Confession: I love Rome, but I'm not in love with Rome. My relationship with the Italian capital over the years has passed from infatuation to amore to a sort of admiring appreciation—I mean, Eternal City is a tough tagline to beat—but the simple truth is that the city lacks verve. For creative punch you have to hit Milan, while for the slower, more sensual side of things, get thee to Sicily.

Crazily enough, despite the fact that Sicily is the biggest island in the Mediterranean Sea, other and far tinier Italian islands like the wildly touristy Capri are arguably more familiar to American travelers. One of the biggest roadblocks to exploring Sicily (watching The Godfather again helps up to a point) has been the absence of easy connections from the U.S. True, you could always and can still connect through Rome's frenetic Fiumicino Airport (FCO), but that adds an extra layer of logistics and may cost you more valuable trip time too.