Europe: Italy

Italy is loved for its passion, romance and culture! The Italians saw the beginning of the Renaissance in Tuscany and the country serves as seat for the Catholic Church. Italy is famous for its artist’s movements such as the Baroque and Renaissance. Great artists from Italy include Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, Botticelli and Fra Angelico, Donatello and Titian, Bernini and Tintoretto - and many more.

Italy’s topography shows it is surrounded by the Adriatic Sea (on the East) and the Tyrrhenian Sea (on the West) and has the large Garda Lake, covering 370 km² and the Po River. Italy has many islands including Sardina and Sicily, has a long, boot shape with the Alps in the front and the Apennine Mountains at its back.

Of the European Volcanoes, the Etna is the largest active, situated in Italy.
The Italian Climate differs greatly in the different regions. The peninsula-area South of Florence plus the coastal Liguria are often Mediterranean with mild winters, the Northern and Inland areas of Bologna, Turin and Milan are usually subtropical and humid with mild winters, while the interior higher altitudes can experience wet, snowy and cold winters.

This incredible country is situated in Southern Europe on the Italian Peninsula. It neighbours with Slovenia, Austria, France and Switzerland on the North and enclaves the Vatican City.

The cuisine of Italy is renowned for great pastas and pizzas, potatoes and maize, peppers and tomatoes, garlic, cheese and wine – and of course espresso!
Gastronomic Glossary:
Aperitivo: an appetizer before a meal. Popular drinks include Campari and Cinzano.
Antipasti: hot or cold appetizers.
Primo: first course and usually a hot dish like pasta or gnocchi, risotto, polenta or soup.
Secondo: second course or the main dish. Usually this is fish or meat such as chicken, veal, pork.
Contorno: side dish of salad or vegetables.
Formaggio e frutta: a first dessert of cheese and fruits.
Dolce: desserts, such as cookies.
Caffè: coffee/espresso.
Digestivo: liquors suck as grappa, limoncello or amaro.

Food Festivals
In Winter:
Feast of the Star: A large star lights up a presepio and is carried through the streets of Sabbio Chiesa near Brescia in Lombardy.
Epiphany: In the Veneto, everyone eats la pinza de Marantega (a sweet bread).
Sagra delle Luganighe: At Cannobio near Novara in Piedmont, January brings the feast of luganiga (sausage), potatoes and sauerkraut.
Festa di San Antonio: At Volongo near Cremona in Lombardy, a pyre sixty feet high is built by youngsters to burn the ‘winter’ witch made of straw. Everyone eats torta dura (hard cake).

In Spring…
Feast of the Cherry Trees in Flower: Vignola near Modena in Emilia-Romagna, April.
Sagra dei Garagoi: At Marotta near Pesaro in The Marches, all about garagoi (sea snails) and local wines such as Bianchello and Verdicchio.
Sagra dei Gnocchi: a festival at Teolo near Padua with almost 1,500 pounds of cooked potatoes for potato gnocchi.
Sagra della Pie Fritta: at Fontanelice near Bologna with small fried flatbreads.
Sagra dello Stoccafisso: at Melazzo near Alessandria in Piedmont, the stockfish fair has dried fish with tomato sauce, anchovies and tuna, olives and garlic.
Sagra del Biscottofisso: at Bomarzo near Viterbo in Latium, round ring-cookies with aniseed flavour are served.
Sagra delle Uova Sode: During Easter this feast is held at Tredozio near Forli in Emilia-Romagna.
Sagra del Carciofo: Held at Ladispoli in Rome, with mammola artichokes and fireworks in the piazza.
Sagra del Pesce: Held at Camogli near Genoa, in honor of the feast of San Fortunato, people fry and share fresh fish in a large pan for this patron saint of fishermen.

In Summer…
Festa del Lambrusco: at Albinea in Emilia-Romagna, July, gnocco fritto (fried puffs), prosciutto and salami and erbazzone are enjoyed and washed down with fizzy red wine.
Festa di Noiantri: in Rome on the Tiber banks, enjoying bruschetta.
Campionato Nazionale dei Mangiatori d'Anguria: watermelon championship at Sissa near Parma.
Sagra delle Melanzane Ripiene: in Montanesi near Genoa for Saint Rocco, with stuffed eggplant, wine and cheese.
Sagra del Pecorino: At San Godenzo near Florence, fresh and aged sheep's milk cheese is sampled.
Sagra dell'Anguilla: Orbetello in Tuscany with marinated, stuffed and/or fried eels.

In Autumn…
La Vendemmia della Nonna: at Castagnole Monferrato near Asti in Piedmont, when grapes are harvested and stomped as in old times, followed by a feast of polenta with anchovy sauce.
Sagra della Nocciola: Held in Castellero in Piedmont, with a footrace through the hazelnuts and enjoying cakes, sweets and homemade tortes.
Sagra della Lepre: at Selvatelle near Pisa, pappardelle, potted or roasted hare is prepared with hare sauce.
Sarga degli Stacchioddi: at Latiano in Puglia, homemade pasta served with a tomato sauce and sour ricotta cheese is enjoyed.


Italian Transport consists over 130 airports of which the most famous are the Roman Leaonardo Da Vinci International and the Malpensa International outside Milan.
Italy also has a roadway of 654.000+ kilometres, expressways of almost 7,000 kilometres and the incredible Ferrovie dello Stato railway, covering a staggering 19,000+ kilomtres, the ETR-class trains which are high speed such as the ETR 500 trains which travel at 300km/h. Lastly, the 27 major Italian ports include Genoa.

Italian Hotspots
Portofino and Tigullio Gulf
Café Florian, a coffee house in Procuratie Nuove of Piazza San Marco, Venice.
Palazzo Te Palazzo Te or Palazzo del Te in the suburbs of Mantua, Italy.
Trattoria Corrieri
Galleria dell'Accademia, a museum in Florence
Assisi on the hills of the Monte Subasio.
Da Michele, the temple of pizza.
Monte Solaro
Mount Etna

Fast Facts of Italy
Italian Currency: Euro
Visa: those not from Europe need to enquire.
Italian Public Holidays:
January 1 is New Year's Day or Capodanno
January 6 is Epiphany or Epifania
Movable is Easter Sunday or Pasqua
Monday after Easter is Easter Monday or Lunedì dell'Angelo, Pasquetta
April 25 is the Anniversary of Liberation or Festa della Liberazione End of World War II in Italy, 1945
May 1 is Labour Day or Festa dei Lavoratori
June 2 is Republic Day or Festa della Repubblica (Birth of the Italian Republic, 1946)
August 15 is Assumption Day or Assunzione or Ferragosto
November 1 is All Saints or Ognissanti or Tutti i santi
December 8 is Immaculate Conception or Immacolata Concezione (or just Immacolata)
December 25 is Christmas Day or Natale
December 26 is St Stephen's Day or Santo Stefano

The Italian Regions and their Capitals are:
Abruzzo and capital L'Aquila
Basilicata and capital Potenza
Calabria and capital Catanzaro
Campania and capital Naples
Emilia-Romagna and capital Bologna
Friuli-Venezia Giulia and capital Trieste
Lazio and capital Rome
Liguria and capital Genoa
Lombardy and capital Milan
Marche and capital Ancona
Molise and capital Campobasso
Piedmont and capital Turin
Apulia and capital Bari
Sardinia and capital Cagliari
Aosta Valley and capital Aosta
Tuscany and capital Florence
Trentino-Alto and capital Adige/Südtirol Trento
Umbria and capital Perugia
Sicily and capital Palermo
Veneto and capital Venice

The 10 largest Italian cities are:
1 Rome in Lazio
2 Milan in Lombardy
3 Naples in Campania
4 Turin in Piedmont
5 Palermo in Sicily
6 Genoa in Liguria
7 Bologna in Emilia-Romagna
8 Florence in Tuscany
9 Bari in Apulia
10 Catania in Sicily

The Travel-Informed Team

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