Tourism in Italy is a growing industry. The country was a holiday destination for 420 million visitors in 2017, smashing records by 4.4 per cent compared to the previous year. According to Istat figures, this is 5.3 per cent above the European average.  Rome remains the most popular destination, attracting almost 27 million of these visitors, or 6.4 per cent of the total, followed by Venice and Milan (both 2.8 per cent) and Florence (2.4 per cent).

If you are going to be one of those visiting Bel Paese – the Beautiful Country – you might want to avoid the 2 to 6 per cent in the major cities, but where to start? Here are our recommendations for beautiful, less-populated parts of Italy.