Italy - 20 Destinations You Must Visit

Most of the region is mountainous or hilly. The few small coastal harbours have little economic importance for fishing or commerce. One of the famous greenish areas in Italy are here.

The Aosta Valley is a mountainous autonomous region in northwestern Italy. It is bordered by Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France, to the west, Valais, Switzerland, to the north, and by Piedmont, Italy, to the south and east. The regional capital is Aosta.

Apulia is a region of Italy, located in the southern peninsular section of the country, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the east, the Ionian Sea to the southeast, and the Strait of Otranto and Gulf of Taranto to the south. The region comprises 19,345 square kilometers, and its population is about four million.

Difficult accessibility and lack of extended promotion make Basilicata one of the most remote and least visited regions of Italy. However, tourism is slowly growing since the early 2000s. Matera, once dubbed "national disgrace" by prime minister Alcide De Gasperi who urged to take strict development measures due to its extreme poverty, is now Basilicata's main attraction and has gained fame worldwide for its historical center, the Sassi, designated in 1993 as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Calabria attracts year-round tourism, offering both summer and winter activities, in addition to its cultural, historical, artistic heritage, it has an abundance of protected natural habitats and 'green' zones. The 485 miles of its coast make Calabria a tourist destination during the summer. The low industrial development and the lack of major cities in much of its territory have allowed the maintenance of indigenous marine life.

Campania is one of the regions of Southern Italy and stretches along the Tyrrhenian Sea, from the mouth of the Garigliano River to the Gulf of Policastro. The mild climate, the beauty of the coasts, the richness of its art and history, and the love for food make Campania the fascinating territory that it is.

Emilia-Romagna is a top European tourism destination, welcoming more than 11.5 million visitors annually and generating 50 million overnight stays. Its unique attractions – historical, cultural, artistic, social, industrial and economic – provide visitors with an authentic, all-round experience of the Italian lifestyle.

Friuli Venezia Giulia overlooks the Adriatic Sea and is surrounded by high mountains, enclosing many different landscapes. The great variety of landscapes matches the rich and variegated cultural heritage that was determined by a complex history and by the confluence of different civilizations in this territory.

Lazio is one of the 20 administrative regions of Italy. Situated in the central peninsular section of the country, it has 5,864,321 inhabitants – making it the second most populated region of Italy – and its GDP of more than €197 billion per year means that it has the nation's second-largest regional economy. The capital of Lazio is Rome, which is also the capital and largest city of Italy.

The Liguria region is a destination recommended both for those who like relaxation and for dynamic people: with its jagged land, its hills, peaks and cliff-hanging villages, is the ideal spot for hiking or bicycling, diving or paragliding, as well as visiting villages rich in history.

About 10 million people, forming one-sixth of Italy's population, live in Lombardy and about a fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in the region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest regions in Europe.

Marche is a central region of Italy on the east coast composed of rolling hills and fertile plains at the base of the Apennine mountains. It is bordered by Umbria in the west, Emilia-Romagna to the north, and Abruzzo to the south.

Molise is situated in south-central Italy and lies between the Apennine ridge and the Adriatic Sea. Nature, history, art, age-old traditions and good food are the treasures of this still largely-undiscovered region. It reveals unexpected and magnificent landscapes, while the many nature reserves protect the vegetable and animal species representative of this area.

Piedmont is a region in northwest Italy, one of the 20 regions of the country. It borders the Liguria region to the south, the Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna regions to the east, and the Aosta Valley region to the northwest; it also borders Switzerland to the northeast and France to the west. It has an area of 25,402 km2 making it the second-largest region of Italy after Sicily and a population of 4,322,805 as of 30 June 2020. The capital of Piedmont is Turin.

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and an autonomous region of Italy. The island attracts more than a million tourists from both Italy, from the rest of Europe, and, to a lesser degree, from the rest of the world. According to statistics, tourist arrivals in 2016 were 2.9 million people.

Sicily is the biggest island in Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea, an amazing land rich in history and traditions, where art and culture intertwine with wonderful natural beauties. From the sea to the mountains and countryside, from the volcanos to the fishing villages, there are really many reasons why to visit Sicily. As Frederick II, King of Sicily, once said: “I don't envy God's paradise, because I'm well satisfied to live in Sicily”.

Home to the spectacular sawtoothed Dolomites, the semi-autonomous provinces of Trentino and South Tyrol are packed with stunning landscapes. The region has long enticed hikers, climbers, poets and fresh-air fanciers, with the scenic Sella Ronda remaining one of the world's most iconic skiing and cycling circuits.

Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its influence on high culture. It is regarded as the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and has been home to many figures influential in the history of art and science, and contains well-known museums such as the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace. Tuscany is also known for its wines.

The region of Umbria is in central Italy and is an attractive destination for a low-key, pleasant holiday. It is one of the few Italian regions to have no coastline, and its countryside is green and fertile, much of it wooded and hilly. Umbria is often described as a walkers' paradise.

The area was a part of the Roman Empire until the 5th century AD. Although being a heavily industrialised region, tourism is one of its main economic resources; one-fifth of Italy's foreign tourism gravitates towards Veneto, which is the first region in Italy in terms of tourist presence, attracting over 60 million visitors every year, second after Emilia-Romagna in terms of hotel industry structures.