What's the Best Time to Visit Europe?

 April to June, when it’s not too crowded or hot

Essential Experiences

Hiring a car and driving through the beautiful Tuscan countryside

Feeling history surround you in the ruins of Herculaneum or Pompeii

Queuing for hours to enter the Uffizi Gallery in Florence

Venturing offshore to the less-touristy islands of Sicily and Sardinia

Wandering along the canals of Venice and shelling out the euro for a gondola ride

Window shopping in Milan’s Golden Quad or Rome’s Via del Corso

Getting Under the Skin...

Read Umberto Eco’s masterful The Name of the Rose, a medieval whodunit with a difference. Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa’s The Leopad charts the demise of Sicilian royalty and rise of Italian nationhood

Listen to Pavarotti, one of the world’s most beloved tenors; Andrea Bocelli, wildly popular for his renditions of popular classics; and Jovanotti, known for his wacky rap stylings

Watch Roman Holiday for a romantic fix or try Fellini’s classic, La Dolce Vita; for a modern view, L’Ultimo Bacio explores issues affecting Italy’s 30-somethings

Eat polenta (cornmeal), baccala (salted cod), risotto nero (flavoured with squid ink), sfogliatella (pastry filled with ricotta), panettone (fruit bread eaten at Christmas)

Drink espresso (strong coffee), Chianti (Tuscan wine), marsala (sweet wine), grappa (grape-based liqueur)

In a Word...

Ciao Bella! (hi beautiful!)

Trademarks

Beeping Fiats and screeching Vespas; pizza by the slice; Roman ruins; Michelangelo and Leonardo; La Cosa Nostra, Prada, Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana

Surprises...

Cappucinos are considered ‘Americana’ coffee; not every Italian has Mafia connections; pesto originally hailed from Genoa, in Liguria