Italy's towns & villages - where life writes stories

Towns with soul, villages with stories. From panino snakes in Naples to the heart attack secret of Limone. Italy as it really lives.

---

• Instagram
• TikTok
• YouTube
• Facebook

Italy's towns & villages - between the world stage and the washing line

Italy is a country of contrasts - not just in terms of landscape, but also in terms of pace, tone and flavour. And nowhere is this more evident than in its towns and villages. In this section, we take a loving, sometimes surprising look at both: at the big names with their world-famous facades - and at the small places where real life takes place between basil pots and bar stools.

Of course you can look forward to the classics: Rome with its ancient grandeur and traffic chaos, which has been declared a cultural asset. Florencewhere even the shadows cast by the Uffizi still look stylish. Milan with its coolness factor and ability to transform even the aperitivo into a design object. And Venice - yes, Venicewhich somehow still exudes poetry even with 13 cruise ships on the horizon.

City quiz: Florence, Rome or Milan?

You won't find this in any travel guide

But we also take you with us into the Villages. Into those winding places that are not in bold print in any travel guide, but where time has stood still a little - in the most pleasant way. Where you are woken up by the church tower in the morning, discuss football in the bar at lunchtime and feel like you somehow belong in the evening, even though you've only been there for three days.

We show you Naples, the longing monster on the Vesuvius - full of contradictions, full of life, full of stories. And we tell of Mountain villages in Calabria, where the postman is also the butcher, mayor and cousin. From the fishing harbour in Liguria, where the boats are still painted by hand - and from the Apennines, where entire villages only come back to life in August when the extended families from Turin or Zurich come "home" for a fortnight.

_^*Ad Rustic olive wood pizza board € 79.99 / Amazon

No run-of-the-mill travel tips

What this section is not: a catalogue of sights. What it wants to be: an invitation not just to visit Italy, but to experience it. Sometimes in the piazza, sometimes at the kitchen table, sometimes in the last row of an old cinema with a flickering projector.

Because whether it's a world-famous city or a sleepy village: in Italy, the charm often lies in the subordinate clause. In the gesture of the barista who puts the espresso cup down before you have even ordered. In the look on your nonna's face when she knows you've paid too much - but forgives you. And in the feeling that you are part of this setting, if only for a moment.

_{^{*Advertisement}} Beach umbrella with UV protection € 19.99 / Amazon