Of all European countries, Italy is perhaps the hardest to classify. It is a modern, industrialized nation. It is the harbinger of style, its designers leading the way with each season's fashions. But it is also, to an equal degree, a Mediterranean country, with all that that implies. Agricultural land covers much of the country, a lot of it, especially in the south, still owned under almost feudal conditions. In towns and villages all over the country, life grinds to a halt in the middle of the day for a siesta, and is strongly family-oriented, with an emphasis on the traditions and rituals of the Catholic Church which, notwithstanding a growing scepticism among the country's youth, still dominates people's lives here to an immediately obvious degree.
Above all Italy provokes reaction. Its people are volatile, rarely indifferent to anything, and on one and the same day you might encounter the kind of disdain dished out to tourist masses worldwide, and an hour later be treated to embarrassingly generous hospitality. If there is a single national characteristic, it's to embrace life to the full: in the hundreds of local festivals taking place across the country on any given day, to celebrate a saint or the local harvest; in the importance placed on good food; in the obsession with clothes and image; and above all in the daily domestic ritual of the collective evening stroll or passeggiata - a sociable affair celebrated by young and old alike in every town and village across the country.
Italy only became a unified state in 1861 and, as a result, Italians often feel more loyalty to their region than the nation as a whole - something manifest in different cuisines, dialects, landscape and often varying standards of living. There is also, of course, the country's enormous cultural legacy: Tuscany alone has more classified historical monuments than any country in the world; there are considerable remnants of the Roman Empire all over the country, notably of course in Rome itself; and every region retains its own relics of an artistic tradition generally acknowledged to be among the world's richest.
Yet there's no reason to be intimidated by the art and architecture. If you want to lie on a beach, there are any number of places to do it: development has been kept relatively under control, and many resorts are still largely the preserve of Italian tourists. Other parts of the coast, especially in the south of the country, are almost entirely undiscovered. Beaches are for the most part sandy, and doubts about the cleanliness of the water have been confined to the northern part of the Adriatic coast and the Riviera. Mountains, too, run the country's length - from the Alps and Dolomites in the north right along the Apennines, which form the spine of the peninsula - and are an important reference-point for most Italians. Skiing and other winter sports are practised avidly, and in the five national parks, protected from the national passion for hunting, wildlife of all sorts thrives
ITALY, the boot-shaped peninsula, stretches from the Alps to the Mediterranean sea, offering all kind of landscapes and climates, from the perpetual snow-capped peaks to the sun burnt beaches.
Whatever kind of holidays you are planning, come and get it in Italy.
Do you like skiing or trekking? We have all the Alps for you, from the Monte Bianco to the unique Dolomiti, where you can practice your favourite sport in winter as well as in summer.
Do you like the seaside? 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) of sandy or rocky beaches, among the most beautiful in the world are waiting for you. A few names: Portofino and the Riviera, the Emerald coast of Sardinia, Positano and Amalfi, Capri, Taormina, Rimini.
And if you love art and culture, no other country on earth can give you as much. Italy alone stores half the works of art of the whole world: monuments of ancient times, such as the Coliseum, the Foro Romano, the leaning Tower of Pisa, museums (think of what is treasured in the Vatican Museums or the Uffizi Gallery), castles and palaces that were the heart of Europe through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, like Castle del Monte and Palazzo Pitti, magnificent villas with their beautiful Italian gardens, unparalleled cathedrals and churches like St. Peter's.
Roma, Venezia, Firenze, Pisa, Napoli: their names recall a world of beauty. But the real spell of this country are the hundreds of small towns and villages scattered everywhere, each one of them is a museum in itself, with its unique history, and the magic that you'll discover at every step.
Picture yourself at the Scala Opera House in Milano, with Pavarotti singing "Nessun dorma", or in the Arena di Verona, where ancient roman ruins offer the stage for music and ballet. Enjoy the Carnival in the glamour of Venice, or in the eternal springtime of Viareggio. ls there a more perfect frame to the music of Wagner than Villa Rufolo in Ravello? Or to Greek drama than the ancient theatres of Siracusa and Taormina?
Meet the medieval story and folklore in the streets of Siena, with its worldwide famous Palio, or Foligno, with the sumptuous costumes of the "Quintana ".
If you are a soccer fan, you will find the most famous world champions playing in the Italian Football Championship, and if a Ferrari is your dream, come and see them roaring in the F1 races of Monza and lmola.
What a better place to taste Italian food than Italy itself? Have a Real Pizza in Naples, fettuccine in Roma, tortellini in Bologna, zucchini and broccoli in Calabria, risotto in Milan, ribollita in Florence, and Chianti, Verdicchio, Barolo, Pinot, Frascati and much, much more...
At last, but not least, Italian fashion is waiting for you. Not only the world famous stylists as Versace, Gucci, Armani, but every shop window will be a parade of the renowned Italian elegance.
In any case, before leaving Italy, don't forget to throw a coin in the Fontana di Trevi: you will wish to come again.
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