The Essential Italian Bucket List

Museums and the like are all great, but to really capture the essence of Italy, forget about museums or old buildings. Here is what you need to do: add these to your Italian bucket list... before it's too late!

1) Take a gondola ride in Venice; it might be expensive, but rest assured, it is a small price to pay for an unforgettable memory and you'll be supporting one of the loveliest traditions in all of Italy. 

2) Kiss someone you really love under the moonlight on the Via dell'Amore in the Cinque Terre. The walk was closed for many years, but it has recently reopened. Even if you don't come to Italy with the love of your life, don't worry; love is easily found in Italy. Just ask my husband, who found me.

Watching the sunset off the Amalfi Coast or a night at the top of the Pavone Castle tower are great romantic alternatives.

3) Sail into a turquoise bay in Sardinia, standing on the deck, with the warm wind blowing through your hair.

Sardinia by Boat

4) Enjoy grated Alba truffle over a fried egg on a crisp autumn morning in the Langhe winelands while enjoying the scenery - a tapestry of rich earth colors ranging from Nutella through to hazelnut and copper. Breakfast on the terrace at the Amalfi Coast's Grand Hotel Convento di Amalfi is just as lovely as is breakfast in the Tuscan countryside; get up early and enjoy a view of the mist in the Tuscan valleys.

Terrace at the Grand Hotel Convento di Amalfi

5) Drive an open-top Ferrari or ride a vespa; anywhere in Italy is great, but the best is along the winding roads of the Ligurian or Amalfi coasts. An alternative would be a Fiat 500. If you can't make it to Liguria or the Amalfi Coast then a drive through the cypress and sunflower lined lanes of the Tuscan countryside is a rather good alternative.

Vespa and our bag range. Click for more.

6) Attend an opera under the stars at the Roman Arena in Verona.

7) Get invited to lunch with a farming family, anywhere in the countryside of Italy will do; you'll eat better than at any restaurant on this earth. Perfection would be if the farmhouse were one of those rustic old stone ones where you can eat outside on a summer's day, surrounded by pots of flowers and herbs with vineyard covered trellises above. The table will be long, all the family will be there, and everyone will talk at the same time.

The table is set for an Italian farmhouse lunch

8) Live one day and/or evening in a piazza (Italian square), ideally somewhere with few tourists. Have breakfast at the bar, Italian style, and spend the rest of the day between bars, restaurants, and shops, never leaving the piazza and always people watching. You'll be amazed at how much more of Italy you understand come nightfall. By the way, this sitting around and watching the world go by has a name in Italian, it is called dolce far niente and it has become something of an art form in Italy.  

9) Join in at one of the many local festivals—the Venice Carnival or that of Ivrea are both good choices, but there are plenty more. Nearly every town in Italy has one or two local festivals every year.

Venice Carnival

10) Eat real pizza in Naples; nowhere else is it as good as Naples, the home of pizza. Please don't ask for pineapple on it, though; pineapple on pizza is one of the unforgiveable sins we mention in this article.

11) Ride the train, these are all the bucket list train journeys you will want to experience.

12) Shop at an Italian open-air market like the Campo dei Fiori in Rome. The sights, sounds, excitement, and passion for life are inspiring. Did I mention the shopping in Rome? Click here to read more about the shopping heaven that is Rome. Great bargains and beautiful things await you! In fact, my hubby goes quite crazy, as I can easily spend most of the day shopping in cities like Rome, Florence and Turin. Even Venice has some great markets and unique shopping experience. These are the shops and markets in Venice I love.

Campo dei Fiori in Rome

13) Visit the Sacra di San Michele: This impressive abbey perched on a mountain near Turin is said to be the inspiration for “The Name of the Rose.” It is one of those places where you can almost hear the voices and feel the presence of the ghosts of the past. Try to visit on a sunny day as, on a cold and grey day, it can feel rather scary. Inside, is a labyrinth of rooms, tunnels, stairways, a museum and a beautiful church.

14) Visit Matera, there is nowhere else I have ever been that transports you back to biblical times in quite the way that Matera does.

Matera

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