Italy

If you’re planning a trip to Rome, there’s a good chance one image is doing most of the heavy lifting in your imagination: the Colosseum, its broken outer wall rising against the sky, sunlight slanting through the arches the way it has for nearly two thousand years. It’s the single most recognizable monument in Italy, … Read more

Trading the canals of Venice for jagged limestone peaks is one of the great contrasts of Italian travel, and the good news is that you don’t need a rental car to make the switch. A well-connected network of regional trains, mainline services, and coordinated buses links Venice to the Dolomites in as little as two … Read more

Venice gives you canals, gondolas, and centuries of marble and mosaic. The Dolomites give you jagged limestone spires, alpine lakes the color of glass, and air that smells like pine instead of saltwater. The strange, wonderful thing is that these two completely different worlds sit just a couple of hours apart close enough that a … Read more

Venice gives you canals, gondolas, and centuries of art crammed onto a handful of islands. But less than three hours away, the landscape changes entirely jagged limestone spires rise out of green alpine meadows, turquoise lakes mirror the peaks around them, and mountain villages serve polenta and speck instead of spritz and cicchetti. If you’re … Read more

Venice doesn’t feel like a real place the first time you see it. There are no cars, no motorbikes, no ordinary streets just water, stone, and centuries of history stacked on top of each other along a maze of canals. It’s one of those cities where showing up without a plan can mean spending half … Read more

There’s a reason Lake Como keeps showing up on every most beautiful places in the world list. Tucked into the foothills of the Italian Alps in Lombardy, this glacial lake is ringed by pastel villages, cypress-dotted hillsides, and villas so grand they look like they were designed for a film set (several actually have been). … Read more

If you’re standing on the cobbled waterfront of Bellagio for the first time, you already understand why this town is called the Pearl of Lake Como. Pastel villas climb the hillsides, ferries crisscross a lake so still it looks painted, and the Alps rise dramatically in the distance. But to really experience Lake Como, you … Read more