Northern Italy
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LOMBARDY (LOMBARDIA)
This northern region is home to the famed Italian Lakes – Como (where you will find Bellagio), Maggiore, Iseo, and Garda – as well as its capital city, Milan, the commercial, design and fashion center of Italy. In Milan you will find La Scala opera house, a spectacular Duomo, and nearby, the stunning Galleria with shops and restaurants. Milan also is the keeper of Leonardo Da Vinci’s iconic Last Supper. The wonderful lakes provide the opportunity to just relax and gaze, or partake in activity in a stunning setting, including wind sailing, boating and biking. |
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VENETO
This region is in the northeast corner of Italy, capital of which is Venice, a magical city not to be missed as it is like no other. It is a city best navigated by boat – whether it be vaporetto (water bus) or gondola - or on foot walking bridges over canals from piazza to piazza. It is a city built on 117 small islands, and holds 150 canals, connected by an amazing 409 bridges, of which only 4 cross the main canal. The area it covers is a mere 284 miles. While it is not recommend getting lost in the majority of European capital cities, Venice is the place to get hopelessly lost for a day. |
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PIEDMONT (PIEMONTE)
This region, which borders France in northeastern Italy, is according to experts, without question Italy’s finest red wine growing district in Italy. Piemonte is also notable for fine food, including truffles; containing Italy's largest lake (Maggiore); and alpine skiing. Its terrain is lush, and comprised of rolling hills spotted with vineyards. The regional capital of Piemonte is Torino (Turin), which hosted the 2006 winter Olympics and houses the Shroud of Turin in the city’s Duomo de San Giovanni. Torino boasts being positioned at the center of a ring of mountains as well as close to the Mediterranean Sea. It is the top all-around food city in Piedmont, serving abundantly foods unique to the region such as agnolotti, piedmont-style ravioli, and grissini, long, thin crisp breadsticks that originated in Torino and are now found and much enjoyed globally. |
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EMILIA ROMAGNA
With good reason, this region has been nicknamed “La Grassa” – literally translated it means “the fat one”. It refers to the rich diet that the local citinzenry has been enjoying for centuries. In this region the world-famous Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, that universally-cherished grating cheese English speakers call Parmesan, is crafted, as well as the delectable Parma ham, prosciutto, and mortadella. The famed ragu, a thick, rich and complex tomato sauce is the most commonly enjoyed pasta topping here. The region's internationally famous wine is Lambrusco, a slightly sweet, slightly effervescent red wine. Bologna is the top all around food city in Emilia-Romagna. Emilia-Romagna's pasta creations are well known: tortellini (small, stuffed ring shaped pasta), tagliatelle (ribbon shaped pasta, the favorite base for a ragu). |
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VALLE D’AOSTA
This region is the smallest of Italy's 20 regions. Located in the northwest corner of the country, less than 2 hours drive from Milan, it contains much of Italy's first national park, the Parco Nazionale Gran Paradiso. Mt. Gran Paradiso, after which the park was named, is the highest peak completely within Italy. The Valle d'Aosta is a wonderful place to ski in winter and hike and mountain biking in summer. It shares the chain of Alps with Switzerland to the north and France to the west. Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) and the Matterhorn are the tallest mountains and usually have snow year round providing lots of opportunity for winter sports as well as scenic beauty. The cuisine of the Valle d'Aosta is simple but based on fresh ingredients from the mountains and streams. A much-enjoyed dish here is fonduta, made by melting fontina cheese with milk, butter and eggs. The cook tops the resulting "fondue" with sliced white truffles. |
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TRENTINO ALTO-ADIGE
Known as "The Rooftop of Italy", Trentino Alto-Adige is the furthest north region of Italy, slightly east, mainly mountainous, situated at the base of The Alps. This is, most likely, the least Italian of regions. Laid out along the country's northeastern border with Austria, it is a breathtaking land of saw-toothed ridges and snow-capped peaks, alpine meadows and glittering waterfalls, popular ski resorts and immaculate medieval towns. In winter, the skiing is absolutely unparalleled. Spring and fall offer enchanting hikes along an extensive network of well-marked trails, with stops in remote mountain hamlets where German is the most common language and dumplings are more prevalent than spaghetti. Italians have long known this to be one of their best vacation spots, combining glorious nature, warm hospitality, reliable accommodations and, for the most part, extremely affordable prices. |
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FRIULI VENEZIA GIULIA
The Friuli-Venezia Giulia region, a northeast region of Italy, is bounded on the north by Austria and the east by Slovenia, the west by the Veneto and the south by the Adriatic Sea. The northern half of the region is composed of mountains, and wonderful alpine skiing is found in these mountains. A very high quality wine is produced here, often compared to the quality of those in Tuscany and Piedmont. The majority of its wines are white, although they do have some exceptional red production. In many ways it's distinct from the rest of Italy. The region was long a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and as a result the local cuisine reveals a great many middle European influences, for example the use of sauerkraut, strudels, turnips and potatoes - Another significant characteristic of the cooking of the region is a relative lack of tomatoes. |
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LIGURIA
Just across the border from France into Italy, is the Italian Riviera. One for the connoisseurs, this side of the border has more interesting and rugged landscape, a much more interesting cuisine, and towns that are more culturally and historically interesting than the likes of Nice and Cannes. Visitors to Genoa, the Cinque Terre, Rapallo, and the rest will find a fascinating mix of cultures, making this narrow strip of Mediterranean coast an exciting Italian vacation destination. It is a lush, fertile region as the steep climb from beach to mountain causes precipitation. Liguria is a rainy region, yet has a wonderful year-round climate tempered by its proximity to the sea. It is rarely cold in winter. And the rain makes the slopes of Liguria beautifully lush. |
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