Close

Swimming in UNESCO-protected canals. Breaking into historic sites. Driving down the world's most famous staircase. And just when you thought that was as bad as it gets: smashing priceless sculptures in a fit of pique. As travel restrictions dropped this summer and tourists flooded back to Europe, the news of visitors behaving badly in Italy just ke...

460

Thankfully, things have changed a great deal since I first arrived in Italy to take up the position as U.S. Consul General in Florence in July of 2020. Finally able to get out and about more, I have lately taken to grabbing my backpack and getting out to explore places that are off the beaten path in Tuscany.  I recently had the opportunity to expl...

306

As I walk through the gate of the 600-year-old Castel Sismondo in Rimini on Italy’s Adriatic Coast, I’m enveloped by a muttering voice. No, the voice isn’t my own internal monologue saying, “um, what is this trippy place,” though it does add to that sentiment. Instead, the voice sputters trains of thought in Italian, with notes and scripts from the...

483

In Italy there is the Vatican State that with its 44 hectares is the smallest in the world both in terms of territorial extension and number of inhabitants. It is an enclave in the territory of the Italian Republic that is inserted in the urban fabric of Rome. The city state was created in 1929 with the Pacts Lateranensi. Here you can find out what...

426

I just got back from an incredible time in Rome and, while I’m currently in a carb coma (not complaining), it was a trip that reminded me how special this city truly is. A city in which history is frozen in time. Yes, it’s filled with tourists, and yes, it’s expensive AF. But hot damn it’s beautiful. From walking through the ruins of the Roman Foru...

413

There are green fertile valleys, old brigands' hideaways, cherry orchards -- and a mysterious flask allegedly containing a very special blood. Amaseno, a tiny village located in the province of Frosinone between Rome and Naples, harbors a mystical secret that, locals say, questions the laws of nature. The villagers venerate a glass vial said to con...

333

Italy is a country full of towns and villages rich in history, natural beauty and gastronomic delights that are worth exploring. Today we discover Spello, one of the most beautiful medieval villages of the peninsula. Spello is located in Umbria and is located not far from Foligno, Assisi and Perugia and almost at the foot of Mount Subasio: it is an...

278

There are Italian villages that sell houses for the price of a cup of coffee, places that pay you to move there -- and now there's a region that will pay you just to visit. Friuli Venezia Giulia, in the far northeast of the country, will reimburse visitors' journeys if they travel by train from anywhere in Italy. If that's not enough to make you ho...

1012

I was standing on the terrace of a medieval castle–turned restaurant, watching the sun setting over hills dotted with farmhouses and vineyards, when an Andrea Bocelli song planted itself in my head — clearly my subconscious calling me out for being a walking Tuscan tourist cliché. I sipped my glass of Chianti in spite of myself and snapped another...

483

Rome plans to offer travelers the chance to bypass its famously crippling traffic by flying in air taxis directly from the city center. The goal is to have the service up and running in 2024, ahead of a year-long Vatican celebration the following year known as Jubilee. A ride from the central Termini rail station, where the air taxi terminal could...

304