30 million tourists visit Rome every year. 10 million visit Florence. 30 million visit Venice. Meanwhile, Matera — a city carved into a limestone gorge, inhabited for 9,000 years, European Capital of Culture 2019 — gets 400,000. Lecce — the "Florence of the South," with Baroque architecture that makes actual Florence look restrained — gets 300,000. Turin — the world's #2 Egyptian museum, Art Nouveau cafés, the city that invented the Fiat, the Aperol Spritz, and Italian cinema — gets virtually no American tourists. These 20 places deserve 10x more visitors. They're getting them soon. Go now.
Plan my off-beaten-path Italy →1. Matera (Basilicata). Cave city, 9,000 years of habitation. Sassi cave hotels from €80/night. European Capital of Culture 2019. Looks like a Biblical city. Feels like another planet. 2h from Naples or Bari.
2. Lecce (Puglia). Baroque carved from golden limestone — every church, palazzo, and piazza drips with stone lace. The most architecturally intense small city in Italy. Plus: 30 min from Adriatic beaches, orecchiette handmade on the street, pasticiotto pastry for breakfast.
3. Turin (Piedmont). Egyptian Museum (#2 after Cairo), Mole Antonelliana, bicerin coffee ritual (since 1763), Lingotto Fiat factory rooftop, €3 Barolo in local bars. 50 min from Milan by Frecciarossa. Day trip guide →
4. Bergamo (Lombardy). Città Alta: walled upper town by funicular, Venetian architecture, casoncelli pasta. 50 min from Milan, 1/50th the tourists.
5. Bologna (Emilia-Romagna). Italy's actual food capital. Tortellini, ragù (the real one, not "Bolognese"), mortadella, Parmigiano. University city, medieval towers, 40km of porticoes (UNESCO). 2h from both Rome and Milan.
6. Orvieto (Umbria). Tufa cliff city, golden cathedral, underground tunnels (€7), Pozzo di San Patrizio well (€5). 1h from Rome by train, €8-15. Day trip guide →
7. Procida (Campania). Pastel fishing village, Italian Capital of Culture 2022. The island Capri was before Capri became famous. 40 min ferry from Naples.
8. Trieste (Friuli Venezia Giulia). Habsburg architecture, literary cafés (James Joyce lived here 1904-1920), the best coffee culture in Italy (Illy was founded here), Adriatic coast, 30 min from Slovenia. Feels like Vienna on the sea.
9. Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna). The best Byzantine mosaics outside Istanbul. Gold-tesserae ceiling of Galla Placidia (5th century) makes you forget you're in Italy. 1h from Bologna.
10. Urbino (Marche). Raphael's birthplace, Palazzo Ducale (the ideal Renaissance court), hilltop university town. The most beautiful small city in Italy that nobody visits.
11. Perugia — chocolate capital (Baci Perugina), Umbria Jazz, medieval centro. 12. Parma — Parmigiano + prosciutto factories, Correggio frescoes. 13. Modena — Ferrari museum + Osteria Francescana (#1 restaurant in the world, twice), balsamic vinegar acetaie. 14. Tropea (Calabria) — clifftop town, the best beach in southern mainland Italy. 15. Trani (Puglia) — Norman cathedral on the sea, sunset aperitivo on the harbor. 16. Mantova — lake-surrounded city, Palazzo Te frescoes, tortelli di zucca. 17. Todi (Umbria) — the hilltop town that Americans voted "most liveable city in the world" in the 1990s (still is). 18. Monopoli (Puglia) — whitewashed fishing town, beach in the old town, zero tourists. 19. Camogli (Liguria) — the fishing village Cinque Terre was before it got famous. 20. Pavia — Certosa di Pavia (the most decorated Renaissance facade), 30 min from Milan, free entry.