Italien

Inspiring natural beauty goes hand-in-hand with history and urban charm in Sardinia's northwestern corner.

Fusing haughty elegance with down-to-earth grit in one beautifully colonnaded medieval grid, Bologna is a city of two intriguing halves. One side is a hard-working, high-tech city located in the super-rich Po valley where suave opera-goers waltz out of regal theatres and into some of the nation's finest restaurants. The other is a bolshie, politically edgy city that hosts the world's oldest university and is famous for its graffiti-embellished piazzas filled with mildly inebriated students swapping Gothic fashion tips.

Italy's second-largest lake, Maggiore is one of Europe's more graceful corners. Arrayed around the lakeshore are a series of pretty towns (Stresa, Verbania, Cannobio and, on the Swiss side of the border, Locarno) and these serve as gateways to gorgeous Maggiore islands. Behind the towns, wooded hillsides rise, strewn with decadent villas, lush botanical gardens and even the occasional castle. Further still from the lakeshore, but not as far as you might think, the snow-capped peaks of Switzerland provide the perfect backdrop and idyllic vantage points over the lake are many, from the breakfast terrace of your lakeside hotel to the eyries reached by cable car from Locarno, Laveno and Stresa. And fabulous detours await, whether into the high valleys from the northern end of the lake or to Orta San Giulio to the southwest, one of the region's most beguiling villages.

Öluff i Italien – visst låter det som en dröm! Vi guidar dig till Eoliska öarna och tipsar om hur du tar dig dit, hur du tar dig runt, vart du ska bo och introducerar de sju öarna.

Fenomenet med italienska byar som rear ut hus för en spottstyver har pågått några år. Oftast har det handlat om orter en bra bit från huvudstaden, men nu har bergsbyn Maenza – bara sju mil söder om Rom – lagt ut sina första hus för 10 kronor. Totalt vill man sälja 100 hus!

Att vandra i italienska Dolomiterna är något helt fantastiskt och lyxigare än många kanske vet. Vi tipsar om rutt, boenden, packning och mycket mer.

Italy's largest sea port is indefatigably contradictory, full at once of grandeur, squalor, sparkling light and deep shade. It's a gateway to the Riviera for many travellers today, but a weighty architectural heritage speaks of its former glory – the Most Serene Republic of Genoa ruled over the Mediterranean waves during the 12th to the 13th centuries – and history feels alive in Genoa. No more is this true than in its extensive old city, an often confronting reminder of premodern life with its twisting maze of caruggi (narrow streets), largely intact. Emerge blinking from this thrillingly dank heart to Via Garibaldi and the splendid Enlightenment-era gold-leaf halls of the Unesco-listed Palazzi dei Rolli.

The jagged peaks of the Dolomites span the provinces of Trentino and Alto Adige, jutting into neighbouring Veneto. Europeans flock here in winter for highly hospitable resorts, sublime natural settings and extensive, well-coordinated ski networks. Come for downhill or cross-country skiing and snowboarding or get ready for sci alpinismo (an adrenaline-spiking mix of skiing and mountaineering), freeride, and a range of other winter adventure sports including those on legendary circuit Sella Ronda. This is also a beautiful summer destination, offering excellent hiking, sublime views and lots of fresh, fragrant air.

Häng med på en solig öluff i södra Italien! Här tipsar vi om en episk ö-kombo och ger förslag på hur du syr ihop din egen drömresa. Vi reser med färja mellan några av Medelhavets mest legendariska och undersköna öar, från Capri till Stromboli.

Toscana är en välbesökt region i Italien och de vanliga resmålen som Siena, Florens, San Gimignano och Pisa dryper av turister. Men är man en vin-nörd, eller reser med en, hittar man guldklimpar bortom turiststråken. Här är en favorit!