Italien

Sagolika stränder, autentiska lantgårdar och underskattade storstäder. Italienska Sardinien har det mesta en Medelhavsö kan tänkas behöva. Här är fem favoriter från norr till söder.

Venetian life had its origins in the northern reaches of the lagoon, and when things get too frantic in the city proper, these ancient island settlements remain the best escape. Serious shoppers head to Murano for one-of-a-kind glass art. Others prefer to head to the islands of Burano and Mazzorbo for extended seafood feasts, or to Torcello for glimpses of heaven in the golden mosaics.

Turister på Sardinien har tyckt att sanden på stränderna är så oemotstÙ�ndlig att man valt att packa ner lite i bagaget inför hemresan. Men nu ska sanden som beslagtagits tillbaka där den hör hemma – på den italienska öns idylliska kustlinje.

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.

Charmiga, och inte allt för dyra. Vagabond ger sina bästa tips på trevliga hotell i Rom.

With ancient treasures, medieval towns, remote hilltop monasteries and volcanic lakes, Lazio is one of Italy's great surprise packages.

Italy's peeling, sun-bleached south is the country at its most ancient, soulful and sensual. Down here, the ruins are older, the lunches longer, and the landscapes wilder and more intense.

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.

Cradle of the Renaissance, romantic, enchanting and utterly irresistible, Florence (Firenze) is a place to feast on world-class art and gourmet Tuscan cuisine.

Under Colosseum i Rom går ett enormt närverk av underjordiska tunnlar där gladiatorerna och djuren förbereddes inför sina blodiga strider. För första gången i amfiteaterns historia öppnas nu det 15 000 kvadratmeter stora tunnelnätverket upp för allmänheten!