Italien

Sicily's windswept western coast has beckoned invaders for millennia. Its richly stocked fishing grounds, hilltop vineyards and coastal saltpans were coveted by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans and Normans, all of whom influenced the region's landscape and culture. Even the English left their mark, with 18th-century entrepreneurs lured here and made rich by one of the world's most famous sweet wines, marsala.

Eternal crossroads of the Mediterranean, the gorgeous island of Sicily continues to seduce travellers with its dazzling diversity of landscapes and cultural treasures.

Vagabond tips för en smakrik resa från strandpärlan Cefalu till den oupptäckta västkusten.

Vilket är det bästa sättet att motverka eventuell höst- eller vinterdepp om inte en resa? Här listar vi tio sköna weekendstäder, och vad du inte får missa när du reser dit.

Längs kusterna, genom vinodlingarna och upp i bergen. Och så ett nattåg mellan Alperna och Sicilien. Här är sex av Italiens häftigaste tågresor.

Buried for centuries beneath metres of volcanic debris, the archaeological sites scattered between Naples and Castellammare to the south are among the most spectacular Roman relics in existence. These include the ruins of Pompeii and the smaller yet better-preserved ruins of Herculaneum. Beyond them are lesser-known yet worthy archaeological wonders, including the lavishly frescoed villa of Oplontis. Their common nemesis, Mt Vesuvius, offers jaw-dropping summit views and bucolic hiking trails. To the west of Naples lie the sulphuric Campi Flegrei, speckled with Graeco-Roman legends, evocative yet little-visited ruins, and an impressive archaeological museum.

Set in the shadow of the snow-covered Rhaetian Alps and hemmed in on both sides by steep, verdant hillsides, Lake Como (aka Lake Lario) is perhaps the most spectacular of the three major lakes. Shaped like an upside-down Y, measuring around 160km in squiggly shoreline, it's littered with villages, including exquisite Bellagio and Varenna. Where the southern and western shores converge is the lake's main town, Como, an elegant, prosperous Italian city.

Known as the land of the sirens, in honour of the mythical maiden-monsters who were said to live on Li Galli (a tiny archipelago off the peninsula’s southern coast), the area to the west of Sorrento is among the least developed and most beautiful in the country.

I flera år hade Anna och Mats Eriksson närt drömmen om ett italienskt semesterhus. När de äntligen hittade sitt drömhus på en mäklarsida var det mitt under pandemin och omöjlig att åka ned på husvisning. Så de köpte huset ändå – via video.

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.