Italien

There's far more to this green corner of Tuscany than Italy's iconic Leaning Tower. Usually hurtled through en route to Florence and Siena's grand-slam queue-for-hours sights, this is the place to take your foot off the accelerator and go slowly – on foot or by bicycle or car. Allow for long lunches of regional specialities to set the pace for the day, before meandering around a medieval hilltop village or along an ancient pilgrimage route.

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.

This part of central Sardinia boasts much of what makes the island such a beautiful and intriguing place: sublime beaches, verdant hills, ancient ruins and mysterious nuraghic temples.

Matstaden Bologna lockar foodies från hela världen, men här finns mängder att uppleva. Vi listar 5 anledningar varför Bologna borde finnas med på allas bucketlista.

Att Italien är vackert är ingen nyhet. Men de här städerna är nästan löjligt bedårande. Skrolla ner och känn hur reselusten tilltar.

In a city of extraordinary beauty, Rome’s ancient heart stands out. It’s here you’ll find the great icons of the city’s past: the Colosseum, the Palatino, the forums and the Campidoglio (Capitoline Hill), the historic home of the Capitoline Museums. Touristy by day, it’s quiet at night with few after-hours attractions.

The volcanic outcrop of Ischia is the most developed and largest of the islands in the Bay of Naples. An early colony of Magna Graecia, first settled in the 8th century BC, Ischia today is famed for its thermal spas, manicured gardens, striking Aragonese castle and unshowy, straightforward Italian airs – a feature also reflected in its food. Ischia is a refreshing antidote to glitzy Capri.

Borromeiska öarna är tre italienska pärlor vackert belägna i Lago Maggiore. Vi tog båten dit och upptäckte botaniska trädgårdar och pittoreska fiskrestauranger.

Sweeping north from the Apennines to the fertile Po valley, Emilia-Romagna boasts some of Italy’s most hospitable people, some of its most productive land, some of its fastest vehicles (Ferrari, Ducati, Maserati and Lamborghini call Emilia-Romagna home) and most soul-satisfying food. Since antiquity, the verdant Po lowlands have sown enough agricultural riches to feed a nation and finance an unending production line of lavish products: luxury cars, regal palazzi (mansions), Romanesque churches, prosperous towns and a gigantic operatic legacy (Verdi and Pavarotti, no less).

Strax norr om Sicilien gömmer sig sju vulkanöar som trots sin skönhet förblivit något av en hemlighet. Vagabonds chefredaktör gav sig ut på en öluff genom den Eoliska övärlden.