Best of Italy

Italy became a unified country only in the late nineteenth century, after centuries of city-states, maritime republics, papal territories, duchies, kingdoms, islands, and borderlands. That long pre-national history is still legible in the country travelers meet today: in the political scale of Rome, the mercantile logic of Venice, the courtly and artisan culture of Florence, the theatrical density of Naples, and the layered Mediterranean identities of Sicily and Sardinia. The best things to do in Italy make sense when this geography stays visible. Art, food, architecture, archaeology, craft, and festivals do not form a single national language here. They remain tied to cities, regions, calendars, and forms of knowledge that developed at a very local scale. Fernwayer’s Italy experiences are built around people who work from that specificity. Archaeologists, artisans, cooks, musicians, fishermen, winemakers, photographers, and local hosts bring travelers into places through knowledge that belongs to a territory and a practice. This can mean entering major sites with sharper context, following active craft traditions, reading a lagoon through fishing, or understanding an island through wine, ritual, archaeology, and rural life. The experiences below show where to begin.

OUR ITALY DESTINATIONS

Florence | Milan | Naples | Rome | Sardinia | Sicily | Trieste | Venice

Fernwayer's Things To Do in Italy

Fernwayer currently offers experiences in Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Trieste, Naples, Sicily, and Sardinia. The range reflects an Italy built through distinct urban and regional cultures: Rome and Naples connect ancient sites, city history, food, and street traditions; Florence and Venice bring art, making, workshops, and historic neighborhoods into the present; Milan and Trieste extend the offer toward contemporary culture and routes beyond the main city center; Sicily and Sardinia open onto island histories, wine, ritual calendars, rural landscapes, and forms of craft shaped by territory. Each destination gives travelers a different way into the country.

Florence

What to do in Florence?

Florence is not limited to the Duomo, the Uffizi, and the Galleria dell’Accademia. Its great landmarks are unmissable, but Fernwayer takes you into the city through less obvious places, or familiar ones seen through the eyes and passions of people born and raised there. A history enthusiast follows the Medici through family power, symbols, ambition, and unresolved intrigue. A literature lover brings Dante’s Inferno back to the streets, conflicts, exile, and civic world that fed it. An architect reveals the art and stories inside the city’s most fascinating cemetery. Oltrarno art studios open through a local resident. Chianti leads outward through villages known from within.

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How long should I stay in Florence?

Three days is a good first stay in Florence, enough to visit the main museums and churches, spend time in the historic center, and add one experience focused on art, craft, food, or neighborhood life. With four or five days, the city has more room: you can slow down between visits, cross into Oltrarno, and add Chianti for wine, countryside, and a different view of Tuscany.

Milan

What to do in Milan?

In Milan, history runs through the same urban field as design, fashion, art, and contemporary architecture. Fernwayer starts from that overlap: the Sforza castle, Parco Sempione, and Arco della Pace place political power and public space at the center of the city; Brera connects art collections with neighborhood food culture; the Navigli bring former working canals into a route of photography, poetry, and local memory. Fashion enters through Palazzo Morando and active ateliers, as material culture and social history. From Milan, you can reach the lakes for boat experiences among noble villas, beautiful gardens, mysterious monasteries, and remote islets. The city is also an excellent base for exploring Genoa and the Cinque Terre coast.

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How long should I stay in Milan?

Two to three days work well for Milan, with time for the Duomo and major landmarks, contemporary architecture, design, and fashion. With four or five days, you can add a day trip to the lakes, where villas, gardens, and water reshape the rhythm of the trip.

Naples

What to do in Naples?

Naples is a city of endless nuances, some immediately visible, others hidden and waiting to be discovered. The city can be entered below street level, through aqueducts, tunnels, and Greco-Roman remains, or through neighborhoods where a local photographer works slowly with faces, light, and street encounters. Pompeii is approached through daily life frozen in place, while Naples' most authentic core opens through music, a lunch in a basso, market food, and hill paths. And if you want to explore the Amalfi Coast, you can make the most of a visit to Vietri with a scenic walk followed by a ceramics workshop.

See all Naples Experiences How long should I stay in Naples?

Three days is a good minimum for Naples, with time for the historic center, archaeology, street life, and food. With four or five days, you can add Pompeii or Herculaneum without rushing. A longer stay gives space for the Amalfi Coast, where the trip shifts from urban density to cliffs, sea, villages, and coastal movement.

Rome

What to do in Rome?

In Rome, Fernwayer moves between the city’s monumental scale and the people and practices that make it intelligible. What connects these experiences is a change of scale: Rome comes out of the postcard and offers the opportunity to move, to move, look deeply, cook, and taste with local people. Ancient monuments gain meaning with a historian who connects them to the stories and political logic that made them endure. The Appian Way gains depth with an archaeologist and the quieter focus of dawn. Michelangelo becomes a citywide presence you explore running throught the streets. Night photography allows you to see Rome’s classical image in a new light, while a Roman home kitchen and Lazio wines bring the city back to domestic life, local producers, and the surrounding region.

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How long should I stay in Rome?

Four days is a good first stay in Rome, enough to see the ancient city, the Vatican, key churches, and historic neighborhoods. With five or six days, the city becomes less compressed: you can add the Appian Way, smaller museums, food-focused time, or a deeper archaeological route.

Sardinia

What to do in Sardinia?

Sardinia is known above all for its beaches, but there is far more to the island than meets the eye. Fernwayer enters it through traditions tied to specific communities and calendars: polyphonic singing in Gallura, Holy Week processions and Easter rites, Carnivals rooted in ancient archaic rites and forms of social satire, the art of filigree in Dorgali, weaving in a rural medau, and Ogliastra’s Blue Zone through shepherding, food, and mountain life. Barbagia also opens through wine and old nuraghe. It is a world of discovery within a relatively compact yet remarkably diverse geographic area.

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How long should I stay in Sardinia?

Five to seven days is a good minimum for Sardinia, especially if you want to combine coast, inland areas, villages, archaeological sites, and food or craft experiences. The island is larger and slower to cross than many travelers expect. With ten days, you can build a richer route between Cagliari, Ogliastra and Barbagia, or the Northern Gallura, leaving enough time for landscapes, local traditions, and seasonal events.

Sicily

What to do in Sicily?

Sicily needs a wider lens than the usual triangle of volcano, temples, and sea. A volcanic hike becomes more personal when it ends with lunch in a private home on the slopes. Archaeology is not limited to ruins: it meets cultivation, river landscapes, and traditional storytelling. Wine is read alongside salt production and the coastal economies that shaped the island’s west. A medieval hill town becomes a way into history, weaving, and pastry. Together, these experiences bring Sicily into focus through landscapes, craft, food, performance, and people who work within those traditions.

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How long should I stay in Sicily?

A week is a good minimum for Sicily if you want to combine one or two cities with archaeology, food, wine, coast, and inland landscapes. The island is large, and travel times can be longer than they look on a map. With ten days, you can connect Palermo, Catania, Etna, the southeast,  archaeological areas, or islands such as Favignana or the Aeolian islands, without turning the trip into a sequence of transfers.

Trieste

What to do in Trieste?

Trieste works as a base for experiences that lead quickly into the Karst and the borderlands around the city. With Fernwayer, the area opens through coffee culture, e-bike routes, shepherding, cave-aged cheeses, local wines, and landscapes shaped by limestone, wind, and the Italian-Slovenian frontier. One route follows Trieste’s historic role in coffee through a roaster visit and ride across the Karst. Another enters pastoral life with Carsolina sheep, farm produce, and a walk with a local shepherd. Together, these experiences make Trieste a gateway to a compact but highly specific cultural landscape.

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How long should I stay in Trieste?

One full day can work for Trieste as an addition from Venice, with time for the historic center, the waterfront, cafés, and one focused experience in the surrounding area. Staying overnight gives the city more substance and makes room for Karst landscapes, border histories, and food traditions. Trieste works best when it is treated as a distinct stop, not a quick detour.

Venice

What to do in Venice?

Venice can seem impossible to grasp: the city is so crowded with visitors that its real life can feel almost out of reach. Fernwayer changes that by creating access to the people, practices, and forms of attention that keep Venice legible. An art historian helps decode the city’s theatrical intelligence; Carnevale becomes a rare encounter through an award-winning photographer. Across the lagoon islands, artisans, monks, residents, and fishermen open Venice through glassmaking, monastic life, wild plants, birds, and fishing knowledge. Walking becomes active observation, a way to notice what the city usually hides in plain sight.

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How long should I stay in Venice?

Three days is a good first stay in Venice, enough to see the main sights, walk several neighborhoods, and add one experience focused on the lagoon, craft, or photography. With four or five days, the city opens at a better pace: you can visit outer islands, spend time with artisans, and move beyond the busiest routes while keeping space for slow walks and water travel.

THE ITALY LOOKBOOK: CURATED ITINERARIES

Plan your tour of Italy with Fernwayer's Journeys − curated itineraries that blend high-end guided experiences with opportunities to explore independently. Take inspiration from our expertly designed trips and book your favorite experiences directly from the itineraries. By downloading the Fernwayer iOS app, you can save and modify each itinerary to your needs.

WHEN TO GO

Italy’s calendar is a map of living culture — rituals, craft, performance, and celebration. Get exclusive access to some of Italy biggest cultural events with our rare-access tours led by local guides, experts and photographers. While the opulence of Venice's Carnevale is world-renowned, we also invite you to discover the ancient, pre-Christian roots of Sardinian festivals.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is the best time of year to visit Italy? Spring and early fall are usually the best times to visit Italy, with milder weather, longer days, and good conditions for walking, archaeological sites, and city visits. July and August can be hot and busy, especially in Rome, Florence, Venice, and Sicily. Winter works well for museums, churches, food, and major cities.

How many days do you need for a trip to Italy? Ten days is a good minimum for a first trip to Italy if you want to combine two or three destinations without rushing. A week works better if you focus on one city and its surroundings, such as Rome with nearby archaeological sites, Venice with the lagoon, Florence with Chianti. With two weeks, you can pair major cities with Sicily, Sardinia, or a slower regional route.

What is the best way to travel between Italian cities? Trains are usually the best way to travel between major Italian cities. High-speed trains connect Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples, and other large centers efficiently. Regional trains work well for shorter routes, though they can be slower. For islands, rural areas, wineries, mountain routes, or smaller villages, private transfers or rental cars may be more practical.

How do I avoid tourist traps in popular Italian cities? In Italy, the safest approach is to avoid building the trip around landmarks alone. Major sites are worth visiting, but they are easier to read with the right context and timing. Choose experiences led by people with a real connection to the subject, whether archaeologists, artisans, cooks, photographers, musicians, or local hosts. Around major monuments, be cautious with restaurants and shops aimed only at passing visitors.

Can I use my credit card everywhere in Italy, or do I need cash? Credit cards are widely accepted in hotels, restaurants, museums, larger shops, and most established tourism businesses. It is still useful to carry some cash for markets, cafés, small purchases, taxis, tips, rural areas, and smaller family-run places. ATMs are common in cities and towns, but it is better not to rely on finding one at the last minute in villages, islands, or countryside areas.

What are the must-try regional foods in Italy? Italian food changes sharply by region. In Rome, look for pasta traditions such as carbonara, amatriciana, cacio e pepe, and gricia. Naples is essential for pizza, street food, and seafood. Venice has cicchetti, lagoon fish, and risotto. Sicily brings in citrus, pistachios, couscous, arancini, seafood, sumptuous sweets, and Etna wines. Sardinia has pane carasau, culurgiones, pecorino, and inland pastoral cooking. The best approach is regional, not national.

Is Italy safe for tourists? Italy is generally safe for tourists, including solo travelers and families. The most common issues in major cities and busy transport hubs are pickpocketing, bag snatching, and small scams. Keep valuables secure, take care around crowded trains, stations, and major sights, and use licensed taxis or trusted transfers. In summer, heat can also affect travel plans, especially in cities and archaeological sites.

Do I need to speak Italian to travel in Italy? No. You can travel comfortably with English in major cities, hotels, museums, restaurants, and established visitor areas. English may be less common in small towns, local markets, rural areas, or family-run places, but communication is usually manageable. A few basic Italian words help, especially greetings, thanks, and polite requests, and can make everyday interactions easier.

Is there a dress code for visiting churches in Italy? Yes, in many churches modest clothing is expected. Shoulders and knees should generally be covered, especially in major religious sites such as St. Peter’s Basilica and cathedral complexes. Hats may need to be removed, and swimwear or very revealing clothing is not appropriate.

Do I need a visa to travel to Italy? Italy is part of the Schengen Area. Many non-EU travelers, including visitors from US, UK, Canada, and Australia, can visit visa-free for short tourist stays of up to 90 days within any 180-day period. Time spent in other Schengen countries counts toward the same limit. Travelers should check official requirements before booking, especially for longer stays or passports that require a visa. Should I rent a car in Italy? It depends on the trip. A car is usually unnecessary for Rome, Florence, Milan, Venice, Naples, and other major cities, where trains, walking, taxis, and transfers are easier. A car becomes useful for rural Sicily, Sardinia, wine areas, inland villages, countryside stays, and routes with several small stops. Driving in historic centers can be difficult, and many towns have restricted traffic zones.

How far in advance should I book major sites in Italy? Book early for Italy’s most requested sites, especially the Vatican Museums, Colosseum, Uffizi, Accademia, Last Supper in Milan, and special access visits. In high season, last-minute availability can be limited or badly timed. For complex trips, book key experiences first, then build the rest of the itinerary around them. This is especially important when tickets, guides, transfers, or seasonal dates are involved.