Called the boot of Europe after the shape of the country, Italy is the country that gave us pizza, the mafia, casanova and boring football games.

 

Rome

Two twin brothers, named Romulus and Remus, were abandoned soon after their birth. They were discovered by a female wolf on the banks of the river, who took them in and fed them. Eventually, the boys grew up to found a city. But like brothers, they had an argument about who would be the ruler of their new city, and Remus was killed. Romulus became ruler and named the city after himself: Rome.
Rome is literally an open air museum. It's a sprawling, cosmopolitan city with nearly 3,000 years of architecture and ancient ruins such as the Forum and the Colosseum that evoke the power of the former Roman Empire. If you fly to Rome like me, take a look at the pile of lost luggage at Rome airport. Makes the pyramids of Egypt look small. Miss a flight connection there and you kiss your bags goodbye permanently!

 

Bologna

Bologna is one of the most underrated cities in Northern Italy. Very historic and it even has a leaning tower, just like Pisa. The most common Italian dish world wide might be either lasagna or spaghetti bolognese and guess what, both were born in Bologna. Sadly when it comes to food, the restaurants owners are no strangers to dishonesty. You see one price, but when the final bill comes all kind of additional charges are sneaked in: service charge, VAT, coperto (cover charge}, etc.

 

Florence

From the latin "florens" meaning "to flower", Florence is the birth place of the Renaissance and home to artworks designed by some of the most renowned artists in the world. "If you love art, to visit Florence for 1 day is like make love with Shakira for 25 seconds" said one of the local guys. That famous Italian eloquence.

 

Porto Santo Stefano

Porto Santo Stefano is a small seaside town, where Italians go swimming and sunning on the beach. I stayed with about 15 Italians, they are very warm people but they just cannot talk without using hand gestures. It would be interesting to watch an Italian with handcuffs try to talk.

 

Sicily

Sicily is the homeland of the Mafia, as well as numerous active volcanoes such as Mount Etna & Stromboli {both which can be hiked}. So the main advice for Sicily from the locals is "don't fall in the volcanoes and try to not upset the mafia people".