Where to stay in Italy
Twenty-two places to base a trip, grouped by part of the country — with an honest read on who each one suits, and who it does not.
Start from what you want
First trip, ten days
Rome, Florence and Venice — two nights in Venice, three or four in each of the others.
It's mostly about the food
Bologna as a base, with Modena and Parma as day trips. Then Naples, which is the other half of the argument.
Vineyards and slow days
Chianti or Val d'Orcia, in an agriturismo, with a car and no schedule.
Coast and swimming
The Amalfi Coast if you want the drama, Puglia if you want the sea and fewer people.
Travelling with kids
Rome then the coast. Short train hops, apartments over hotels, and one thing a day.
Somewhere less obvious
Turin, Genoa, Matera or eastern Sicily — all of them proper places, none of them queued.
The three everyone starts with
A first trip is usually two of these, or all three with ten days. They are close, well connected, and each is a day trip away from far more than most people realise.
Rome
Three thousand years stacked on top of each other, still busy being a capital. Stay central and walk — the Forum, the Pantheon and a dozen churches worth the detour are closer together than the map suggests, and the city rewards wandering more than ticking off.
Stays in RomeFlorence
Compact enough to cross on foot in half an hour, and holding more Renaissance art than most countries. Busy in the middle and calm five minutes out; the Oltrarno side of the river is where people actually live and eat.
Stays in FlorenceVenice
Extraordinary and genuinely crowded, and the two are easy to reconcile: stay the night. The day trippers leave around six, and the city that is left — quiet canals, lit windows, footsteps — is the one worth coming for.
Stays in VeniceThe other cities
Less visited, no less good, and noticeably cheaper. Worth a second trip — or a first one, if crowds are the thing you are avoiding.
Milan
Italy's working city, and the country's best rail hub. Design, aperitivo and serious food rather than monuments; a good first or last base because everywhere else is a fast train away.
Stays in MilanTurin
Arcaded streets, grand cafés and the Alps at the end of them. Elegant, under-visited and noticeably cheaper than the cities people fly into — a good choice for a second trip.
Stays in TurinBologna
The food capital, and it does not have to try. Porticoes for miles, a real university city rather than a museum piece, and Modena and Parma close enough for a day out.
Stays in BolognaVerona & Lake Garda
A handsome Roman city with an opera season in its own amphitheatre, at the bottom end of Lake Garda. Works as a base for both, and as an easy stop between Milan and Venice.
Stays in Verona & Lake GardaSiena
A medieval city that stopped growing and never lost its shape — the shell-shaped Campo, the striped duomo, streets that climb. Quieter than Florence and, for a few days, better company.
Stays in SienaPisa & Lucca
More than the tower, and Lucca next door is the reason to stay: a walled town with a tree-lined rampart you can cycle around. A calm base for western Tuscany.
Stays in Pisa & LuccaGenoa & Portofino
A working port with a tangled old town and better food than its reputation, and the Riviera villages start immediately east. Portofino for the look of it; Genoa for actually staying.
Stays in Genoa & PortofinoTuscan countryside
Both need a car and reward one. This is where a week with no fixed plans works better than a week of day trips.
Chianti
The Tuscany people picture — vineyards, cypress avenues, hill towns half an hour apart. Needs a car, and rewards one: this is the area where an agriturismo and no plans is the right way to spend a week.
Stays in ChiantiVal d'Orcia
The valley south of Siena that ended up on every calendar, and it does look like that. Montalcino for Brunello, Pienza for cheese, Montepulciano for both — small towns, long views, slow roads.
Stays in Val d'OrciaLakes and coast
The scenery people picture when they picture Italy. All three are slow to move around, so pick a base you are happy not to leave every day.
Lake Como
Mountains dropping into water, with villages and villa gardens along the shore and ferries doing the work of roads. Bellagio is the postcard; Varenna and Menaggio are easier to stay in.
Stays in Lake ComoCinque Terre
Five fishing villages strung along a cliff, joined by footpaths and a train. Walk between them early, swim in the afternoon, and stay overnight — the middle of the day belongs to the crowds.
Stays in Cinque TerreAmalfi Coast
Vertical villages on a cliff road, and the road is the point and the problem. Beautiful, slow, and best with a base you do not need to leave daily — Positano for looks, Ravello for quiet, Amalfi for getting around.
Stays in Amalfi CoastNaples and the bay
The best eating in the country, the ruins, and the islands — with Sorrento as the base that makes all three easy.
Naples
Loud, unvarnished and the best eating in Italy. Not everyone's first choice and it converts most of them anyway. The base for Pompeii, Herculaneum and the coast south.
Stays in NaplesSorrento
The practical base for the Amalfi Coast, Capri and Pompeii — lemon groves, a cliff-top old town and, crucially, a train line and ferries. Less dramatic than the coast road, and far easier to come and go from.
Stays in SorrentoCapri
A small island that empties in the evening. Day trippers see the port and the Blue Grotto; staying the night buys you Anacapri, the cliff walks and a very different place after the last ferry.
Stays in CapriThe south
Further, slower, cheaper and emptier. Add three days at least; these are not a detour from Rome.
Puglia
The heel: whitewashed towns, trulli, olive groves and a coast on both sides. Slower and cheaper than the north, best in a car, and at its finest either side of high summer.
Stays in PugliaMatera
A city carved into a ravine and lived in for nine thousand years, abandoned within living memory and now extraordinary again. Unlike anywhere else in Italy, and worth the detour south it takes to reach.
Stays in MateraPalermo
Sicily at full volume — Arab, Norman and Baroque layered in the same street, and street food that beats most restaurants. Rough around the edges, and the best market food in the country.
Stays in PalermoTaormina & the east
A Greek theatre with Etna behind it, above a coastline of small beaches. The polished end of eastern Sicily, and the base for the volcano, Catania and Siracusa.
Stays in Taormina & the eastCommon questions
How many places should I stay in?
Two on a week, three on ten days, four if you are travelling for a fortnight. The trains make it feel like you could do more, and every extra move costs you a morning: checking out, crossing a city, checking in, finding lunch.
Which three go together best?
Rome, Florence and Venice, in that order or reversed — they are on one fast line, and the character of each is different enough that a week of them never repeats itself. Add Bologna between Florence and Venice if you have the days.
Do I need a car?
Not for the cities — a car in Rome or Florence is a liability, and the historic centres are restricted-traffic zones that fine you by post. You want one for Tuscany, Puglia and the Val d'Orcia, and you can hire it for those days only.
Is the south worth the extra travel?
If you have ten days or more, yes. Puglia, Matera and Sicily are a different country from the north in food, pace and price — but they are three to five hours further, so they earn their place on a longer trip rather than squeezing into a short one.
When is each area at its best?
The cities are best in the shoulder months and genuinely good in winter; the coast and the lakes want May to September. August is hot everywhere and the cities empty out, which cuts both ways.
Picked your bases? The planner will lay the days out around them.
Build my itineraryKeep planning
The rest of the guides, and the catalogue behind them.