Italy Things to Do

A trip to Italy may not feel complete without a visit to a world-famous art museum or a stroll through a field of Roman ruins, but there’s a side of Italy that’s beyond what the typical “culture vultures” have on their itineraries. Italy is an excellent destination for adventure travelers, too.

So much time is spent extolling the virtues of Italy‘s beautiful beaches, rolling hills, and Roman ruins that it might be easy to forget it’s an incredibly mountainous country. And what do mountains mean in the winter? Skiing, of course. Italy has some of Europe‘s most popular ski resorts, as well as some excellent places to ski that are a little more off the tourist radar.

As crowded as Italy‘s big cities are, there are plenty of green spaces and remote hills that seem ready-made for outdoor enthusiasts. A topographical map of the country reveals that there are a lot of elevation changes packed into this tiny peninsula, which explains why so many Italians are avid hikers. On your next trip to Italy, you can easily work some hikes into your itinerary; whether you plan to hit some easier trails on your own, join a local hiking group for a day, or book an Italy hiking tour. Every region of the country offers opportunities to hike, as long as you’re prepared to head uphill.

The most influential architect of the Western World, Andrea Palladio, awaits you in Vicenza, Italy to show you his masterpiece. After years of restoration work, the Palladian Basillica is again open to the public! You will be able to visit it and see its interior, until now closed for six years, and finally see the huge hall, the corridors and staircases completely restored.

Some cities are just lone wolves – they are not like anywhere else, they have passed from country to country during political upheavals and so have ended up a bit of a hybrid, and geographically they are as hard to describe as never-never land.

Welcome to Trieste.

I have a strange obsession with the small countries of the world. I’m not sure why, perhaps it’s the David versus Goliath nature of these tiny places with populations of under a million people. Nine tiny nations even get together to hold their own Olympic games!

The Republic of San Marino, tucked into Italy, is Europe’s third smallest state after the Vatican and Monaco. It has a population of around 30,000 and is just 24 square miles (61 sq km) in size. The economy is mainly based on tourism and finance, the country has no national debt, almost no unemployment and is one of the world’s wealthiest countries by GDP; no wonder I admire these small yet strong nations.