Italien

För den som planerar en resa till den italienska kuststräckan Cinque Terre är det viktigt att packa med rätt skor. Att ge sig ut och vandra med flip-flops, pumps eller sandaler på fötterna kan resultera i böter på upp till 25 000 kronor.

Boasting a wealth of diversions, this huge area extends to Rome’s southern limits. Glorious ancient ruins lounge amid pea-green fields and towering umbrella pines along the cobbled Via Appia Antica, one of the world's oldest roads and pot-holed with subterranean catacombs dating to the dawn of Christianity. By contrast, post-industrial Ostiense blasts visitors straight back to the modern age with its edgy street art, superb local dining and heaving nightlife. Then there's EUR, an Orwellian quarter of wide boulevards and linear buildings.

Gourmets get ready to indulge: the rolling hills, valleys and townships of southern Piedmont are northern Italy's most redolent pantry, weighed down with sweet hazelnuts, rare white truffles, arborio rice, delicate veal, precious cheeses and Nebbiolo grapes that metamorphose into the magical Barolo and Barbaresco wines. Out here in the damp Po river basin, the food is earthy but sublime, steeped in traditions as old as the towns that foster them. There's Alba, the region's vibrant, pretty capital; Bra, home of the Slow Food Movement; Pollenzo, host to the University of Gastronomic Sciences, and the constellation of charming villages that includes La Morra, Neive, Barolo and Barbaresco. Further north, the Monferrato area occupies a fertile triangle of terrain between Asti, Alessandria and its historical capital, Casale Monferrato. Vineyards fan out in all directions interspersed with castles and celebrated restaurants.

Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper and the Basilica di Sant’Ambrogio draw visitors to these leafy streets, but there’s an equal mix of sacred and secular here. Milan’s stock exchange sits on Piazza degli Affari, hence the chic shops on Corso Magenta and the aperitivo bars full of young bankers. Historically affluent, this neighbourhood is also home to the Milanese elite, and if you're lucky you may glimpse a sumptuous private courtyard. To the south and west, the vibe grows more casual, influenced by students at the sprawling Università Cattolica.

Campania is the Italy of your wildest dreams: a rich, intense, hypnotic ragù of Arabesque street life, decadent palaces, pastel-hued villages and aria-inspiring vistas.

I Santo Stefano di Sessanio hittar Vagabonds chefredaktör ett hotell som ligger utspridd i olika tradtionella hus runtom i den medeltida bergsbyn.

Sicily's wild and empty interior is a beautiful, uncompromising land; a timeless landscape of silent, sunburnt peaks, grey stone villages and forgotten valleys. Traditions live on and life is lived at a gentle, rural pace. It's an area that encourages simple pleasures – long lunches of earthy country food, meanders through hilltop towns, quiet contemplation over undulating vistas. It’s also an area of surprising natural diversity – one minute you’re driving through rolling hills reminiscent of Tuscany, the next through pockets of eucalypt bush akin to Australia.

Tröttnat på snöfattiga dalar och hederliga men lite tråkiga alphotell? Vänd blicken uppåt. I italienska Aostadalen bor man bäst på bergens snösäkra rifugios. Med dem som utgångspunkt blir skidresan en totalupplevelse för hela familjen.

Flamboyant, guarded, feisty yet staunchly aristocratic, Palermo is a seething mass of contradictions. Pock-marked buildings, broken pavements and decrepit infrastructure reveal deep political and economic cracks, and yet all are easy to overlook when you enter a church full of luminously beautiful Byzantine mosaics, wander along a street of stately baroque palazzi (palaces) or eavesdrop on the genial banter between canny stall owners and bargain-hunting housewives at a street market. Palermo is a cryptic creature, a city where nefarious neglect and soul-stirring beauty have always linked arms, where preconceptions are concurrently affirmed and subverted, where light and shade stir impressions that bury deep under your skin.

Nu öppnar flera länder i Europa för besökande turister. Från och med 30 juni blir det möjligt att besöka de flesta Medelhavsländerna. Men länderna har infört olika restriktioner och krav. Vagabond har kollat läget för Grekland, Italien och Spanien – svenskarnas favoriter!