Italien

Siena is a city where the architecture soars, as do the souls of many of its visitors. Effectively a giant, open-air museum celebrating the Gothic, Siena has spiritual and secular monuments that have retained both their medieval forms and their extraordinary art collections, providing the visitor with plenty to marvel at. The city's historic contrade (districts) are marvellous too, being as close-knit and colourful today as they were in the 17th century, when their world-famous horse race, the Palio, was inaugurated. And within each contrada lies vibrant streets populated with artisanal boutiques, sweet-smelling pasticcerie (pastry shops) and tempting restaurants. It's a feast for the senses and an essential stop on every Tuscan itinerary.

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

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.

The Italian boot’s heel (Puglia), instep (Basilicata) and toe (Calabria) are where the 'Mezzogiorno' (southern Italy) shows all its throbbing intensity. Long stereotyped as the poorer, more passionate cousins of Italy's sophisticated northerners, these regions are finally being appreciated for their true richness. You will see washing on weather-worn balconies, scooters speeding down medieval alleys and ancient towns crumbling under Mediterranean suns. But look past the pasta-advert stereotypes and you'll find things altogether more complex and wonderful; gritty, unsentimental cities with pedigrees stretching back thousands of years; dramatically broken coastlines that have harboured fisherfolk and pirates for millennia; and above all, proud and generous people, eager to share these delights with you.

Gillar du att kombinera världsmetropol med vacker natur, frisk luft – och mängder av tryfflar? Följ med vår skribent Sofia Zetterqvist på jakt efter "det svarta guldet" en timme utanför den italienska huvudstaden.

Efter flera års försening är det till slut grönt ljus för att börja bygga en ny höghastighetsjärnväg mellan Lyon och Turin. Det innebär att du när allt är klart om tio ska kunna resa från London till Milano på sex timmar och från Paris på bara fyra.

With its lyrical landscapes, world-class art and a superb cucina contadina (farmer's kitchen), the Tuscan experience is perfectly in symbiosis with the land.

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.

Sugen på att göra något annorlunda i sommar? Nu erbjuder Airbnb och den lokala organisationen Wonder Grottole möjligheten att testa på livet som invånare i den pittoreska byn Grottole i Italien.

Despite being only a hop, skip and jump from the city’s major museums, most of this ancient part of Florence is far removed from the tourist maelstrom. The streets behind main sight Basilica di Santa Croce are home to plenty of locals, all of whom seem to be taking their neighbourhood’s reinvention as hipster central – epicentre of the city’s bar and club scene – with remarkable aplomb.