Anywhere Italy: the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip
The catalogue
Find your place
Pick a region on the map, or start from one of these.
The tool
Answer five questions, get a trip
Where you are flying into, how long you have, and what you actually like. It builds the route out of the same catalogue as everything else here.
Plan your trip
The letter · Town no. 59 of 1,000Why Italy Buys the Water It Already HasNasoni, vedovelle, liscia o gassata, and the country that has hundreds of water brandsLatest from the catalogue
- When to Come to Italy: The Honest Guide, Month by MonthThe three questions that actually decide when to come to Italy, a month-by-month calendar, the regional split, and why August is the one month to avoid. From someone who lives here.
- The best coastal towns within 90 minutes of TarantoThe Ionian arc west of Taranto runs through dune pine, citrus groves and long flat beaches, and the coast road keeps going into Basilicata. These are the towns on that water, within easy driving distance of the city, where the sand is wide and the lunch is cheap.
- Alternatives to San Gimignano: every hill town in Tuscany, in one listThe complete list of Tuscan hill towns in our catalogue as alternatives to San Gimignano. Towers, walls and a Wednesday market, without the coach park.
- Alternatives to Alberobello: every small town in Puglia, trulli or notAll the small towns of Puglia in our catalogue as alternatives to Alberobello, Ostuni and Polignano: the Itria valley, the Murge, the Gargano and the Salento inland.
- Every town in our catalogue you can reach by train, all of them, by regionThe complete list of small Italian towns with a working railway station: every one in our catalogue, grouped by region, so you can plan a trip through Italy without renting a car.
Just sent
The latest letters
Why Italy Buys the Water It Already Has17 August 2026
The most Italian event: the sagra14 August 2026
The Italian soda culture is for grown-ups13 August 2026
The week's townLago Trasimeno | Never Compete with the Sea12 August 2026
Reading TableMeeting with Zeffirelli and the beauty of mortadella11 August 2026What we write about
The reading
- Where you eat wellTowns where somebody put their name to a table229 pieces
- High groundInland towns built on ground too steep to spread163 pieces
- Old and beautifulTowns that were assessed, not just admired118 pieces
- On the waterThe coast and the lakes, minus the names everyone already has96 pieces
- Without a carTowns you can reach, and then leave, without driving89 pieces
- Out in the greenParks, paths, thermal water and snow75 pieces
This month
August in the towns
AtriSagra degli Spaghetti al Pesto Casolano, delle Anguille e del BaccalàFood festival · Teramo · August
StiloPalio di RibusaHistorical re-enactment · Reggio di Calabria · August
Bagno di RomagnaFerragosto BagnesePatron saint's feast · Forlì-Cesena · August
UdineMercatino del RiusoMarket · Udine · August
LagonegroFesta lagane e fagioliFood festival · Potenza · August
From the letter
How Italy works
When to Come to Italy: The Honest Guide, Month by MonthThe three questions that actually decide when to come to Italy, a month-by-month calendar, the regional split, and why August is the one month to avoid. From someone who lives here.
Driving in Italy: The Complete ManualAutostrada tolls, Telepass, the ZTL, parking colors, market-day towing, and how Italians actually drive. One manual from four years and every region on the road.
How to Find Free Beaches in ItalyEvery Italian beach has a free way in. How spiaggia libera works, your legal rights on the sand, and how locals use the coast without paying, from a writer who lives on it.
How to Order at a Restaurant in Italy Like an ItalianArrival times, the four-course architecture, house wine, the water rule, tipping, and the dishes that don't exist. Italian restaurant etiquette from someone who lives at the table.
How to Spot a Tourist Trap Restaurant in ItalySeven signals that separate tourist trap restaurants from the places Italians eat, from a writer who lives in Italy. Read this before you sit down.
A local's guide
The areas we know best
Guide | The Riviera di LevanteThe coast in the shadow of five villages
Guide | Tuscan MainlandThe postcard country, and what is under it
Guide | The Arno CorridorThe working road from Florence to the sea
Guide | The Apuan AlpsThe Mountains Behind Versilia
Versilia, the Best Part of ItalyA guide to the Tuscan coast nobody talks about, written from Pietrasanta.