Europe
Italy
114 photographs · 10 venues
Photographs
Places worth going
All places →GenoaDon't missTownsGenoa doesn't get the attention it deserves. I had a bright morning down on the seafront, a promenade above the rocks with a pale church and bell tower behind and the water flat and blue out to a headland. The real thing though is the old town behind it, one of the biggest medieval quarters in Europe, all caruggi - alleys so narrow and tall you lose the sky - and then you pop out into a marble palazzo square. Eat the focaccia, it's a religion here, and this is the region pesto comes from. Would go back and give it longer.KarerseeDon't missLandmarksWorth going out of your way for, and worth staying until the light goes. The lake sits in the trees with the Latemar's spires standing up behind it, and it's so still that the whole forest and half the mountain come back at you off the surface. The water is an extraordinary green - they call it the rainbow lake, and the story goes a wizard shattered a rainbow into it. I stayed on for the sunset and got the spires lit orange, then a last silhouette with one tall spruce against the sky.Lake BraiesDon't missOutdoorsDeep green-blue water with a pale gravel shore running into it, cliffs and pines down the far side and the old wooden boathouse at the head of the lake. Genuinely as good as it looks, which I wasn't expecting given how photographed it is. The loop round the edge takes about an hour and gets you away from the crowd at the near end within about five minutes. It's also where the Alta Via 1 starts, if you ever fancy walking to Belluno.PeitlerkofelDon't missViewpointsYou can drive to this one. The pass road brings you out onto open meadow and Peitlerkofel is straight ahead - twin summits and a great pale wall of rock, with hay barns and spruce scattered across the green in front of it. I pulled over and just stood there for a while.
Passo delle Erbe is a lovely drive in its own right and there is parking at the top, so you get the whole view without having to walk for it. If you have longer there is a loop trail that goes right around the base of the mountain.
Late morning was good - the face was still catching the sun when I was there. Gorgeous.SecedaDon't missViewpointsOne of the best things I did. The cable car does the work from Ortisei and then you walk out onto the ridge at about 2,500m and the Odle just rears up out of the meadow in front of you, a great tilted blade of rock that doesn't look like it should be standing. Turn around and the whole range is opposite: the Sella flat-topped and enormous, the Sassolungo's towers off to the side, and Val Gardena and its villages a long way down between them. There's a viewing ring up there with the distances to cities all over the world on it, which is a nice touch.Sella TowersDon't missViewpointsWorth being out for the hour before dark. The rock goes to one long wall running the width of the sky, towers standing off the end of it, scree fanning out below and dark pines along the meadow, and the light comes off it pink for a few minutes before everything goes flat.UrtijëiDon't missTownsA great base in the Dolomites and a lovely place to spend an afternoon. The centre is pedestrianised, the town is stacked up the hillside in wood and white render, and the mountains are right there at the end of every street.
The cable cars run up to Seceda on one side and the Alpe di Siusi on the other, and those are the real reason to come.
Everything is signed in three languages and the town has a name in each - Urtijëi, St. Ulrich, Ortisei. Leave the car in one of the garages, the streets themselves are closed to traffic. Would go back!Ancona PortWorth a stopJourneysOff the overnight ferry from Split, in at first light. It's a working port - cranes, ferries, a little red lighthouse on the end - and the town stacked up the headland behind it. Nothing to stay for, but arriving by sea beats another morning on a motorway.Duomo di MilanoWorth a stopLandmarksStand in the square a good while before you go anywhere near the door. Pale marble and a whole forest of spires - there are around 135 of them - against a hard blue sky, and it's far bigger than any photograph makes it look. They started it in 1386 and were still finishing details into the twentieth century, which you can feel. Go up onto the roof if you do one thing: you walk out among the spires themselves, which is completely unlike looking at it from below.MilanWorth a stopTownsMilan gets called a business city with one good cathedral, which is unfair but not entirely wrong. The Castello Sforzesco is brick and enormous with the park running out behind it, and then out by Cadorna there's a giant needle threading a knot of red, yellow and green up out of the pavement, which is wonderfully daft and my favourite thing I saw. Walk the Galleria even if you buy nothing, and do aperitivo properly in the early evening - you order a drink and the food arrives with it.