Lonely Planet Italy (Travel Guide)

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Dattilo The intense flavours of Calabria are showcased at Caterina Ceraudo’s Michelin-starred agriturismo (farm-stay). Dress codes Many high-profile religious sites enforce dress codes, so if you want to get into St Peter’s Basilica or Venice’s Basilica di San Marco, play it safe and cover your shoulders, torso and thighs. And know that if we were speaking face to face, I would have accompanied my speech with a truly impressive collection of hand gestures. Here, small villages shine through a unique light, and the flavours of a simple cuisine are reminiscent of a past where each civilisation that has come and gone left its indelible traces.

Tucked away in a particularly mountainous kink at the eastern end of the Italian Riviera, the villages of the Cinque Terre (pronounced chin-kwe ter-re, with a rolled "r" sound) were shaped by their profound isolation. Hotels and many restaurants close, but there are apartment rentals for the adventurous and romantic. Favignana is, first and foremost, their home where the day’s catch ends up in brown-paper cones of deep-fried frittura mista (mixed seafood) and wild botanicals with salty water from an artisan well end up in Isola di Favignana craft gin.

Brainwash – l’arte di accontentare (Fedez; 2013) Platinum-selling album by homegrown rapper, partner of social-media star Chiara Ferragni.

Witness dazzling displays of Early Christian mosaics at the Basilica di San Vitale and Basilica di Sant’Apollinare Nuovo 4 in Ravenna. Relive the past at Pompeii, take a world-class Tuscan wine tour and explore the unspoilt wilderness of Sardinia; all with your trusted travel companion. In winter, skiers and snowboarders sweep down slopes everywhere from the northern Alps to the southern Apennines.

Since our inception in 1973, we've inspired generations of travelers to discover amazing places and enabled curious travelers to get off the beaten paths to appreciate different cultures and become agents of positive change. Many hilltop towns put on evocative medieval festivities during the year, often to celebrate a patron saint or commemorate a historic event. The result is a remarkable series of imperial palaces, royal retreats, Renaissance mansions and aristocratic villas. Corniglia is the "quiet" middle village that sits atop a 330ft-high rocky promontory surrounded by vineyards.

During the Corsa degli Zingari, hundreds of hardy runners hurtle barefoot around stony mountain paths near the small Abruzzo town of Pacentro. Summon the roar of the crowds as you scale the stands of the Colosseum 1, the greatest gladiatorial amphitheatre in the Roman world. During spring and autumn, the less hot times of the year, it's common to meet groups of adventurers that cycle along the way.Still, this might be the best time to sit at a neighborhood cafe, drink an espresso and chat with pugliesi. Lonely Planet's mission is to enable curious travellers to experience the world and to truly get to the heart of the places they find themselves in. We’re united by many things, including our shared love for our heritage, which we hate to see disrespected, so my heartfelt advice is to not jump in any fountains or take stones from archaeological sites. Embraced by raw wilderness, the seemingly pixelated quarries of white marble are evidence of the environment’s finitude. What’s new: we reveal what’s happening, from e-bike tourism in Tuscany, to Rome’s urban hostel boom, and a new zipline above Pacentro for cultured thrillseekers.