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Italy has long been an object of fascination for many due to its rich history, culture, art, cuisine, and more. Italian culture has been exported all over the world and everyone wants to know how to get a bit of the Italian experience in their daily lives. Whether you yourself are Italian or you just have a love for the culture, here are some easy...

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It’s no secret that the entire country of Italy is full of wonders and treasures – from the highest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the world (a ranking shared with China) to breathtaking natural landscapes. And the FAI, the Italian National Trust, has a census meant specifically to rank all of Italy’s wonders according to the place they h...

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It's autumn in Piedmont and in the town of Roddi, not far from Italy's famous UNESCO winemaking region of Barolo, truffle season is underway. Beyond the grapevines, "trifolao" Gianni Monchiero, and his dogs, Lady and Vicky set o to search for these elusive little tubers. The most prized for its distinct earthy and musky scent is the pale yellow Alb...

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Italian espresso coffee on Thursday began a bid to claim a place on UNESCO's list of protected intangible world heritage products. The Consortium Protecting Traditional Italian Espresso Coffee celebrated the first World Coffee Day. In so doing, it announced the birth of the Community for the Rite of Espresso Coffee. The initiative asks people to si...

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There are many great spots across the world to gaze at the stars. The International Dark Sky Association (IDSA) lists 130 locations, including three that were added in the USA last year (in Colorado, Arizona, and Utah). One notable omission, if you browse the sites on the IDSA’s map, is Italy.  Now, though, the country has an officially recognized...

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The monumental complex at Caserta was built by the architect Luigi Vanvitelli for the Bourbon king Charles III in the mid-18th century to rival Versailles and the Royal Palace in Madrid.  The site, inscribed by Unesco in its World Heritage list in 1997, comprises a magnificent palace with its park and gardens, natural woodland, hunting lodges, as w...

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Val Camonica, one of the largest valleys of the central Alps, located in eastern Lombardy (northern Italy), is home to the first Italian site registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List, in 1979. The site contains one of the largest collections of prehistoric petroglyphs in the world - more than 140,000 symbols and figures carved in the rock over...

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Padua’s Botanical Garden is the world’s oldest, created in 1545 by the Venetian Republic.   It is the world's oldest academic botanical garden that is still in its original location and has preserved its original layout – a circular central plot, symbolizing the world, surrounded by a ring of water. Padua’s Botanical Garden was devoted to the growt...

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Twelve villas and two ornamental gardens scattered throughout the Tuscan region constitute a Unesco World Heritage site that testifies to the influence exercised by the Medici family on modern European culture through the patronage of the arts.  Built between the 15th and 17th centuries, they represent an original system of rural buildings designed...

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Sandwiched between the sea and the mountains, Genoa was once a powerful maritime republic. Its great expansion began after the year 1000, extending its trading and military power over much of the Mediterranean. In 1528, with Doge Andrea Doria, who belonged to a family of rich merchants and extraordinary seafarers, the Republic of Genoa reached the...

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