Advantages: Beautiful,hot,plenty to do.
Disadvantages: none.

...ITALY Area Covered: 116,333sq miles Population: 56,778,031 Population Density: 188.4 per sq km Northern ITALY Piemonte and Val d’Aosta have some of the highest mountains in Europe, and are very good for winter sports such as Snow boarding and Skiing. There many rivers in Northern Italy and they stretch for many a mile. You can pick up a guided tour of these rivers from nearly all of the jeti points along these rivers. It tends to be a little colder in this part of Italy as it further away from the Mediterranean than the south. It is still very popular though and it would visit it again. CENTRAL ITALY Tuscany in Central Italy has many snow-capped mountains, luscious countryside’s, hills and sandy coast lines and 1 or 2 off-shore islands. Rome is in Southern Central Italy and is the largest in the country... Read review

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Advantages: Good writing, amusing comment and invaluable advice
Disadvantages: Sometimes out of date?

....99 but discounted. See Amazon £9.87 plus delivery. I like the Cadogan Guides and as I am planning a trip to Italy and/or Rome this was my first choice book. I have to tell you that it makes a cracking good read and has certainly helped me to decide what and where I want to go. This guide is bursting with practical information and gives some clear and what can only be described as local in-depth knowledge. I think I would like their job researching, traveling and then writing all about it. This is Cadogans first complete guide to central Italy and covers an area what is sometimes described as the new Tuscany. Dana and Michael, our Italy expert guides, well they feel like your personal guide, lead you through Rome's famous attractions, Lazio's lake district, the isolated mountains of Abruzzo, and the natural parks of Molise. This has to be the guide... Read review

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...The recent growth of business has turned Aulla into an important link for exchanges between Tuscany and Emilia Romagna (the region next to Tuscany). A large Exhibition Complex hosts numerous Fairs taking place the whole year round. Very little is left of the old town; the Brunella Fortress is, however, well worth a visit. It is a manor house of great dimension, which is now home to the Natural History Museum of Lunigiana. To be seen in the vicinity of Aulla: Bibola, Caprigliola and Podenzana, the village where the 'Panigacci' (a type of food baked in terra-cotta earthenware dishes) originates.... Read review

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Advantages: Beautiful Glorious architecture, good food, Culture
Disadvantages: Difficult to find any

...anywhere in Italy for sheer urban beauty and elegant architecture. The Piazza del Campo is the most important magnet of Siena's many attractions and every visit to the city seems irresistably to commence there. It is hardly surprising for the campo ranks among the finest squares in all of Italy and is enclosed by a series of elegant palaces. Not to be missed too is the splendid Gothic Palazzo Pubblico or City Hall and its Museo Civico chocker-block with Sienese paintings. Nearby there is the graceful Torre del Mangia (Mangia tower) with a one-handed clock that used to sound the hour of mangiare (to eat). The Duomo - the colourful cathedral - Took some three centuries to complete. The wait was worthwhile for it is a beautiful building, with its exterior dressed in distinctive layers of white and dark green marble.I think it is among my very... Read review

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Advantages: Genuine and controlled
Disadvantages: no one

...SORRY FOR MY ENGLISH For the friends enrolled of Ciao.co.uk I want to express a modest opinion, for the wine which represents my region, represents Italy in the world, represents the wine in the true sense of the word: Chianti D.O.C.G. The Chianti Melini factory is one of the best wine makers in Tuscany. The zone of production of the Chianti controlled and guaranteed denomination of origin, is constituted from territories delimited by the law, are the provinces of Arezzo, Florence, Pisa, Pistoia, Prato and Siena. This territory is' characterized by system of hills with big terraces with valleys crossed from rivers. The origin of the Chianti wine gets lost in the centuries, but it has had its highest level in the 800 when did obtain the controlled denomination of origin with the Decree of the President dell Republic 9/8/67 in which... Read review

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Advantages: The scenery
Disadvantages: It's busy

...Liguria is one of those places that you'll either keep going back to or wish you'd never been to in the first place! If you don't know, Liguria is the region of Italy nestled between Montecarlo (to the North), Piedmonte (to the East), the Med (to the West) and Tuscany (to the South). It is served by the airports of Nice, Pisa and of course Genoa (all of which are well served by the budget air-lines). The advantage of this great location is that it is ideal for a two-centre holiday if you are nervous about spending the whole time there; you've got the Cote D'Azur & Tuscany on your door-step and you aren't far from Milan and the Italian lakes as well! The region is split into three: The coast to the West of Genova heading up to France (Riviera del Ponente, the sun-set coast); the coast heading East toward La Spezia, Cinque Terre... Read review

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...of their marble, they are to be considered one of the utmost expressions of the karst phenomenon. Here are, actually, deep cavities and impressive mazes of tunnels and underground passages, which, in the Corchia cave, extend for more than 38 miles with a difference in heigth of up to 1,210 metres, making it the largest underground system in Italy and one of the largest in the world. The varied nature of the rocks and the exposure of the slopes subsequently produced an extremely varied vegetation, ranging from typical Mediterranean underbrush to high-altitude beechwoods. Many are the endemic species or those remaining from ancient glaciations. Among the animals, there are no longer the big mammals of the past, also due to the local development of human activities, especially quarrying activities, even if some noteworthy species remain, such as some... Read review

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...In the "GROTTA DEL VENTO" (the "Wind Cave"), stalagtites, drippings, alabaster drapes and stalagmites can be admired along a safe and easy path, climbing up overhanging walls, passing over crystal-clear ponds and running along an underground stream. The visit is divided into five different tours taking from at least one hour (tour number one) up to three hours (the complete tour, the longest-lasting one in Europe). At the ticket office: tourists' information, collection ore and fossil shop, postcards, print-outs and slides. There are also one pretty restaurant and one bar where you could eat the typical tuscany food.... Read review

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Advantages: great town, with a tremendous historical background.
Disadvantages: many tourist. Sometime you will have trouble finding a good accomodation, better ask the help of a tour operator

...If you are planning a trip to Italy don't forget Florence! it is the town where the italian language was born, and it has a charming historical background that you will discover while walking along its streets and bridges. As almost all the italian towns crossed by a river one of these bridges is the Devil's one: the legend is almost the same everywhere, with some variations: the people of the town wanted a bridge, they agreed with the devil that it would have been made and offered back the first soul that would have passed through. Then destiny wanted that that first soul was a dog, or the devil itself that didn't think the terms could be applied to himself.. Another bridge, problably the most famous is the "ponte Vecchio": it is some centuries old, and have been rebuild several times, in the same placement. Once it had some shops... Read review

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Advantages: Fantastic Scenery, wonderfully friendly locals, few tourists.
Disadvantages: None

.... Visit here if you want to try a taste of genuine hospitality, and a way of life to envy. A word of warning however, it really is not like other parts of Italy if you are expecting a Tuscany in the mountains then you will be disappointed. This is an area for people who want to breathe a different way of life, experience Italy without hoardes of tourists, and for those who are willing to try and embrace it.... Read review

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