Italy is less a single destination than twenty regions that happen to share a passport. Rome carries the weight of antiquity and the papacy; Florence and Siena hold the Renaissance; Naples is denser, louder and arguably eats better than either. The north - Milan, the lakes, the Dolomites - feels closer to Switzerland than to Sicily, which is closer in spirit to North Africa. Trains connect the major cities efficiently, though the further south you go the more patience the timetable asks for. Cities are busiest between June and August, when heat in Rome and Florence becomes genuinely punishing. April, May, September and October are the reliable months. Many museums close on Mondays, and a great deal closes entirely in mid-August.
europe
Italy
Three thousand years of layered history, and a food culture that changes meaningfully every eighty kilometres.
Photograph: Gabriella Clare Marino / Unsplash
Where to go
Cities in Italy
Each city page covers when to go and what is worth your time.