
and the region has more tourist accommodation than any other in Italy.
After Venice, it's Padua and Verona that are the main attractions, with
their masterpieces by Giotto, Donatello and Mantegna and a profusion of
great buildings from Roman times to the Renaissance. None of the other
towns of the Veneto can match the cultural wealth of these two former
rivals to Venice, but there are nonetheless plenty of places between the
plains of Polésine in the south and the mountains in the north that
justify a detour - the Palladian city of Vicenza , for instance, the
fortified settlements of Montagnana , Cittadella and Castelfranco , or
the idyllic upland town of Ásolo .
For outdoor types, much of the Veneto is dull, consisting of flatlands
interrupted by gentle outcrops around Padua and Vicenza. The interesting
terrain lies in its northern part, especially in the area above Belluno
and Vittorio Veneto , where the wooded slopes of the foothills -
excellent for walking - soon give way to the savage precipices of the
eastern Dolomites. Because most of the high peaks of the Dolomites lie
within Trentino-Alto Adige, and the mountains of the eastern Dolomites
are most easily explored as part of a tour of the range as a whole, the
area of the Veneto to the north of Belluno is covered in the "Trentino-Alto
Adige" section. Similarly, the eastern shore of Lago di Garda is covered
as part of the lakes region in the "Lombardy and the Lakes" section.
|
