1. Mt. Etna – You can see Mt. Etna from all over Sicily, you get the feeling the mountain is trying to lure you to come and visit. Walking along craters and traipsing through the lava of Mt. Etna you will find it difficult to believe that you are still in Italy, you feel like you are on a different planet.

2. Monreale – The Cathedral at Monreale outside Palermo, is a wonder of mosaics. The outside of the Cathedral is austere but inside everything glitters.

3. Taormina – Taormina has a little bit of something for everyone – beautiful views of the Ionian Sea, an ancient Greek/Roman amphitheater, impressive public gardens, great restaurants and shops, a funicular and a beach.

4. Ragusa – The thing that makes Ragusa special is that there are actually two Ragusa’s the old and the new. The new city was built after the earthquake of 1693, which by most of our standards does not make it very new. The old city was renovated after the earthquake.

5. Erice – Sitting at the top of either a large hill or small mountain, Erice glistens in the sun. With the white stone buildings and ancient stone streets Erice has an almost fairytale appearance.

Engineers love Venice – a completely man-made environment rising from the sea, with no visible means of support. Romantics revel in its atmosphere of elegant decay, seeing the peeling plaster and seaweed-covered stairs as a metaphor for beauty in decline. And first-time visitors are often stirred deeply, awaking from their ordinary lives to a fantasy world unlike anything they’ve ever seen before. –Reprinted from Rick Steves’ Venice, Italy

Pages: 352 pages

Dimensions: 7.9 x 4.5 x 0.9 inches

Weight: 13.6 ounces

Maps: Rick Steves includes hand drawn maps in his books which can be helpful in showing you the layout of an area but are not helpful in getting you to a specific place, especially in larger cities where more street names and landmarks would be helpful. You will definitely need a supplemental street map to accompany those in this book.

Pictures: There are no photographs to speak of

I keep reading in travel forums about how dirty Rome is. In fact, there are a lot of debates about which is dirtier – Rome or Florence. From the writing I suspect that most of these comments come from Americans.

So I have to ask? What were these travelers’ expectations? Did they really think that the streets would be cleaned with Purell every day? For those not familiar with Purell, it is a hand sanitizer that we American’s are obsessed with.

Rome and Florence are big cities that see thousands if not millions of visitors each year. It must take a Herculean effort to keep ahead of the trash these tourists throw away on an hourly basis much less a daily basis. And who is to blame if tourists throw their trash on the street rather than a trash can?

Why go to the Lake District of Italy? First and foremost the lakes are beautiful, second they are relaxing and after touring around Italy you will need a rest and third George Clooney could live anywhere in the world and has settled on Lake Como which says something about the place.

The largest and most popular lakes of the northern Italian Lake District are Como, Maggiore and Garda. Lakes Como and Maggiore are close to each other and close to Milan. Garda is further east on the border of Lombardy and the Veneto. Personally, like George, I prefer Lake Como. It is beautiful, peaceful and easy to get to from Milan.

Whether you make one of the lakes your first stop in Italy to recover from a long flight, in the middle of your trip as a break from your touring or at the end so you can go home with one of the most beautiful views in the world etched in your brain, just make sure you make one of them a stop on your trip.

How to choose which lake to visit? If you can’t visit them all, then look at what they offer, where they are and make your decision.

The Cinque Terre, the five villages on the Ligurian coast in western Italy, is a hikers paradise. The five villages of the Cinque Terre are linked together by a series of hiking trails all. The main trails range from very easy to very difficult. Additional hiking trails veer off from the main trails wandering up steep hills and through vineyards. The villages, trails and beaches are all beautiful, not just a hikers paradise but a photographers as well.

All of the main trails offer spectacular views of the Mediterranean Sea. With the exception of the trail linking Vernazza and Corneglia which leads away from the water the paths take you along cliffs high above the Sea.On a sunny day the colors are mesmerizing

On the trail from Monterossa al Mare to Vernazza you will hike through vineyards, over stone walls and along the Mediterranean Sea. The trails that run from Monterossa to Vernazza and Vernazza to Corniglia are the most difficult of the four trails. You will need a light weight hiking boot or hiking tennis shoe to make the trip comfortably. There are few handrails and the trail can be narrow in places so you need to bring a walking stick if you have balance problems. If you do not feel that you can walk the whole trail you can walk part of it and enjoy the view. You may encounter bees, bugs and birds so be prepared with an antihistamine (like Benadryl), bug spray and your binoculars.

Tourists visiting Italy often fly into and out of Milan. The big question is do you stay in Milan overnight or do you head straight for the train to Venice?

Milan gets a lot of bad press and not without reason – the traffic and pollution can be terrible, there is no historic center like you find in Florence and Rome and the city does not have the unique appeal of Venice. Milan is where money is made and most people do not want to think about that while they are on vacation.

Still…….there are a few reasons to spend at least a day in Milan at one end of your trip or the other.

1.Walk the Roof of the Duomo: Every city and many small towns in Italy have beautiful cathedrals and Milan is no exception. What is unique about the Duomo in Milan is that you can walk along the roof. The cathedral brings to mind a sandcastle so you walk among spires and around statues. You can also sit and look out over the city.