When travellers look beyond the usual hotspots, Italy reveals a very different personality. Start in Emilia-Romagna, where the approach to Brisighella threads between rocky hills topped with lonely churches and defensive towers. The landscape feels both theatrical and deeply rooted in history.
Inside Brisighella, time seems to slow. Its medieval passageways invite wandering, and a raised walkway offers unexpected views into courtyards and across terracotta roofs. It is a place to linger rather than tick off sights.
On Sicily’s Via dei Frati, the emphasis is on movement. The 54-mile route from Caltanissetta to Cefalù crosses the Madonie mountains, delivering long vistas and quiet paths. Even without a shared language, walkers are welcomed each evening in small towns such as Gangi, where daily life continues largely unaffected by tourism.
Further inland in southern Italy, Venosa stands in quiet dignity in Basilicata. Birthplace of Horace, it contains Roman ruins, catacombs and an impressive castle, all within a compact centre. The wider area is full of little-visited sites: Melfi and Lagopesole’s castles and Pietragalla’s ducal palace could easily headline guidebooks but remain almost secret.
Elsewhere, travellers can switch off phones entirely at a remote eco-hotel in the Apennines, watch the emerald river beneath Cividale’s Devil’s Bridge, explore Chioggia’s canals and fishing harbour, hike through the Ligurian Apennines around Santo Stefano d’Aveto, spot bears near Campoli Appennino, taste sweet Loazzolo wine, and wander in the sun-baked Roman city of Urbs Salvia. Each destination is small in size but huge in atmosphere.