About Italy
Twenty Regions,
One Extraordinary Country
Italy wrote much of the grammar of Western life. Roman law shaped legal systems worldwide. Roman architecture is echoed in public buildings from Canberra to Washington. The Renaissance remains the greatest burst of artistic talent in recorded history.
It also gave the world opera, the piano and the violin — and a cuisine that has been copied on every continent. To travel here is to move through all of that at once. And the living country beneath the famous sites is just as remarkable.
One country, twenty very different places
The key thing to grasp before you go: Italy is not one place. The north (Piedmont, Lombardy, Veneto) is Alpine, industrial and prosperous, with food built on butter, risotto and polenta. The south (Campania, Calabria, Sicily) is Mediterranean and slower, with food built on olive oil, tomatoes and dried pasta.
The cities differ just as sharply. Rome is eternal, chaotic and monumental. Florence is compact and given over to the Renaissance. Venice is unlike anywhere else on earth. Naples is the most alive city in Italy. Bologna is the best food city in Europe — and the least visited.
Italy rewards repeat visits
Few countries reward return trips like Italy. Most first-timers see Rome, Florence and Venice in ten days. They come home having seen an enormous amount — and knowing they barely scratched the surface.
The second trip goes deeper into one region: a Tuscany self-drive, the Amalfi Coast, or Sicily end to end. The third trip finds one town and stays. The country grows larger the more you see of it.
🇮🇹 Italy at a Glance
- 61 UNESCO World Heritage Sites — the most of any country on earth, just ahead of China (60), as of 2025
- 20 regions, each with its own food, dialect, architecture and identity
- 7,600km of coastline across the Ligurian, Tyrrhenian, Ionian and Adriatic Seas
- Population: about 59 million, with six cities over 500,000 (Rome, Milan, Naples, Turin, Palermo, Genoa)
- Frecciarossa high-speed trains link Rome, Florence, Venice, Milan, Naples and Bologna in 1–3 hours
- Schengen visa-free for 90 days — but Australians will soon need ETIAS (see "Before You Go"); EES border checks are already running
- In August, locals leave the cities, many shops and restaurants close, and it hits 35–40°C. Head to the coast or mountains instead
- Tipping is not expected. The "coperto" (cover charge, EUR 1–4) is normal and already on the bill
