If you have been following me for a while, you’ll see that I am in and out of Italy a lot.
Yes, most of my work has been around Italy. Yes, last year’s Tour de France Grand Depart from Italy gave me more reasons to go. But in truth, I do genuinely like the country. It is one of those places that is so passionate, so chaotic and so frustratingly unpredictable that gives it its unique charm.
In a way, I feel that Italy and I have our inner demons in common.
I love that there isn’t just one Italy
Historically, and we are talking ancient history here, Italy as an entity is still relatively new in the context of things. Ok, there are definitely newer countries, but that’s just mostly politics. Let’s focus on Italy.
What we know of Italy today is a unification of various Kingdoms, Duchies, Republics and Royal Houses that controlled different parts of this boot shaped peninsula. Through war, conquest and politics over time, Italy was officially proclaimed one Kingdom on 17 March 1861.
But what does this have to do with my travels to Italy? Well, this post is about what I love about Italy, and this is just it – Italy is not just one identity. Those who seek, shall find that from the north to the south, from the coasts to the mountains, there is always a different Italy to experience.
Italy isn’t just pizza, pasta, basil and tomatoes. Italy isn’t just Roman amphitheatres and cypress pines. Chanti isn’t the only Italian wine, and Spaghetti Bolognese does not exist.
And when I write about Italy, that’s what I want to emphasis – the traditions, the culture, the languages and the cuisine sometimes differ even within nearby regions. Other than the Romans, there were the Etruscans, the Greeks, the Byzantine. There are difference in pasta shapes, the cheeses, the ham and the wines. When you truly open your eyes and stomach to Italy, dig into the corners rather than just skim its surface, you’ll discover the Italy you never knew.
Read about Sauris, a village with its ancient language and traditions: Sauris, the Italian mountain village where ancient traditions thrive, published by Italia!
I love cycling and hiking in Italy
Which brings me to talk about this wonderful initiative by the Italian Ministry of Tourism that was launched initially in 2020 but due to changes in government, the official information has not been made public until last year. Viaggio Italiano is a campaign that wants to allow you to Discover the Italy you never knew. It was to encourage more people to travel at a slower pace, to open up opportunities to some of the communities that needs tourism, and to disperse mass tourism in popular places.
At the same time, to show visitors that Italy is so much more than what you think.
I was invited to cycle a small part of the ‘Le Vie del Bike’, a 5000+km cycling itinerary that touches a corner of every region of this beautiful country. This story was published in Italia! (Apr/May 2023) and Bicycling Australia (Edition #243 in 2023). We biked from the edge of Tuscany into Umbria, finishing our journey in Le Marche, one of Italy’s smaller regions. The route takes on low-traffic roads and gravel sections, skirting around major centres such as Florence, Siena or Rome so that towns like Poggibonsi in Tuscany or Gubbio in Umbria can show off their medieval beauty too.
And the nature. There is so much nature in Italy when you go out of the convenience of tourist hotspots. Nature that are crowd free, nature as nature intend it to be from the mountain to the sea.
I can go on! I believe, there is a hiking version of this campaign, so if you are not a cyclist – get your hiking boots on to explore these lesser known parts of Italy before everyone else!
Obviously, I am not saying you have to follow the Viaggio Italiano itineraries. In fact, Italy has a great network of both cycling routes and hiking trails, which I have been grateful to have tried a few. Have a read of the following published stories and see what inspires. Cycling and hiking trips are the best ways to really get under a destination’s skin, and the real ‘slow and sustainable’ tourism model I believe in.
Read about this e-mountain biking trip around the volcanic areas of Tuscany: The Amiata effect, published by Italia!
Read about hiking in Sicily: From mountains to the sea: Sicily at its best, published by Escape.com.au
I love getting lost in the lesser known areas of Italy
Tourism in general, is a good thing. It creates jobs, it improves infrastructure and it allows the world to come together to learn from each other.
That is, if tourism is done properly.
Unfortunately, it can also devastate local communities when tourists behave badly en-mass, or when a trip is irresponsibly operated. This topic deserves a few thousand words. Anyway, I can write an essay about this, and no doubt we all have our opinions, but my point is, most tourists just want convenience and proof of their travel. They don’t want to spend the time to learn about the destination or to really travel slowly!
It is no wonder there are protests about tourists. It is no wonder Venice has to start charging day visit fees.
Information on the Venice Access Fee here
And that is why I want to tell you about Viaggio Italiano. This is your chance to actually be part of the tourists who really want to take sustainability seriously. Visit places that less visited but deserve to be known, learn more about a destination that is beyond its surface marketing. Spend money where it can go towards the local community. Best of all, get active and stay fit at the same time!
Read about the best villages in Sicily you can visit along the southern sections of the Viaggio Italiano hiking route on The Crowded Planet blog.
I love eating in Italy!
I love food. I am not even going to hide this fact. And when you are active, you can eat to your heart’s content without guilt, even on holidays!
The Viaggio Italiano campaign also has itineraries highlighting some of the best regional specialities that you wouldn’t otherwise know. Some local villages with a special cheese for example, or small production wines with regional grape varieties that aren’t exported so the only way you can try them is through the producers themselves.
Here’s another thing I love about Italy. Food is taken so passionately and seriously that when you are in a local restaurant, a trattoria for example, you are almost always going to be offered only the style of cuisine of that particular region. The wine list will contain mostly wines of the region (sometimes, only wines from the region) and believe me, even the house wine will be good. Once you start eating local, you’ll start to realise there really isn’t just one Italian cuisine. In the mountains you’ll find polenta to be a staple rather than pizza or pasta for example, and the shapes of the pasta has their unique names, and gets shorter in size as you travel down south, with the sauces in different consistencies to match. That’s my own observation anyway!
I could keep writing but I’ll stop now
There’s so much to love about Italy. So, next time you want to plan an Italian holiday – consider this – do you really want to go fight the crowds or, do you want to embrace and discover the Italy you didn’t know?
Share your thoughts below!