ITALY

Italy

Indulge your tastebuds and cultural appetite with a trip to Italy where fashionable cities and traditional rural areas make a rich 'la dolce vita' tapestry!

What you need to know about Italy

Language: Italian is the language spoken throughout the country. English is well understood in restaurants, shops and hotels found in the bigger cities that attract lots of international tourists.

Currency: Euro

Banking: ATMs are found all over the country and all major cards are accepted.

Weather: Summers are lovely and hot with exceptional sunny weather found throughout the country. Winters are cold without being too brutal but you will still need a coat packed in your luggage for sure.

Visit Cinque Terre in the Italian Riviera with its collection of beautiful coastal towns.

Pizza, pasta and a tour for your tastebuds

For most travellers the mention of Italy conjures up thoughts of succulent food and some seriously fine wine. You can expect major cities like Rome, Milan and Turin to cater to every whim of your tastebuds  certainly. Outside of the big cities the rural regions of the country like Umbria where truffles and wine are pretty much a mandatory dietary requirement celebrate fresh produce from the 'green heart' of the nation.

There are fabulous places to explore in the aforementioned rural regions like Perugia that sits atop of hills and is one of the more beautiful places to visit when in Italy.

Rich in history

From the renaissance period onwards Italy has played a major part in the cultural and artistic movements that have swept across Europe for hundreds of years. The architecture of famous buildings in Florence, Siena, Pisa and more stand apart as great examples from the middle of the last millennium that have stood the test of time.

Whether it is the Duomo di Milano or the Leaning Tower in Pisa there are plenty of landmarks that are synonymous with Italy and which hark back to a golden era of architectural design.

The jewel in crown in terms of history is certainly Rome with its epic, triumphal buildings (the coliseum alone is staggering) and the Vatican City which it surrounds.  As the empire that once ruled over much of their then-discovered world the Romans of old left an indelible mark on history as well as buildings and  reliquary that blow the mind.

The capital city is amazing and a brilliant place to visit certainly but being able to walk through the gates of the Vatican's city walls and gaze in awe at Michelangelo's ceiling in the Sistine Chapel makes a trip to Rome all the more special.