Anywhere Italy: the 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip
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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 tripFrom the writing desk
The week's townCaprarola | The town that became a driveway
How to buy olive oil like an Italian
The week's town · Town no. 61 of 1,000Capranica | The stop on the journeyMy first borgo experience in Italy and the Via FrancigenaLatest 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 8 best high-altitude villages within 90 minutes of BolzanoHigh meadows, larch woods and Ladin valleys above Bolzano, where the houses are timber and stone, the church spires are onion-domed, and the kitchen runs on speck, canederli and barley soup. Villages set well up the mountain, reachable in a morning's drive from the city.
- The best towns that eat well in the province of BariInland from the Adriatic, the province of Bari cooks with burrata, wild chicory, almonds and orecchiette rolled by hand, and dining guides have picked out a table in each of these towns. Trulli country, olive groves and limestone harbours, with the kitchens to match.
- The best coastal towns you can reach by train in MarcheThe Adriatic railway runs the whole length of the Marche coast, stopping in brick-and-stucco seaside towns where the beach starts a short walk from the platform. Velvet sand, brodetto cooked with local vinegar, and a summer season that stretches into September.
- 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.
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The week's townCapranica | The stop on the journey27 August 2026The week's townCaprarola | The town that became a driveway26 August 2026How to buy olive oil like an Italian24 August 2026
The week's townAssisi | The Church He Would Have Chosen19 August 2026
Why Italy Buys the Water It Already Has17 August 2026What we write about
The reading
- Where you eat wellTowns where somebody put their name to a table230 pieces
- High groundInland towns built on ground too steep to spread167 pieces
- Old and beautifulTowns that were assessed, not just admired118 pieces
- On the waterThe coast and the lakes, minus the names everyone already has99 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.