Chiesa di Santa Maria dei Miracoli
Venice
This magnificent church was built between 1481 and 1489 to house Nicolò di Pietro's Madonna icon after the painting began to miraculously weep in its…
Must-see attractions in Italy
Riserva Naturale dello Zingaro
Western Sicily
This coastal nature reserve is a hiker's paradise and a haven for wildlife, including the rare Bonelli’s eagle and 40 other bird species. Wild carob and…
Lipari
Lapped by clean waters and surrounded by sheer cliffs, this dark, pebbly beach on Lipari's southwestern shore is a dramatically beautiful swimming and…
Santa Maria Novella
Don't allow the Renaissance to distract you from Florence's fantastic modern art museum, at home in a 13th-century pilgrim shelter, hospital and school. A…
La Costiera Triestina
Sitting on a rocky outcrop 7km from Trieste, Castello di Miramare is the city's elegiac bookend, the fanciful neo-Gothic home of the hapless Archduke…
Southern Rome
These are the largest and busiest of Rome’s catacombs. Founded at the end of the 2nd century and named after Pope Calixtus I, they became the official…
Milan
Conceived by designer Miuccia Prada and architect Rem Koolhaas, this museum is as innovative and creative as the minds that gave it shape. Seven renovated…
Capri
Villa Jovis was the largest and most sumptuous of 12 Roman villas commissioned by Roman Emperor Tiberius (AD14–37) on Capri, and his main island residence…
Duomo & Piazza della Signoria
Home to the wealthy Davanzati merchant family from 1578, this 14th-century palazzo (mansion) with a wonderful central loggia gives you a view into…
Emilia-Romagna
Each year, hundreds of thousands of petrolheads make the pilgrimage to this museum in Maranello, Ferrari's home town. They come here to obsess over the…
Western Sardinia
The choppy blue waters of the Golfo di Oristano provide a magnificent backdrop to the ruins of ancient Tharros. Founded by the Phoenicians in the 8th…
Valle d'Aosta
A fort has existed here for millennia and the current 1830s Savoy edifice is an imposing one, set high up upon a rocky escarpment at the jaws of the Valle…
Le Marche
This majestic hilltop sanctuary is one of Italy's most celebrated pilgrimage sites. The basilica, built between 1469 and 1587, is a stunning hybrid of…
Cagliari
Of the four museums at the Cittadella dei Musei, this is the undoubted star. Sardinia’s premier archaeological museum showcases artefacts spanning…
Southwestern Sardinia
Rising above the rolling green landscape, La Giara di Gesturi is a high basalt plateau famous for its wild horses and uncontaminated natural beauty. The…
Southern Rome
Towering over green fields, this 2nd-century villa is one of Rome's unsung splendours. It was the luxurious abode of two consuls, the Quintili brothers,…
Molise
One of Molise’s hidden treasures, the Roman ruins of Saepinum are among the best preserved and least visited in the country. Unlike Pompeii and Ostia…
Southwestern Sardinia
A marvel of early-20th-century engineering, Porto Flavia is a port dug into cliffs 50m above the sea. Consisting of two 600m tunnels and an ingenious…
Basilica di Sant'Apollinare in Classe
Ravenna
This signature early Christian basilica, lighter than Ravenna's other churches, is situated 5km southeast of town in the former Roman port of Classe. Its…
Milan
Designed by homegrown talent Piero Portaluppi, this exquisitely restored 1930s villa was commissioned by Pavian heiresses Nedda and Gigina Necchi (of the…
Bari
Bari's signature basilica was one of the first Norman churches to be built in southern Italy, and is a splendid (if square and solid) example of Pugliese…
Western Sardinia
Just off the SS131 north of Oristano, the sanctuary at Santa Cristina is an important nuraghic complex. The nuraghic village's extraordinary Bronze Age…
Northeastern Sardinia
Rising from the sapphire sea like some kind of giant sea creature, this rocky island is a sight to behold. The main draw is splashing about in the…
Umbria
Although the Basilica di Sant'Ubaldo, perched high on Monte Ingino, is a perfectly lovely church, the real adventure is getting there on the funivia. The…
Pisa
Pisa's unusual round baptistry has one dome piled on top of another, each roofed half in lead, half in tiles, and topped by a gilt bronze John the Baptist…
Galleria d'Arte Moderna Achille Forti
Verona
In the shadow of the Torre dei Lamberti, the Romanesque Palazzo della Ragione is home to Verona's jewel-box Gallery of Modern Art. Reached via the Gothic…
Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art
Udine
Udine’s modern and contemporary hub brings together a number of bequests, creating a substantial collection of 20th-century Italian artists, including De…
Piedmont
This Gothic-Romanesque abbey, brooding above the road 14km from Turin, has kept sentry atop Monte Pirchiriano (962m) since the 10th century. It housed a…
Trieste
This extraordinary house-museum was the home of wealthy Triestini merchant Pasquale Revoltella, who made his fortune in the timber industry and had a hand…
San Gimignano
The 13th-century Palazzo Comunale has always been the centre of San Gimignano's local government; its magnificently frescoed Sala di Dante is where the…
Syracuse
Built on the skeleton of a 5th-century BC Greek temple to Athena (note the Doric columns still visible inside and out), Syracuse's 7th-century cathedral…
San Polo & Santa Croce
A soaring Gothic church, the Friary's assets include marquetry choir stalls, Canova's pyramid mausoleum, Bellini's achingly sweet Madonna with Child…
Chianti
At Castello di Ama, centuries-old winemaking traditions meet cutting-edge contemporary art in a 12th-century borgo (agricultural estate). As well as…
Sassari
Sassari's premier museum, housed in a grand Palladian villa, has a comprehensive archaeological collection and an ethnographical section dedicated to…
Verona
Across the river from the historic centre, these sculpted gardens are considered a masterpiece of Renaissance landscaping, and are named after the noble…
Musei Civici di Palazzo Buonaccorsi
Le Marche
Deep in the historic centre, the 17th-century Palazzo Buonaccorsi houses three of Macerata's best museums. The Museo delle Carozza boasts an extensive…
Genoa
Skirting the northern edge of the old city limits, pedestrianised Via Garibaldi (formerly Strada Nuova) was planned by Galeazzo Alessi in the 16th century…
Museo Nazionale Etrusco di Villa Giulia
Rome
Pope Julius III’s 16th-century villa provides the often-overlooked but charming setting for Italy’s finest collection of Etruscan and pre-Roman treasures…
Lecce
It seems that hallucinating stonemasons have been at work on the basilica. Sheep, dodos, cherubs and beasties writhe across the facade, a swirling…
Porto Venere
At the end of the quay, a Cinque Terre panorama unfolds from the rocky terraces of a cave formerly known as Grotta Arpaia. Lord Byron once swam across the…
