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Italy
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When to visit
Attractions in Italy
1. Colosseum, Rome
Quick facts: Walking through the worn tiers, you can almost hear echoes of shouts and trumpets, while sunlight slices through the arches to spotlight the arena below. Over 80 numbered entrances once funneled roughly 50,000 spectators into the stands within minutes, a neat example of ancient crowd-management and theatrical showmanship.
Highlights: Press your palm to the honey-colored travertine and imagine roughly 50,000 people surging through 80 numbered arches as the inaugural games held by Emperor Titus in AD 80 went on for 100 days, filling the air with dust, sweat, and trumpet blasts. Peer down at the exposed hypogeum and you can picture a maze of stone corridors and trapdoors where pulley lifts hauled lions and chariots into the light, while sailors from the Roman navy once hauled a vast canvas awning overhead to shade the crowd.
2. Vatican Museums and St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican City (Rome)
Quick facts: Winding galleries flood your senses with marble, frescoes and tapestries; the museum complex quietly houses about 70,000 works, with many thousand pieces on display and rooms that feel like private palaces. Climb the vast dome for a panorama that compacts centuries into a single sweep, then stand beneath the nave to feel the scale of Michelangelo's Pietà and Bernini's dramatic sculptures up close.
Highlights: Step into a chapel where Michelangelo painted roughly 300 human figures across a vaulted ceiling between 1508 and 1512, and you can almost feel the brushstrokes in the plaster when sunlight skims "The Creation of Adam", where the two fingers stop just a few centimeters apart. Near the central basilica, Gian Lorenzo Bernini's 29-meter bronze canopy towers above a tomb believed to belong to Saint Peter, while the Swiss Guard, formed in 1506 and still only about 110 men, patrol in bright blue, red, and yellow uniforms that whisper on the cobbles as they march.
3. Leaning Tower of Pisa, Pisa
Quick facts: From the base you sense a charming tilt underfoot, and the narrow spiral climb rewards you with unexpectedly wide rooftop and skyline views. Engineers removed soil beneath one side to reduce the lean by about 45 centimeters, so it still tilts enough to turn photos into playful optical tricks.
Highlights: Climb 294 narrow marble steps to a bell chamber perched roughly 56 meters high, where the whole structure leans about 4 degrees after restoration, giving a surreal sideways skyline that used to tilt as much as 5.5 degrees before engineers stabilized it. Local storytellers love to mention that Galileo allegedly dropped two different-weight spheres from the top to test gravity, and when you stand inside the belfry you can hear the hollow echo of centuries-old bells and taste salt air on the breeze.
4. Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore (Duomo), Florence
Quick facts: Step inside and your neck snaps back at the immense octagonal dome looming overhead, its interior frescoes by Giorgio Vasari and Federico Zuccari swirling in dramatic, almost dizzying color. Filippo Brunelleschi solved a staggering engineering puzzle with a double-shell dome about 45.5 meters across, laid in a herringbone brick pattern so it could be raised without full wooden centering, a feat that still fascinates architects and engineers.
Highlights: Brunelleschi pulled off building an enormous octagonal dome between 1420 and 1436 without full wooden centering, using a herringbone brick pattern and two nested shells, and you can climb 463 narrow steps to the lantern and feel the warm, slightly dusty brick under your palms. Above the nave there’s a rare 24-hour clock painted by Paolo Uccello that still puts "24" at sunset, and every Easter a dove-shaped rocket called the Colombina zips along a wire to trigger a burst of sparks, filling the air with a dry, gunpowder-sweet smoke that smells like burnt sugar.
5. Piazza San Marco (St. Mark's Square) and St. Mark's Basilica, Venice
Quick facts: Low-angle light turns the open square into a stage of cafés, musicians and a constant flutter of pigeons that keeps photographers on their toes. Step under towering arches and the golden mosaics swallow the gaze, tiny glass tesserae flashing like coin-like lights across soaring domes.
Highlights: When acqua alta floods the big open square in autumn and winter, crews roll out long raised wooden walkways called passerelle so people can still sip espresso at café tables while the 98.6 meter bell tower shimmers in puddles, the air thick with brine and roasted coffee. Four ancient bronze horses that once graced the façade were dragged off to Paris by Napoleon in 1797 and only returned after 1815, so the originals now sit behind glass while replicas watch over the crowds, their green-brown patina catching the sun and smelling faintly of salt.
6. Pompeii Archaeological Site, near Naples
Quick facts: Cobblestone streets thread between frescoed homes and bustling bakeries, so you can almost hear merchants shouting and smell oven smoke while you walk among the ruins. Plaster casts of people caught by the eruption are hauntingly intimate, while thousands of everyday objects have emerged to reshape our picture of ancient urban life.
Highlights: Walk down sun-baked stone streets where over 1,000 plaster casts freeze people mid-motion, mouths open and clothing folded around their limbs, so lifelike you expect a whisper to float out. Peer into a carbonized bakery where 81 loaves still sit on shelves, crusts scored with knife marks and the ghostly scent of toasted grain almost imaginable.
7. Positano, Amalfi Coast
Quick facts: A cascade of pastel houses tumbles down the cliffside, with narrow stairways, lemon-scented terraces, and tiny boutiques that make wandering feel like a treasure hunt. Small boats thread turquoise water below, and the steep walk to the main beach includes hundreds of steps, so bring water and expect plenty of photo stops.
Highlights: A blue-and-gold majolica dome crowns a church that guards a 13th-century Byzantine black Madonna, a weathered icon locals say was hauled from a wrecked merchant ship and still draws crowds every August 15 for a fireworks-lit procession. Stacked pastel houses tumble down the cliff like a watercolor staircase, lemon trees perfume the alleys with bright citrus oil and dozens of tiny painted gozzi bob on the pebble shore, their varnish catching the last copper light of sunset.
8. Vernazza, Cinque Terre (Liguria)
Quick facts: Colorful houses climb a dramatic sea cliff, framing a tiny fishing harbor where nets are mended on sun-warmed stone and cafés pour espresso that smells of salt and caramel. A short cliffside trail rewards hikers with postcard panoramas and surprisingly quiet sunsets once the day-trippers head back to the trains.
Highlights: Wake before sunrise for the tiny horseshoe harbor where pastel houses press close to the water, watch fishermen haul ashore about a dozen wooden boats as the air fills with lemon zest, tar, and the briny tang of fresh anchovies. On July 20, locals still shoulder a centuries-old statue up the steep stone alley at midnight, lanterns clinking, and fireworks rattle the shutters like gunfire against the cliffs.
9. Bellagio, Lake Como
Quick facts: Brightly painted houses spill down a narrow promontory where three arms of the lake meet, and ferries stitch together a surprisingly extensive waterborne transport network. Visitors wander fragrant, flowered promenades and manicured villa gardens, pausing at lakeside cafés for espresso while passing boats send silver wakes against ancient stone quays.
Highlights: Perched where the lake splits into three arms, the town's narrow cobbled alleys glow at dusk with warm lamp light, the air heavy with lemon blossom and the sharp, toasty smell of polenta frying. At night locals sit on the long stone steps by the water to watch tiny ferries slip past and to exchange gossip over espresso, a low-key ritual that's been going on for generations.
10. Mount Vesuvius, near Naples
Quick facts: From the summit a startling panorama unfolds: steam vents and jagged lava scars sit beside vineyards rooted in nutrient-rich ash. A single eruption once buried an entire ancient town in minutes, and trails bring you close enough to taste tangs of sulfur on the wind.
Highlights: Climb to the summit at 1,281 meters and you'll walk on layers of 2,000-year-old pumice and ash from the 79 CE eruption, the ground crunching underfoot while a sharp tang of sulfur and the warm smell of roasted chestnuts drifts by. Local guides delight in the eerie human detail that a Roman naturalist died watching the 79 CE eruption, a story they tell in hushed voices as hikers trace the same ash layers under their boots.
Popular Cities in Italy
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Day trips
Florence
Renaissance art and architecture — Uffizi, Duomo and Ponte Vecchio.
Google MapsNaples & Pompeii
Historic Naples and the archaeological site of Pompeii nearby.
Google MapsTivoli
Villa d'Este gardens and Hadrian's Villa — grand historic villas.
Google MapsOstia Antica
Well-preserved ancient port ruins — quieter than Pompeii.
Google MapsComments (8)
Buy intercity train tickets early, IC and Frecce fares drop a lot in advance, local trains are fine without reservations.
Coastal towns were unreal, but regional trains ran late a few times. Two weeks felt rushed, aim for 10 days per region to relax.
Got sunburned in late May, weather is finicky in spring. People are warm, but pickpocket risk higher in crowded metros.
Italy blew my expectations, food every day was incredible, cities crowded in July, budget more for food and museums than you think.
Check museum websites, many offer free entry days or timed slots, book popular galleries weeks ahead to avoid queues.
Getting there
Train stations
High-speed connections to Milan, Florence, Naples; regional lines
High-speed to Rome, Venice, Turin; international links
Regional and high-speed links to Milan, Padua; access to islands
Use high-speed trains (Frecciarossa/Italo) for intercity travel; Leonardo Express from FCO to Termini.
Click to get eSim for Italy
The easiest and most affordable way to get mobile internet wherever you travel.
Rent a car in Italy
Visa & entry
EU/EEA, USA, Canada, UK, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South Korea, Israel, many Latin American countries
Citizens of several countries including India, China, Nigeria, many African and some Asian countries typically need a Schengen visa
Have onward/return ticket and Schengen-compliant travel medical insurance on arrival.