Travel

Book your airport parking early to make savings of up to 60% Taking a trip abroad entails many challenges. Not only do we need to book our destination, having considered various options especially if the trip is for a holiday, we have to consider all of the other various parts...

Why Italy? It's not what you think! This is a question I am asked often when people find out I have been leading writing and culture tours to Italy since 2008. The answer is many-fold and layered, and involves far more than something as clichéd as "the countryside / the...

A living museum Italy is a living museum. Her public structures comprise vivid, visible art and architecture that stand as testaments to the country's history and culture. The Roman and Greek empires influenced early Italian design with their mighty temples and impressive amphitheaters, while Renaissance, Baroque and Gothic design later...

Florence lies on the Arno River and has a population of around 400,000 people, plus a suburban population in excess of 200,000 persons. The greater area has some 956,000 people. A center of medieval European trade and finance, the city is often considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance...

Lake Como (Lago di Como in Italian, also known as Lario; Latin: Larius Lacus) is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of 146 km², making it the third largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At 410 m deep it...

Lake Garda (Italian Lago di Garda or Benaco) is the largest lake in Italy. It is located in Northern Italy, about half-way between Venice and Milan. It is in an alpine region and was formed by glaciers at the end of the last ice age. The lake and its...

Naples (Italian: Napoli, Neapolitan: Nàpule, from Greek 'New City') Capital of the Campania region and the Province of Naples. The city has a population of about 1 million. By one count the metropolitan area of city is the second largest in Italy after that of Naples, with more than...

Milan (Italian: Milano) is the main city of northern Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. The city proper (Comune) has about 1,308,500 inhabitants (2004). The population of the urban area (Greater Milan), comprising the core of Lombardy, is estimated, as of 2006, to be about 4,280,820 people. Finally,...

If you're in Italy and want to use a cell phone, here's how to do it Italians are known for talking and their zest for talking on their cell phone is no exception. In fact, Italy has one of the highest cell phone penetrations in the world. Most travelers to...

Venice The number one aim of anyone visiting Venice should be to get lost. The island is a rabbit warren with small streets haphazardly linking the beautiful architecture. Attempting to use a map will only add to new-city-confusion you so throw any form of agenda out the window. A good point...

Our top 10 Italy destinations Italy has much history to be found in its beautiful cities and crisp green countryside, with a superb public transport system to facilitate this (particularly with regards to the train system). Each and every year, millions of tourists flock to the countries beaches, lakes, mountains...

Within its borders Umbria contains a dozen or so classic hill-towns, each resolutely individual and crammed with artistic and architectural treasures to rival bigger and more famous cities. To the east, pastoral countryside gives way to more rugged scenery, none better than the dramatic twists and turns of the...

Culturally impoverished, underdeveloped and - owing to emigration - sparsely populated, Basilicata was long considered only good for taxation, and even then it was mismanaged. Although agriculture was systematized to an extent when these land formed a part of Magna Graecia, by the time the Normans arrived there was...

In the 7th century this province, which had been part of the Byzantine Empire, was overrun by the Lombards, and the name "Calabria" was then applied to the "toe" of Italy, which the Byzantines still controlled. The "toe" had until then been known as "Bruttium". The landscape provides the main...