Italy unusual places to visit

It is neither a pub legend nor a temporary installation. In Abruzzo, there is a wine fountain that pours Montepulciano d’Abruzzo day and night, free of charge, for anyone who approaches with a glass. The Abruzzo wine fountain is a permanent feature within a working winery, created for walkers and travellers making their way through the coast and hills.

Prince Salina knew that “if we want things to stay as they are, things will have to change”. On Pantelleria, one of Italy’s most remote islands, time seems to have taken that line quite literally.

A tiny hilltop settlement in Lombardy has earned its identity through a free-roaming feline colony that has lived among its stone houses and lanes for generations.

A supermarket in Venice is drawing attention for a detail that has nothing to do with pasta offers or the weekly shop. Despar Teatro Italia occupies a former Neo-Gothic and Art Nouveau theatre, where original decorative details and a ceiling fresco remain in place above the shelves.The unusual

A medieval castle on the Lazio coast played an unexpected part in Cleopatra (1963), the Hollywood epic starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

There is no need to travel as far as England to see a genuine English-style garden in Italy. Liguria has one overlooking the sea, with blooms that have few rivals in the country. On the hillside above Alassio, the Gardens of Villa della Pergola combine Mediterranean views with exceptional botanical collections, including iconic wisteria and a record-breaking collection of agapanthus.

Rome has an old riddle hidden in plain sight.

Italy has more than 7,400 kilometres of coastline, yet every summer millions of people end up on the same beaches, at the same stabilimenti — beach clubs — and in the same resorts. A short distance from the best-trodden routes, there are lesser-known seaside towns where beaches can still be qui

Elba may seem familiar at first, until you come across corners that change the picture entirely: a green lagoon where swimming is forbidden, a black beach reached only by taking the walk slowly, and a fortress that never fell under siege. These are six unusual, lesser-visited places on Elba, giving a different perspective on Tuscany’s best-known island in the archipelago.

In a small village in Tuscany’s Valdarno Aretino, the sound of running water is part of daily life.

How relevant can the art of getting lost still be? In Italy, more than you might think. Across lagoon islands, historic parks and Alpine settings, mazes are once again becoming places to experience, photograph and talk about. The following selection, covering Venice, Parma and Verona, brings together five mazes recognised for their appeal, history and originality, already popular with families and enthusiasts.

A village of stone houses, a bell tower rising from the sumac bushes, and the sound of water still flowing along the valley floor. It looks like a movie set from another era, but it's real: Cunziria, an ancient 19th-century tannery village near Vizzini, in the province of Catania.

Can people still live in a village with no roads, where the sea is the only way in and night is properly dark?On the south-western side of Stromboli, that is everyday life. One village is cut off by steep slopes and volcanic rock, so no cars, no scooters, no constant background noise.

Nature lovers looking for a summer outing that is a bit different may find these hidden spots a pleasant surprise. Often little-known but full of character, they suit anyone keen to explore somewhere more authentic.

Almost three thousand years of history have not settled one of literature’s most absorbing questions: where are the places of Odysseus and the Odyssey really located? Over the centuries, Homer’s poem has served as a compass for geographers, philologists and sailors trying to overlay its map onto the Mediterranean, gathering evidence, clues and theories that can sometimes fit together surprisingly well. The result is an itinerary touching Sicily, Lazio, Campania, Tunisia, Greece and the waters around Malta.

Condé Nast Traveler has included a quiet spot on Italy’s Amalfi Coast in its 2026 list of the 20 most beautiful towns in the world.

Summer 2026 could be the perfect opportunity to choose Italian islands where mass tourism doesn't dictate the agenda. These are destinations that still thrive on authenticity, offering essential services but memorable experiences. Here, then, are five "off-the-beaten-path" destinations for those seeking a truly carefree vacation, with helpful tips for arriving prepared and enjoying every day without the crowds.

On Lake Como, there is a place where the sound of motorboats fades away, and only the water remains. The steep slopes shape the scene: houses clinging to the rock, narrow lanes, old mule tracks and a gorge where two streams meet before plunging towards the lake. The result is a striking orrido – a steep, narrow ravine – with a waterfall dropping for more than 200 metres and a stone bridge reached via a long staircase. It is a break along the road between Como and Bellagio, with a lesser-known extra just above the village: Onzanigo and the Val de Tuf.

On the Amalfi Coast, there is a place that manages to avoid the crowds, even on warm weekends. An authentic fishing village at the heart of the UNESCO World Heritage Site has crystal-clear water, a slower pace of life and prices that can be more affordable than expected. Just when it seems every corner of the coast is already familiar, this coastal spot comes as a surprise: there are spacious, well-kept free beaches and seafood cooking centred on the day’s catch.

In the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines lies a village that draws thousands of visitors each summer in search of something increasingly hard to find: cooler weather. It sits 1,020 metres above sea level in the province of Modena and is known as the “Pearl of the Apennines”. The title is not simply a local nickname. The Touring Club Italiano has awarded it the prestigious Bandiera Arancione (Orange Flag), recognising the quality of its natural surroundings and visitor services.

Stromboli can be visited in just a day, but it's captivating and memorable. It's the only Aeolian island with a perpetually active volcano. For this reason, here you'll find white houses nestled against the black mountain, lava-sand beaches, car-free streets, and a crater that lights up every evening.

Forty years after the death of Jorge Luis Borges and 15 years after its inauguration, the labyrinth dedicated to him by the Giorgio Cini Foundation on Venice’s Island of San Giorgio Maggiore has been renewed. One of the Venetian cultural heritage’s most iconic and poetic spaces has now reopened

Walking among stone walls, towers rising above the hills, and cobbled lanes that seem frozen in time is an experience Italy does particularly well. The most beautiful medieval villages in Italy tell the story of an era shaped by castles, Romanesque churches and communities perched high up for protection, places that have since become popular travel destinations.

The award-winning director Christopher Nolan has returned with a new cinematic adaptation of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, with Matt Damon in the star role. For a story so strongly rooted in a specific geographical and cultural imagination, which locations were chosen?

An uninhabited island, flat as a table and hidden among sandbanks and canals: one of the most surprising places in the Venetian Lagoon is about to be reopened. San Giacomo in Paludo, just over a hectare between Murano and the route to Burano and Torcello, is at the center of a project that combines environmental restoration, research, and contemporary art.