Italy - Highlights
Rome is where it all started 2,500 years ago, with the Roman Forum, the Colosseum and the Pantheon. Head onwards in time between the 15th and 17th centuries, as architects, painters and sculptors produced Rome's elegant baroque churches, piazzas and fountains.
Italy's top cultural attractions include Rome's vast Vatican Museum with 8km of exhibition halls, and Florence's Uffizi Gallery displaying Renaissance paintings and sculptures by Giotto and Michelangelo. Peruse Venice's Accademia Gallery exhibiting masterpieces by Titian and Tintoretto, and the 20th-century Guggenheim Collection, showing Surrealist works in a modern gallery overlooking the Grand Canal.
Start with archaeological sites, including Rome's Roman Forum, the lava-covered ruins of Pompeii near Naples and the Greek theatre at Taormina on Sicily. Must-see churches and cathedrals are St Peter's in Rome, Il Duomo in Florence, and St Mark's in Venice. Squeeze your way up Pisa's bizarre Leaning Tower, and view Venice's romantic Grand Canal from a gondola.
Children will love the Pinocchio Park in Collodi near Florence, with bronze sculptures and mosaics celebrating the infamous wooden puppet. Also fun is Gardaland on Lake Garda near Verona, Italy's largest theme park with countless pools, water rides and rollercoasters. Swim in the warm Mediterranean, take a cable-car ride through the Alps and become experts in all-too-tasty Italian gelati (ice cream).
Note that many museums and galleries are closed on Monday, and that exposed flesh is not welcome in churches (both men and women should have shoulders and thighs covered). The passeggiata (evening stroll) is really a mass catwalk, so get your coolest outfit and a wiggle on.
Overlooking the sparkling Sorrento Gulf, listen to Caruso (Te Voglio Bene Assai) by Lucio Dalla. Explore cobbled back streets to Se Bastasse una Canzone by Eros Ramazzotti. On your last day before leaving, learn Bella Ciao, a partisan song by an unknown author from 1943.
