25 Reasons Italians Do It Better

People often ask me about my favorite destination.

1. Piazza del Campo (Siena)

One of Europe’s most fabulous medieval squares in Siena, Tuscany.

2. Siena Cathedral

Its façade and Latin cross shape make it one of the most fascinating churches in all of Italy.

3. Pienza

This Tuscan World Heritage Site is also known as “the touchstone of Renaissance urbanism.”

4. Montepulciano

Medieval and Renaissance charming town in the Tuscan wine country.

5. Leaning Tower (Pisa)

The freestanding bell tower of Pisa Cathedral leans in a four-degree due to an unstable foundation.

6. Pisa Cathedral

This masterpiece of Pisan Romanesque architecture is the oldest of three medieval structures in Pisa’s Square of Miracles. 

7. Baptistery of St John (Pisa)

The largest baptistery in Italy also tilts (0,6 degrees) towards the Cathedral.

8. Monteverdi Marittimo

A charming little stone village with the best views of the Tuscan hills, valleys and vineyards.

9. Cinque Terre

Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore form the Cinque Terre National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

10. St Mark’s Square (Venice)

Historic Venice’s main square it’s also famous for its susceptibility to flooding. 

11. Gondolas (Venice)

Venice’s traditional and iconic mode of transport, a 30-minute ride, goes from $85 ($100 or more if the gondolier performs).

12. Bridge of Sights (Venice)

The white limestone bridge that connects the New Prison to the interrogation rooms in the Doge’s Palace was the last view of Venice that convicts had.

13. Trevi Fountain (Rome)

One of Rome’s most iconic sights and star of films including “La Dolce Vita” and “Roman Holiday,” tourists throw in an estimated € 3 thousand every day.

14. Colosseum (Rome)

The largest ancient amphitheater ever built (50 to 80 thousand spectators) and the largest still standing hosted gladiatorial shows and exotic animal hunts.

15. Pantheon (Rome)

Former Roman temple and, since 609 AD, a Catholic Church, is one of the best-preserved of all ancient structures.

16. Piazza Navona (Rome)

It was built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, where the ancient Romans went to watch the athletic games from the 1st century AD.

17. Monument of Victor Emmanuel II (Rome)

A magnificent Medieval white marble structure that dominates Rome’s skyline, it’s the monument to the first king of a united Italy.

18. Villa Lysis (Capri)

French poet and pedophile Jacques d’Adelswärd-Fersen built it in 1905 as a self-chosen exile site after a sex scandal in Paris.

19. Villa Jovis (Capri)

Where paranoid Roman emperor Tiberius lived and ruled (and from where he tossed his enemies to the Mediterranean).

20. Casa Malaparte (Capri)

Conceived in the 1930s by writer and filmmaker Curzio Malaparte as an example of Italian modernist architecture, it is now a cultural center.

21. Punta Carena Lighthouse (Capri)

A popular spot from where to watch spectacular sunsets, it’s active since 1867 and oversees the Mediterranean Sea all the way to Sicily.

22. Sorrento Peninsula (Gulf of Naples)

Located on the north coast of the Gulf of Naples, across from the legendary Amalfi Coast, it produces the famous digestive Limoncello.

23. Florence

The capital of the Tuscan region was one of the wealthiest European centers of trade and finance during the Medieval Ages, and it’s considered the birthplace of the Renaissance.

24. Lake Como

One of the “James Bond 007” famous filming locations because of its beauty with a backdrop of the Alps in Northern Italy.

25. Milan

The second most populated Italian city after Rome, and one of the most important financial centers in Europe, it’s also the world’s fourth fashion capital after London, New York and Paris.