Top 25 Tourist Attractions in Italy

Thanks to its canals, Venice is known to be one of the most magical places on earth. The city is a testament to the ingenuity of the human spirit and man-made invention. Stone buildings of great beauty sit on the water; boats of varying sizes traverse the canals the way cars, trucks, and buses crowd the streets of more conventional cities; crowds throng the bridges and narrow pedestrian streets ...

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The Amalfi Coast is a stretch of coastline of about 25km in the Gulf of Salerno in Campania, Italy. It is famous worldwide for its natural beauty and colorful villages. The famous coast takes its name from its most important city-village, Amalfi, the historic Amalfi Republic's historic capital, which is now a small and beautiful tourist destination ...

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In Rome, the Sistine Chapel is named for Sixtus IV della Rovere, who was Pope from 1471 to 1484. The chapel's interior walls are covered in exquisite frescoes painted by some of the greatest Italian artists in history, including Perugino, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio, Rosselli, and of course Michelangelo, who painted the stunning frescoes which adorn the ceiling ...

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You are standing in a courtyard, surrounded by hundreds of other people equally awed by the majesty of the sights you are all-seeing. Before you, over 400 feet tall and almost 400 years old, rises the magnificent Saint Peter's Cathedral. As you turn to glance about the elliptical colonnade in wonder, you are greeted with the sight of hundreds of pillars holding up the ancient Baroque architecture ...

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Located in Italy's Liguria region, the predominant portion of the Cinque Terre is located on the coast of the Italian Riviera. It also comprises five villages: Riomaggiore, Monterosso al Mare, Corniglia, Vernazza, and Manarola. The low-leveled hills note cinque Terre by the name La Spezia. Owing to its fascinating location, Cinque Terre is counted amongst the World Heritage Site, UNESCO ...

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The Villa Borghese is a large natural park in Rome. It contains a few buildings, attractions and hosts the Galleria Borghese museum. Its main entrance is through the upward leading path of the Spanish Steps. The area was a vineyard up until the 17th century ...

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The Pisa Tower, otherwise known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, really was a labor of love, taking well over a hundred and fifty years to build. This tower is the campanile of Italy's cathedral, which means that it is a freestanding bell tower. The tower is located in what is known as the Field of Miracles (Campo dei Miracles), which is behind the actual cathedral's main building ...

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The Roman Forum, the heart of Rome. The citizens of ancient Rome spent a good part of their days there. The great place was surrounded with temples and legal buildings and filled with statues, bridges, arcs, and columns. So the 'Forum Romanum' was a remarkable marketplace center point for all business and shopping made by Rome's ancient citizens ...

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The port is the historical and geographical backbone of Genoa. The first port in Italy is a huge complex 22 km long with 2 lanterns, 6 marinas, an aquarium, a sea museum, another of the Antarctic, bars and restaurants, terminals for ferries and cruise ships, shipyards and containers ...

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The Trevi Fountain is one of the most popular and photographed fountain in the world. This grand fountain, most likely the most beautiful one in Rome, is located in the Quirinale district and is clearly the masterpiece of the small Trevi square. 'Trevi' is derived from the word 'Trivium', meaning 'where three streets meet' ...

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The Spanish Steps is another top-rated attraction located in Rome's heart ('Centro Historico'). It is also one of Rome's favorite romantic spots and one of the most popular city landmarks.The Spanish Steps has 138 steps that connect the Piazza di Spagna (or Spanish Square), one of the most elegant square, at the bottom to the Franciscan Trinità dei Monti church at a higher level ...

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The Rialto Bridge is the oldest of the four bridges that cross the Grand Canal in Venice. It is approximately located in the center of the main island of Venice. When walking from the train station towards Piazza San Marco,  it is most likely one of the first tourist attractions to be recognized ...

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Officially titled Palazzo Santa Sofia, the Ca’ d’Oro (or “Golden House”) is one of Venice’s oldest palaces on the Grand Canal. It was nicknamed due to the gilt and polychrome decorations that once adorned the walls, with delicate marble filigree by Bartolomeo Bon on the façade that would have made an undeniably impressive vision ...

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Teatro La Fenice is an opera-theatre house located in the heart of Venice. It was here that some of the most celebrated operas were premiered during the 19th century, including those by composers such as Verdi, Bellini and Rossini. It is one of the most famous theatre in Italy ...

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Venice's iconic symbol, gondolas, are a traditional, flat-bottomed rowing boat that was once the preferred means for Venetians to get around the city’s canals. These wooden boats are made by hand in special workshops known as squeri, with some still in operation today. A ride in one of these remains one of the top things to do in Venice by tourists. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it is estimated that there were between eight and ten thousand gondolas in the city, with vaporetti now the main means of getting around ...

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Dating to the 16th century, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco is one of the most beautiful buildings in Venice. It was constructed from white marble to house a charitable society dedicated to San Rocco, regarded by many as a protector against the plague. It was designed like most other scuole in Venice, with two halls (one on the ground floor and the other above), with a staircase and landing topped by a dome connecting the two ...

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Located on the Grand Canal in the Dorsoduro sestiere, Palazzo Rezzonico (also known as Ca' Rezzonico) is an opulent palace that provides a fascinating glimpse into 18th-century Venetian life. It is sumptuously furnished with Baroque and Rococo period pieces, silk wall coverings and Flemish tapestries, together with housing a museum that highlights the importance of luxury goods to the 18th-century Venetian economy ...

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Situated on the Campo dei Frari at the center of the neighborhood-district of San Polo, the Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari is an important church in Venice. Affectionately known as the “Frari”, construction began on the church around 1340 by the Franciscans and its immense campanile (the second tallest in the city) was completed in 1396. The Basilica di Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari is constructed from brick and one of three Venetian churches built in the Italian Gothic style ...

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Considered the “parent island” of Venice, Torcello lies at the Venetian Lagoon's northern end. It was first settled in the 5th century, developing into a bustling commercial town with its own cathedral by the 12th century and believed to be where Venice’s population originated. While it once contained palaces, churches, shipyards, and docks, only two churches and a small collection of homes remain ...

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Nicknamed the “marble church”, Santa Maria dei Miracoli is one of the best-preserved examples of early Venetian Renaissance architecture. It was designed by Pietro Lombardo and built between 1481 and 1489 to enshrine a picture of the Virgin Mary, with the plans expanded in 1484 to include a new convent. The convent was built to house the nuns of St ...

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Separating the Venetian Lagoon from the Adriatic Sea, the Lido di Venezia is a 12-kilometer-long strip of sand that is considered Europe’s first beach resort. It was once the place to be seen for celebrities and royalty, with grand hotels and Art Nouveau villas lining its golden sands. It’s just a short vaporetto ride from St. Mark’s, in Venice, to Lido, which is more residential and less touristy than Venice's center ...

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One of Venice's most iconic landmarks, the Campanile di San Marco is the soaring bell tower of Saint Mark’s Basilica. It stands alone in a corner of Piazza San Marco near the front of the basilica and towers to a height of almost 100 meters. It features a fluted brick shaft and a loggia that surrounds a belfry housing five bells ...

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Towering on the northern side of Piazza San Marco near the entrance to the Merceria, the Torre dell’Orologio adjoins the eastern end of the Procuratie Vecchie. This Renaissance clock tower, and popular point of interest, dates to the late 15th century and was designed to exhibit Venice's wealth and strategically placed to be visible from the lagoon waters ...

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