Where to begin
Italy's cities are where most trips begin and end: the capitals of its twenty regions, from Rome and Milan to Palermo and Aosta, and the smaller towns that hold just as much, in the Tuscan hills, on the Amalfi Coast or along the northern lakes. Each guide covers what to see, when to go, where to stay and what to eat, and the festivals worth planning around. Start with a region, or browse every city below.
1,275 cities
Novara
Piedmont
Piacenza
Emilia-RomagnaThe first city on the Via Emilia coming from the north, Piacenza guards the Po near the Lombard border.
Andria
Puglia
Arezzo
Tuscany
Udine
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Cesena
Emilia-Romagna
Lecce
PugliaThe capital of the Salento and the great Baroque city of the south, often called the Florence of the South.
Pesaro
MarcheA breezy seaside city with a wide sandy beach, Pesaro is above all the birthplace of Gioachino Rossini.
Alessandria
Piedmont
Barletta
Puglia
La Spezia
LiguriaA naval city at the head of its own gulf, the eastern gateway to the Cinque Terre.
Pisa
TuscanyA medieval maritime power on the Arno, gathered around the green of the Piazza dei Miracoli.
Pistoia
TuscanyA handsome small city below the Apennines, its medieval piazza framed by a striped Romanesque cathedral and baptistery.
Guidonia Montecelio
Lazio
Lucca
TuscanyLucca is the provincial capital in northern Tuscany's Piana di Lucca.
Brindisi
PugliaAn Adriatic port at the end of the ancient Appian Way, marked by a lone Roman column where the great road met the sea.
Torre del Greco
CampaniaA coastal town on the lower slopes of Vesuvius, the historic centre of Italian coral and cameo working.
Treviso
VenetoA walled city laced with canals fed by the Sile river, its old centre lined with frescoed houses and porticoes.
Como
LombardyThe lake's namesake city, set where the water meets the mountains at the southern end of the western branch.
Busto Arsizio
LombardyA busy town on the plain northwest of Milan, long a centre of the Lombard textile and cotton industry.
Marsala
Sicily
Grosseto
TuscanyGrosseto is the provincial capital of the Maremma.
Pozzuoli
CampaniaThe heart of the Campi Flegrei, a volcanic landscape of steaming fumaroles west of Naples.
Varese
LombardyA garden city set among lakes and pre-Alpine hills north of Milan, long a retreat of grand Liberty-style villas.
