Over the years we have visited places from the western coast of Sicily to the Italian alps and have driven the length of the peninsula at least twice.

In 1994, on our very first trip to Italy we spent a couple of nights outside of of Merano in northern Veneto, then a week in a farmhous ein Umbria, followed by two-weeks in a villa outside of Siena, wrapping up with three nights in Bellagio, on Lake Como.

We returned to Siena in 1998, renting an apartment near the Piazza del Campo for a week, and exploring every inch of the square mile of Siena inside tgh3 walls by foot.

We enjoyed watching the millenium change from Siena in 1999 and spent a couple of nights in Florence in early January of 2000.

We returned in September of 2000, this time to northern Italy when we stayed on an island at the western end of Lake Maggiore, near Stresa,. And we were back for Easter of 2002, when we spent four grand nights in Rome.

In March of 2004 we stayed in Rome, in Amalfi on the Sorrento peninsula on the southern side of the Bay of Naples and rented an apartment near Fasano in Puglia for a week. In April of 2005 we went to western Sicily after which we spent a few days with our friends, the Tampone family in Cerignola, Puglia.

The end of April of 2005 we spent a week in Solferino in Lombardia and along Lake Orta, just north of Milan, in Piemonte.

If you are planning a trip to the area around either Lake Maggiore or Lake Garda in northern Italy or in Puglia or to western Sicily and are thinking of stopping by any of the places we have visited drop me a note and I would be happy to share some of our reccomendations for lodgings or things to see.

Whether by car or public transportation traveling in Italy is very easy. There is something for everyone whether it's the history and whimsy of Verona, the wet elegance of Venice, the ancient stones of Segesta in Sicily or the mysterious Castel del Monte in Puglia, you will have to plan carefully to try and see just a small part of these truly wonderful corners of Italy.

If you are planning on living for an extended period of time in Florence you can download my free Florence independent living guide. (You must have Adobe's Acrobat Reader.)