easy hikes and city walks in Italy
The Riviera is famous for … well, many things in fact – speed boats, card sharps, minor royals – so it never ceases to surprise me how many of the visitors we meet have explicitly come to see one of the gardens of the Riviera. I am – to be honest – not a natural…
Finally, to wrap up our short winter holiday to Campania, a few words about Naples. Naples, after all, is not only the regional capital, but also, with its international airport, the “Gateway to the South” and the obligatory first destination for many international visitors of Italy’s mezzogiorno. But even for those who travel around by…
… and even squeeze a walk into your schedule The Amalfi Coast is one of Europe’s most scenic and famous. It is certainly more dramatic than the Riviera, perhaps its only serious rival in the Champions League of European coastlines, but suffers in comparison by its relative lack of “grand names” and famous resorts. This…
The island of Capri – just off the Italian coast near the southern city of Naples – is a truly dazzling spectacle. You could be forgiven for thinking that a theme park operator had carefully assembled all the familiar Mediterranean motives – azure skies and the turquoise sea, rocks, trees, hills, a marina, caves –…
The architecture of fascism is everywhere in Italy. If you have ever visited the country and are fascinated by fascist architecture, chances are you will have seen loads of it – unknowingly, perhaps, because these buildings blend in well with the rest of Italy’s street furniture, baroque churches and Renaissance palazzi included. The architecture of Italian…
I don’t know about you, but whenever we come across a town that has been labeled a City of the Arts, I get a queasy feeling in my stomach. From experience I know that all too often, this means grim medieval palazzi and stuffy churches that have been packed with dark, baffling and impenetrable paintings…
Today, we will start our second set of walks in Emilia-Romagna. In contrast to the first group of hikes that we posted a few weeks ago – which were full day trips – the shorter walks from this second group require less of a commitment and take a much smaller chunk out of your holiday…
MEDVIEDENKO Of all the cities you visited when you were abroad, Doctor, which one did you like the best? DORN Genoa. TREPLIEFF Why Genoa? DORN Because there is such a splendid crowd in its streets. When you leave the hotel in the evening, and throw yourself into the heart of that throng, and move with…
Hiking in Italy, like so much else in this sweet and lovely country, is by turns an exasperating and wonderful experience. Whether you are getting one or the other is largely determined by the kind of people who are in charge of the town or municipal district you are visiting. Some towns could clearly not…
For most of its history, Rimini – established by the Romans more than 2000 years ago – was a sleepy provincial town on the Adriatic coast. Within 20 years after the end of WWII, however, two dramatic changes occurred: first came the arrival of mass tourism. And then a local boy, the scion of a…