Rough Guides - The Rough Guide to Italy (Travel Guide eBook)

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GIARDINI DI AUGUSTO

Contents

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Introduction to

Italy

Ask an Italian where they would most like to live, and the odds are that they will say right here and, indeed, Italy really does have it all: one of the most diverse and beautiful landscapes in Europe; the worlds greatest hoard of art treasures (many on display in spectacular cities and buildings); a relatively benign climate; and, most important of all for many, a delicious and authentic national cuisine. The country is not perfect its historic cities have often been marred by development, beyond the showpiece sights the infrastructure is visibly straining, and corruption is rife but as a visitor many of the old clichs still ring true; once youve visited, you may never want to travel anywhere else.

Italy might be the worlds most celebrated tourist destination, but it only became a unified state in 1861, and as a result Italians often feel more loyalty to their region than to the nation as a whole something manifest in its different cuisines, dialects, landscapes and often varying standards of living. However, if there is a single national Italian characteristic, its to embrace life to the full in the hundreds of local festivals taking place across the country on any given day to celebrate a saint or the local harvest; in the importance placed on good food; in the obsession with clothes and image; and in the daily ritual of the collective evening stroll or passeggiata a sociable affair celebrated by young and old alike in every town and village across the country.

There is also the enormous cultural legacy : Tuscany alone has more classified historical monuments than any country in the world; there are considerable remnants of the Roman Empire all over Italy, most notably in Rome itself; and every region retains its own relics of an artistic tradition generally acknowledged to be among the worlds richest. Yet if all you want to do is chill out, theres no reason to be put off. There are any number of places to just lie on a beach, from the resorts filled with regimented rows of sunbeds and parasols favoured by the Italians themselves, to secluded and less developed spots. And if youre looking for an active holiday, theres no better place: mountains run the countrys length from the Alps and Dolomites in the north right along the Apennines, which form the spine of the peninsula; skiing and other winter sports are practised avidly; and wildlife of all sorts thrives in the national parks.

Where to go

Rome , Italys capital and the one city in the country that owes allegiance neither to the north or south, is a tremendous city quite unlike any other, and in terms of historical sights outstrips everywhere else in the country by some way. Its the focal point of Lazio , in part a poor and sometimes desolate region whose often rugged landscapes, particularly south of Rome, contrast with the more manicured beauty of the other central areas. Piemonte and Lombardy , in the northwest, make up Italys richest and most cosmopolitan region, and the two main centres, Turin and Milan, are its wealthiest cities. In their southern reaches, these regions are flat and scenically dull, especially Lombardy, but in the north the presence of the Alps shapes the character of each: skiing and hiking are prime activities, and the lakes and mountains of Lombardy are time-honoured tourist territory. Liguria , the small coastal province to the south, has long been known as the Italian Riviera and is accordingly crowded with sunseekers for much of the summer. Nonetheless, its a beautiful stretch of coast, and its capital, Genoa, is a vibrant, bustling port town with a long seafaring tradition.

Francesco Iacobelli

PIAZZA DEI SIGNORI, VERONA

Fact file

• Napoleon claimed Italy was too long, and who can disagree? The distance from the tip of the countrys toe to its northern border is about 1380km.
• Italy became a nation state in 1861, under King Vittorio Emanuele II, and has been a democratic republic since 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum.
• The parliament consists of two houses, the Senate (315 seats) and the Chamber of Deputies (630 seats); both sit for five-year terms of office. The country has an elected president , but real power lies with the prime minister , who is generally the leader of the party with the biggest majority in the Chamber of Deputies.
• Italys population is just under 60 million, of whom almost three million live in the capital, Rome. The country is divided geographically and administratively into twenty regions, of which five are autonomous.
• Italy has the lowest birth rate in Europe, and twenty percent of the population is over 65.
• The average Italian eats 23 kilos of pasta annually, and the nation drinks a staggering fourteen billion cups of coffee every year.
• Theres still a significant gender divide in Italy, with the country ranked at number 81 in the world, in a recent gender gap survey. And in the country of the pizzaiolo , a shocking seventy percent of men claim never to have used an oven.

Much of the most dramatic mountain scenery lies within the smaller northern regions. In the far northwest, the tiny bilingual Valle dAosta is home to some of the countrys most frequented ski resorts, and is bordered by the tallest of the Alps the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. In the northeast, Trentino-Alto Adige , another bilingual region and one in which the national boundary is especially blurred, marks the beginning of the Dolomites mountain range, where Italys largest national park, the Stelvio, lies amid some of the countrys most memorable landscapes.

The Dolomites stretch into the northeastern regions of the Veneto and Friuli-Venezia Giulia . However, here the main focus of interest is, of course, Venice: a unique city, and every bit as beautiful as its reputation would suggest (although this means you wont be alone in appreciating it). If the crowds are too much, you could visit an arc of historic towns outside the city Verona, Padua and Vicenza, all centres of interest in their own right, although rather overshadowed by their illustrious neighbour. To the south, the region of Emilia-Romagna was at the heart of Italys postwar industrial boom and enjoys a standard of living on a par with Piemonte and Lombardy, although its also a traditional stronghold of the Italian Left. Its coast is popular among Italians, and Rimini is about Italys brashest (and trendiest) seaside resort, renowned for its nightlife. You may do better to ignore the beaches altogether, however, and concentrate on the historic centres of Ravenna, Ferrara, Parma and the regional capital of Bologna, one of Italys liveliest, most historic but least appreciated cities and traditionally Italys gastronomic and academic capital.

Central Italy represents perhaps the most commonly perceived image of the country, and Tuscany , with its classic rolling countryside and the art-packed towns of Florence, Pisa and Siena, to name only the three best-known, is one of its most visited regions. Neighbouring Umbria is similar in all but its tourist numbers, though it gets busier every year, as visitors flock into towns such as Perugia, Spoleto and Assisi. Further east still, Le Marche has gone the same way, with old stone cottages being turned into foreign-owned holiday homes; the highlights of the region are the ancient towns of Urbino and Ascoli Piceno. South of Le Marche, the hills begin to pucker into mountains in the twin regions of Abruzzo and Molise , one of Italys remotest areas, centring on one of the countrys highest peaks the Gran Sasso dItalia.