Explore Italy with this handy interactive map. Double-click to zoom in, and click and drag to move it around. You can change the view from terrain to a street map or a satellite view of the area you are interested in.
Italy Map
Reply
Category Archives: Hip Guide to Italy
An Alternative Guide to Rome
An Alternative Guide to Rome
As the capital of Italy and former cradle of the Roman Empire, Roma is the exquisite embodiment of La Dolce Vita and a proud culmination of thousands of years of history. No other city has had such a profound impact on Western Civilization.
Rome is home to over 3 million people and UNESCO World Heritage landmarks at every turn. To walk the city blind, sans guidebook, is to stumble on glorious magnum opuses like Trevi Fountain, the Colosseum, monuments of Capitoline Hill and Palatine Hill, Vatican Museums and St. Peter’s Basilica.
Beneath the star attractions however, beats the heart of a feisty, urbane metropolis. Amid a flurry of Piaggios, piazzas and lively espresso bars, Rome is a triumphant destination. Here are some alternatives to consider on your next visit.
The Catacombs of Rome
More than three dozen ancient burial sites proliferate under the streets of Rome. From the spectacular Vatican Grotto and Necropolis under St. Peter’s Basilica to the papal tombs of Callixtus, another world lurks deep below the city. Other catacombs of note include the Jewish burial sites of Vigna Randanini and Villa Torlonia and the impressive Catacombs of Domitilla, with over 15 km of caves and channels.
MACRO Future and Testaccio
The most recent annex to the superb municipal Museum of Contemporary Art of Rome (MACRO) envelops a former industrial slaughterhouse in the newly-hip ‘hood of Testaccio. A paragon of urban redevelopment, the sleek MACRO refurb job is as avant-garde as the art inside. Testaccio is also home to some of the best restaurants and hotels in Rome and main drag Via di Monte Testaccio is where club heads gather until the wee hours.
Escape to Villa Borghese
While the overall aesthetic of Villa Borghese gardens whispers country English manor, the brilliant park is decidedly Roman. The 80-hectare site contains some of the best museums in the city, from the gorgeous Galleria Borghese to the National Museum of Modern Art, complete with works by Mondrian, Picasso, Braque and Pollock. Additionally, the Villa Borghese contains a peripheral gem in the fabulous 16th century Villa Medici, home of the French Academy in Rome. From the Villa, visitors can easily descend the iconic Scalinata della Trinità dei Monti (Spanish Steps) and amble down fashionable Via Condotti.
Trastevere
The grand ensemble of monuments in Rome can detract from some of the most character-rich enclaves in the city. Take Trastevere for instance. The former medieval district is a veritable village within the capital and a premier hub of restaurants, student bars and nightclubs. Landmarks like the Church of Santa Maria, Church of Saint Cecilia and Villa Farnesina make Trastevere worthwhile. The linchpin attraction however is the massive weekly flea market held from Porta Portese to Viale di Trastevere.
A Short Trip to Tivoli
The ancient must-see town of Tivoli is a short 30 km ride from Rome. The trip is a bona fide time warp to a bygone, erstwhile era, with magnificent architecture intact and clear views of the bucolic campagna romana. Two key UNESCO World Heritage Sites draw the lion’s share of attention. The first is the Roman archaeological complex of Villa Adriana. The site covers a square kilometre and is still under excavation. The second UNESCO inscription in Tivoli is elegant Villa d’Este, a masterpiece of Renaissance architecture. The nonpareil palace gardens and fountains draw scores of Rome city-dwellers in the hot summer months.
Italian Cuisine
Cuisine
Italian food inside of Italy is different than Italian in America or western Europe. Italian food is based upon a few simple ingredients and Italians often have very discriminating tastes that may seem strange to Americans and other visitors. For instance, a sandwich stand might sell 4 different types of ham sandwiches that in each case contain ham, mayonnaise, and cheese. The only thing that may differ between the sandwiches is the type of ham or cheese used in them. Rustichella and panzerotti are two examples of sandwiches well-liked by Italians and tourists alike. Also, Italian sandwiches are quite different from the traditional Italian-American “hero,” “submarine,” or “hoagie” sandwich. Rather than large sandwiches with a piling of meat, vegetables, and cheese, sandwiches in Italy are often quite small, very flat (made even more so when they are quickly heated and pressed on a panini grill), and contain a few simple ingredients, rarely, if ever lettuce. Also, a traditional Italian meal is separated into several sections: antipasto (marinated vegetables, etc), primo (pasta or rice dish), secondo (meat course), dolce (dessert). Salads often come with the secondo. Americans will notice that Italian pasta often has a myriad of sauces rather than simply tomato and alfredo. Also, Italian pasta is often served with much less sauce than in America.
Like the language and culture, food in Italy is also very different region by region. Pasta and olive oil are considered the characteristics of southern Italian food, while northern food focuses on rice and butter (although today there are many many exceptions). Local ingredients are also very important. In warm Naples, citrus and other fresh fruit play a prominent role in both food and liquor, while in Venice fish is obviously an important traditional ingredient. As guideline, in the south cuisine is focused on pasta and dessert, while at north meat is king, but this rule can be very different depending where you are.
Pizza is also very different than what Americans are used to…thick, greasy, and unhealthy. In Italy, pizza is very thin, flexible, and very good for you. It’s made with fresh natural non-preservative ingredients. After Italian pizza, the American kind will never be as good again.
A note about breakfast in Italy: breakfast in America is often seen as a large meal (eggs, bacon, juice, toast, coffee, fruit, etc). In Italy, this is not the case. Breakfast for Italians might be coffee with a pastry (cappuccino e brioche) or a piece of bread and cold cuts or cheese. The cappuccino is one shot of espresso, one part steamed milk, one part foamed milk with an optional dusting of chocolate. Unless you know for certain otherwise, you should not expect a large breakfast in Italy. Another enjoyable Italian breakfast item is cornetto (pl. cornetti): a light pastry often filled with cream or nutella.
Usually Italian meals are: small breakfast, one-dish lunch, one-dish dinner. Coffee is welcomed at nearly every hour, especially around 10AM and at the end of a meal.
Breakfast is small in Italy, but boy do they make up for the lost time at lunch and dinner. Dinner, and especially lunch, are seen as huge social time.
Lunch is seen as the most important part of the day, so much that they have one hour reserved for eating and another for napping. Usually referred to as a sesta in Italian, it’s a time when all shops close down and resume after the two hour break period. To get around this businesses stay open later. And, good luck trying to find a place open during sesta time.
Please remember that in Italy cuisine is a kind of art (great chefs as Gualtiero Marchesi or Gianfranco Vissani are considered half way between tv stars and magician) and Italians generally don’t like any foreigner who asks always for spaghetti or pizza, so please, read the menu and remember that almost every restaurant has a typical dish and some towns have centuries-old traditions that you are invited to learn.
Specialties
- Risotto – Rice that has been sautéed and cooked in a shallow pan with stock. The result is a very creamy, and hearty dish. Meat, poultry, seafood, vegetables, and cheeses are almost always added depending on the recipe and the locale. Many restaurants, families, towns, and regions will have a signature risotto or at least style of ristotto, in addition or in place of a signature pasta dish (risotto alla Milanese is famous Italian classic).
- Arancini – Balls of rice with tomato sauce, eggs, and cheese that are deep fried. They are a southern Italian specialty, though are now quite common all over.
- Polenta – Yellow corn meal (yellow grits) that has been cooked with stock. It is normally served either creamy, or allowed to set up and then cut into shapes and fried or roasted.
- Gelato This is the italian version for ice cream, The non-fruit flavors are usually made only with milk. The fruit flavors are non-dairy. It’s fresh as a sorbet, but tastier. There are many flavours: coffee, chocolate, fruit, tiramisù… To try absolutely.
- Tiramisù Italian cake made with coffee, mascarpone, cookies and cocoa powder on the top. The name means “pick-me-up.”
Cheese and sausages
In Italy you can find nearly 400 kinds of cheese, including the famous Parmigiano Reggiano, and 300 types of sausages.
If you want a real kick, then try to find one of the huge open markets, usually on Saturdays, to see all the types of cheeses and meats in action.
Restaurants
Italian restaurants and bars charge more (typically double) if you eat seated at a table rather than standing at the bar or taking your order to go. There is usually small, very small print on the menus to tell you this. Some menus may also indicate a coperto (cover charge) or servizio (service charge).
Traditional meal includes (in order) antipasto (starter), primo (first dish – pasta or rice dishes), secondo (second dish – meat or fish dishes), served together with contorno (mostly vegetables), cheeses/fruit, dessert, coffee, spirits. Italians usually have all of them served and restaurants expect customers to follow this scheme; elegant or ancient restaurants usually refuse to make changes to proposed dishes (exceptions warmly granted for babies or unhealthy people) or to serve them in a different order, and they absolutely don’t serve cappuccino between primo and secondo.
Agree whether you want primo (pasta or rice dishes) or secondo (meat dishes – if you want vegetables too look under contorni and order them as sides). When pizza is ordered, it is served as a primo (even if formally it is not considered as such), together with other primi. If you order a pasta/pizza and your friend has a steak you will get your pasta dish, and probably when you’ve finished eating the steak will arrive. It’s slightly frowned upon to ask them to bring primo and secondo dishes at the same time (or “funny” changes like having a secondo before a primo). They may well say yes…and then not do it. Bad luck if you’re doing the Atkins diet…
Restaurants which propose diet food, very few, usually write it clearly in menus and even outside; others usually don’t have any dietetic resources, as Italians on a diet don’t go to the restaurant.
Italian restaurants are completely non-smoking or have a non-smoking area which is well separated from the smoking area; so says a law, but you will discover that Italians have a friendly approach to laws and rules… This particular law is respected almost everywhere, though. Better anyway to precisely ask for an effective smoking or non-smoking area.
When pets are allowed (not a frequent case), never order ordinary dishes for them; in particular, never ever order meat for your pet, this would seriously upset waiters and other customers. In case of need, you might ask if the chef can kindly propose something (he usually can).
Better to leave tips in cash (not on your credit card).
Out of the restaurant, you might eventually be asked to show your bill and your documents by Guardia di Finanza agents (a police specialised in tax subjects – never in uniform); whatever they show you, immediately try to call #113 (similar to America’s 911 – english spoken) and ask for policemen in uniform to help you, it could be a trick to pickpocket you. This kind of controls is effectively frequent (they want to know if the owner regularly recorded your money) and completely legitimate, but pickpocketers find it a good excuse to approach their victims. Call 113 or enter the first shop.
Pizza is a quick and convenient meal. In many large cities there are pizza shops that sell by the gram. When ordering, simply tell the attendant the type of pizza you would like (e.g. pizza margherita, pizza con patata, etc.) and how much (“Vorrei duecento grammi, per favore”). They will slice it, warm it in the oven, fold it in half, and wrap it in paper. Other shops also sell by the slice, similar to American pizza shops. Getting your meal on the run can save money–many sandwich shops charge an additional fee if you want to sit to eat your meal.
Drink
Bars are, like restaurants, non-smoking.
Italians enjoy going out during the evenings, so it’s normal to have a soft drink in a bar as pre-dinner. It is called Aperitivo. Within the last couple years, started by Milan, a lot of bars have started offering fixed-price cocktails at aperitivo hours (18 – 21) with free, and often a very good buffet meal. It’s now widely considered stylish to have this kind of aperitivo (called Happy Hour) instead of a structured meal before going out to dance or whatever.
While safe to drink, the tap water in many parts of Italy can be cloudy with a slight off taste. Most Italians prefer bottled water, which is served almost exclusively in restaurants. Make sure you let the waiter/waitress know you want regular water or else you could get frizzante (or fizzy club soda water) water.
Wine
The Italian Wine is the most exported all over the World. In Italy the wine is a substantial topic, a sort of test which can ensure you respect or lack of attention from an entire restaurant staff (this is why the first question is what you are going to drink). If you are a true connoisseur, don’t allow your waiter to discover it; if you don’t know how to distinguish wines other than by their color, don’t allow your waiter to figure it out either.
Before reaching Italy, have a quick overview on most important regional types (of the region you are planning to go to) and when on site ask the waiter for one of them (not too young, not too old), he/she will suggest you 4/5 wines (always choose the second or the third one). Pay attention to the fact that as Italian Cuisine can be very different region by region (sometimes also town by town), so it can be with wine. So, for example, avoid asking for a bottle of Chianti if you’re not in central Tuscany, Italians are masters to match the exact wine with a dish and often every dish has an appropriate wine. The popular “color rule” (red wines with meat dishes, white wines with fish) can be happily broken when proposed by a sommelier or when you really know what you are doing: Italy has many very strong white wines to serve with meat, as well as very delicate red wines for fish.
The “vino della casa” (home-made wine) can be a good drinking opportunity in small villages far from towns (especially in Tuscany), where it likely could be what the patron would really personally drink and/or produce. Otherwise, it usually is a mixture of low-quality poor wines: low price, low flavour, possible day-after-headaches. Good wine can be very costly, but bad wine is still expensive.
Near the town of Alba (Cuneo Province), in the Piedmont grows the Nebbiolo grape, a noble grape. From this grape is produced the prestigious Barolo wines. It has been called the “king of wine” and the “wine of kings.” It is considered one of the world´s best red wines. It is a DOCG wine, made entirely from the Nebbiolo grape. Once you have experienced good examples of this wine, you will begin to understand its nobility.
Foreign wines are rarely served (just check the house wine list), but many grapes have French names (like Cabernet-Sauvignon).
Beer
Beer belongs to the Italian tradition as wine does, therefore pubs serving beer are very common. If you are looking for good beers you won’t find any problem, you just have to look around a little bit more. First of all, it is very common to import beers from Germany and Belgium. Irish pubs are very common, too. Besides that, Italy prodouces ca. 10 type of Beers. The most known are: Peroni Gran Riserva (completely different from the standard Peroni, that is just a plain lager), a double malt strong Lager, and Moretti la Rossa (again, completely different from the standard Moretti lager), a dark Vienna lager. There is also a series of beers called Amarcord made with traditional techniques (they have a website in both Italian and English [www.amarcord.it]). Anyway, if you go to a pub with a big selection of beers, just ask the people working there for a suggestion.
Other drinks
Limoncello. A licquor made of alcohol, lemon peels, and sugar. Limoncello can be considered a “moon shine” type of product as every Italian family, especially in the middle (near Napoli) and southern part of the country, has their own recipe for limoncello. Because lemon trees adapt so well to the Mediterreanean climate, and they produce a large amount of fruit continually throughout their long fruit-bearing season, it is not unusual to find many villa’s yards filled with lemon trees bending under the weight of their crop. You can make a lot of lemonade, or better yet, brew your own limoncello. It is mainly considered a dessert liquor, served after a heavy meal (similar to amaretto), and used for different celebrations. The taste can be compared to a very strong and slightly thick lemonade flavor with an alcohol tinge to it. Best served room temperature or chilled in the freezer. It is better sipped than treated as a shooter.
Don’t forget Grappa. You’ll either like it or you won’t. It’s made by fermenting grape stems, so you could imagine how it might taste. If you’re going to drink it, then make sure you get a bottle having been distilled multiple times.
Source: Wikipedia
Italy Facts
| Capital | Rome |
| Government | republic |
| Currency | euro € (EUR) |
| Area | 301,230 sq km |
| Population | 58,133,509 (July 2006 est.) |
| Language | Italian (official); minor German, French and Slovene-speaking communities |
| Religion | predominately Roman Catholic (official) with mature Protestant and Jewish communities and a growing Muslim immigrant community |
| Electricity | 230V/50Hz (European or Italian plug) |
| Calling Code | +39 |
| Internet TLD | .it |
| Time Zone | UTC +1 |
Source: Wikipedia
Getting Around Italy
By train
The Italian rail system has different train types: TBiz, EurostarItalia, Eurostar City Italia, IntercityPlus, Intercity, Espresso, Interregionale and Regionale, Eurostar Italia and TBiz being the classiest. Generally speaking, for a given distance each tier costs twice as much as the one below it. The train cars used by the TBiz and Eurostar Italia services are far newer than those used by the other types, but are not necessarily more comfortable. In fact, the cars used by Intercity trains might be split up into distinct, six-seater compartments, which is really nice when you’re travelling in groups. A new level has been introduced recently. It is called Intercity-plus and it is just a way to have passengers pay more than the intercity fares. Recently, many of Interegionale trains have been classified as Intercity.
The main practical difference between train types is reliability. Intercity services are generally very reliable, but if you need to catch a flight, for example, it might be better to pay extra for the Eurostar Italia. Interregionale and Regionale are less reliable, and stops in many more stations along the way. The other big difference between TBiz, Eurostar Italia, Intercity Plus and Intercity with Interregionale, Regionale and Espresso services is that on the best ones seating reservation is compulsory, where every passenger has a seat allocated to him/her. This means that the train will never (theoretically) be packed with an impossible number of people, but it also means you will need to purchase tickets in advance. Actually, many passengers with tickets for other trains that take a wrong one will have to pay the cheap fine for not having a seat reservation. As a result, on major routes or peak hours, expect to find your seat taken, in this case usually a brief discussion is enough to get your seat. During commuter hours, on major north-south routes during the holidays, or before and after large political demonstrations, trains on the lower train types can become extremely full, to the point where it gets very uncomfortable, in which case you could find yourself sitting on a tiny fold out flap in the hallway, where you’ll have to move for everyone passing by.
The pricier train types are usually faster, but there is not a consistent speed difference between trains. The main difference being the number of stops made along the same routes. On some routes, the Eurostar will cut the travel time in half, but on others all trains go more or less at the same speed, and taking the Eurostar Italia might be a waste of money. Just check the FS website or the printed schedule, usually located near the entrance to each platform, to see how long the trip will take.
On long routes, such as Milan – Rome or Milan – Reggio Calabria, Trenitalia operates special night trains Treni Notte. They depart around 10pm and arrive around 6am and don’t have beds but it could be a useful options to save money and time.
The ultimate way to get the cheapest train tickets is to leave early in the morning usually before 7:00am.
On the train schedules displayed at each station, every train is listed in different colours (i.e. blue, red, green). The arrival times are listed in parentheses next to the names of each destination. One thing to watch out for is that certain trains only operate seasonally, or for certain time periods (for example, during holidays).
The lines to buy tickets can be very long, and slow, so get to the station early. There are touch-screen ticket machines which are very useful, efficient, and multilingual, but there are never that many, and the lines for those can be very long too.
To avoid queues at the station you can reserve tickets in advance via the internet at the Trenitalia website. You can then either print out your reservation details or have them sent by SMS to your mobile phone. Phones do not need to be Italian. The conductor will validate your reservation details when you are on the train and provide you with your ticket.
Eurostar trains can fill up, so if you’re on a tight schedule you should buy those tickets in advance. If you are running late and don’t have time to buy a ticket, you can just jump on the train, but you will have to pay extra when the conductor (il controllore) comes around (a flat fee, somewhere around 5-10 euro) and they don’t take credit cards. Technically, if you don’t have a ticket you are supposed to find the conductor yourself and buy one (otherwise you have to pay another fee – approx. 20 euro), but for foreigners it’s enough to just stammer something about being late and they will almost never hassle you about this.
Also, the way the system works is that unless you validate the ticket by inserting it into one of the yellow boxes on the platform (it says Convalida on the box), you could keep using it for months. The yellow box just stamps a date on the ticket, so the conductor knows you weren’t planning on using that ticket again. Technically, a ticket that isn’t validated is just like not having a ticket: you have to buy another. It is quite important not to forget to validate your ticket as the conductors are generally not tolerant in this particular matter.
The cheapest way to travel in a region is to buy a zone ticket card. A chart displayed near the validating machine tells you how many zones you must pay between stations. To buy a zone card for the next region you would have to get off the train at the last station and because the stops are so short you would have to board the next train (usually in about 1 hour).
As of January 10, 2005 a smoking ban in public places went into effect in Italy. You will be subject to fines for smoking on any Italian train.
There are special deals offered too…some of them are reserved to foreign tourist and others are available to locals. Some deals are passes that allow travel during a chosen period, while other special offers are normal tickets sold at decent prices with some restrictions. Before you choose to buy a pass, check first if it is cheaper than buying a normal ticket (or better, a discounted normal ticket, if available).
If you are travelling a lot, and you’re not Italian, you can get a TRENITALIA PASS: you buy a number of days of travel to be used within 2 months, however you still have to pay a supplement on the compulsory reservation services, i.e. TBiz, Eurostar Italia, Intercity Plus and Intercity which will between EUR 5.00 and EUR 25.00 depending on the train type. Details are on the Trenitalia website [11], and also on RailChoice website at [12].
By car
Italy has a well-developed system of highways in the northern side of the country while in the southern it’s a bit worse for quality and extension. Every highway is identified by an A followed by a number. Most of the highways (autostrade) are toll roads. Some have toll station giving you access to a section, others have entrance and exit toll stations. Don’t lose your entrance ticket or you will be charged for the longest distance (example: if you are on A1 Milano-Napoli at Milan toll station you’ll be charged for the entire 700km distance). All the blue lanes (marked “Viacard”) of toll stations, accept major credit cards as well as pre-paid card (Viacard) you can buy at tobacconist, Autogrill, gas stations.
Many italians uses an electronic pay-toll device, and there’s reserved lanes marked in Yellow with the sign “Telepass” or a simply “T”. Driving through those lanes (controlled by camera system) without the device will result in a fine of 50 euros and a payement of the toll from the longest distance. Due to agreement with other countries,if you’re foreigner, you’ll pay also extra cost for locating you in your country.
Policemen sometimes read your ticket at the toll station to see how long you took since joining the autoroute: they can use that info to give you a speeding ticket. Even if speeding is very common on Italian Highways, be aware that there are a number of automatic and almost invisible system to punish speeding and hazardous driving. If you don’t know the road very well you should probably keep a reasonable speed.
Since 2006, some highways are checked by the “Tutor”, an automatic system that checks your average speed on a long section (5-10 kms).
A good clue of a nearby check system is when cars around you suddenly reduce speed. If you see a lot of cars keeping themselves just under the limit and nobody overtaking, you’d better do the same.
Speed limits are:
- 130 km/h on highways (autostrade);
- 110 km/h on freeways (superstrade);
- 90 km/h on single-lane roads;
- 50 km/h inside cities.
Italian laws allow a 5% tolerance on local speed limit. Fines are generally very expensive.
Motorbikes should drive always with the headlights on, for other veichles that applies only outside cities.
Drink and driving is a controversial issue. The tolerated limit is 0.50g/L in blood, being above this limit is thus illegal and can entitle you an expensive fine and licence withdraw and maybe also a night in jail, but you’ll find that people of every age are not significantly worried for that and there’s nothing such designated driver or else. All passengers are required to wear their seat belt and children under 10 must use the back seat. Unless clearly posted on the road you are using, you are supposed to yield to any vehicle coming from your right from another public thoroughfare. Signposts used in Italy are patterned according to EU recommendations and use mostly pictograms (not text) but there are minor differences (example: highways directions are written on green background while the white stands for local roads and blue for the remaining).
There is also an Italian carpool agency called ViaVai.
By bus
Buy bus tickets before boarding from corner stores and other shops. The payment system for most mass transit in Italy (trains, city buses, subway) is based on voluntary payment combined with sporadic enforcement. Specifically, you buy a ticket which can be used at any time (for that level of service, anyway) and when you use it you validate the ticket by sticking it into a machine that stamps a date on it. Once in a while (with varying frequency depending on the mode of transportation) someone will ask you for your ticket and if you don’t have one you get a fine, and theoretically (sometimes happens) you can be asked to present to the Police for a formal report. Usually line enforcers aren’t very condescending, especially in northern Italy. In almost every city there’s a different pricing scheme, so check in advance ticket formulas and availability.
For tourist may be very convenient to buy daily (or multi-day) tickets that allow you to travel as much as you want in a single (or more) day. Every major city also has some type of City Card, a fixed-fee card allowing you to travel on local public transportation, visit a number of museums and giving you discounts on shops, hotels and restaurants.
Check for both these possibilities at local Tourist’s Office or on city’s website (which is often of the form www.comune.cityname.it as for example www.comune.roma.it).
By thumb
Hitchhiking in Italy is related with the hippies and “on the road” kind of culture. Therefore, it is considered out-dated and useless. You will rarely find Italians hitchhiking unless there’s a serious problem with the bus or other means of transportation. Hitchhiking in the summer in touristy areas works okay because you’ll get rides from Northern European tourists, and it works okay in very rural areas as long as there is consistent traffic (because you’re still playing the odds), but hitchhiking near large cities or along busy routes is extremely frustrating. As long as you stay on the Autostrada, hitching from one “Area Servizio” to the next, you will not have any trouble crossing the country. Off the Autostrada things are a bit more difficult: Italians are generally very friendly and open people, but they’re less likely to pick up hitchhikers than anyone else in the world. It is easier to hitchhike out of the Bronx than it is to hitchhike in Italy. Hitchhiking is not recommended for women travelling alone. Hitchhiking along expressways and highways is forbidden.
By Boat
For sailors and non-sailors alike: Italy is best approached from the sea and it is more convenient and comfortable than traditional onshore “tours”. A yacht charter to Italy is the most fulfilling way to experience this magnificent country. Although the yacht charter industry is smaller than one would expect for this incredibly popular tourist destination, there are many reasons to choose a yacht over a more conventional onshore approach. The Italian coast, like the French coast, attracts luxury yacht charters of the highest standards. “Touring” Italy from a private yacht is surprisingly convenient and comfortable. Experience the breathtaking scenery, fascinating history and the unrivaled Italian lifestyle as local Italian people do when on their vacations. Italy’s dramatic coastline is best appreciated from the sea and the Italians know it! In between visiting the numerous cultural destinations for which Italy is renown, there is always time to take a refreshing swim. Most enjoyable, is relishing the fact that from a private yacht you have a certain relief from the crowds and traffic that are traditionally unavoidable in Italy’s most popular destinations. There are major distinct nautical regions in Italy: Tuscany, Amalfi Coast, Sardinia and Sicily. Each has its own flavor and focus. Be sure to plan your itinerary carefully as each region is rewarding in its own particular way.
Source: Wikipedia