The top 20 Italian holidays for 2006
Fonte: The Sunday Times (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/)
Drive the Lakes, climb the Dolomites or just nibble olives by the pool - Mark Hodson offers all the best options
"Italia! oh Italia! thou who hast The fatal gift of beauty,” wrote Byron. And tourists ever since have been falling in love with the place, seduced by her landscapes, her art, that wonderful food. There are thousands of perfect Italian summer holidays out there, more than ever before. Here are 20 of the best.
*Unless stated, all package prices are per person, based on two sharing, and include flights from London. For other UK or Irish departures, contact the operator
1 CHILL IN TUSCANY
Combine some serious quaffing with gentle walks in the hills of Chianti. Langdale Holidays (01539 735108, www.langdaleholidays.co.uk) has booked all nine rooms at La Spinosa, a charming hotel on an organic farm near the tiny village of Barberino Val d’Elsa. Among the treats it promises are guided tours of San Gimignano and Monteriggioni, walks in the surrounding valley among wild flowers and butterflies, and three wine-tasting sessions, one at the hotel and two with local producers. That still leaves plenty of time to lounge beside the pool, book a relaxing massage or explore the walking trails that crisscross the estate. A week, half-board, departing on June 11, costs £1,080.
2 LIVE LIKE A NATIVE
Venice isn’t just for day trips and short breaks, it can also make a great base for a summer holiday — providing you stay away from the maelstrom that is San Marco. One option is to rent an apartment on the island of La Giudecca, where you’ll find yourself amid a network of narrow alleyways, handsome Palladian churches and excellent local restaurants. The atmosphere is laid-back and parochial, yet the city centre is only three minutes away by vaporetto. After a morning ’s sightseeing or shopping, you can take a direct vaporetto to the beaches of the Lido. Venetian Apartments (020 8878 1130, www.venice-rentals.com) has a selection of properties on La Giudecca, including the Judeca Nova Penthouse, which sleeps six, has a large terrace with views over the lagoon and is a three-minute walk from the vaporetto stop. A week’s self-catering costs £199pp, based on six sharing. Fly to Venice with British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) or Ryanair (www.ryanair.com).
3 DRIVE A CLASSIC
See the Lakes in style behind the wheel of a classic sports car. Strap on a pair of open-backed leather gloves, fold down the roof and follow a specially designed scenic route that snakes around the back roads between Maggiore, Como, Iseo and Garda. It’s not all driving — there are boat trips on the lakes and visits to historic villas and gardens, and to the Mille Miglia museum in Brescia. Up to 12 cars follow the same route — not in convoy but at their own pace — then meet up in the evenings to enjoy gastronomic dinners. The 10-night trip begins in Orta San Giulio on September 19. If you take your own car, it costs £1,985pp, including five dinners, driving notes and B&B at palaces, farmhouses and inns. Or you can rent a classic car for the duration: a 1966 Alfa Romeo Duetto Spider costs £900. Book with Classic Travelling (0870 350 0122, www.classictravelling.com), which can also advise on flights or ferries.
4 SPLASH OUT
Live it up with the aristos at Costa Smeralda, an exclusive resort in Sardinia created by the Aga Khan. And though Sardinia is wonderful in the spring, if you want to brush expensively tanned shoulders with the likes of Claudia Schiffer and P Diddy, you’ll need to go in the high season. Stay at the super-glam Hotel Cala di Volpe and you’ll pay from £2,245 for a week’s half-board in May, and from £4,775 in August. The tour operator Elegant Resorts (01244 897515, www.elegantresorts.co.uk) suggests clients book a half-day cruise on a private yacht to visit the Maddalena archipelago (prices on request). At night, take the credit card for a spin at the aptly named Billionaire Club, a bar and nightclub owned by Flavio Briatore, the former boyfriend of supermodel Naomi Campbell.
5 KEEP IT SIMPLE
Not everybody’s idea of luxury is gold taps and pink Cristal champagne. Many well-heeled holidaymakers head instead for the simple rustic charm of the Aeolian Islands, off the north coast of Sicily. The seven volcanic islands are all spectacular, but the one to head for is Panarea, which has no cars and is home to the stylish Raya Hotel. Created in the 1960s by two travellers, Paolo Tilche and Myriam Beltrami, the Raya’s 30 rooms are built in traditional village style and individually decorated. Many guests return year after year.
A week’s B&B costs £788 in May, £800 in August, with Think Sicily (020 7377 8518, www.thinksicily.com). Fly with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) to Palermo and take the hydrofoil to Panarea.
6 RIDE HIGH
Four renovated farmhouses make up La Casella, a comfortable rural retreat in the rolling hills of Umbria. Set on a 1,000-acre estate, it is an ideal base for active families. There’s an equestrian centre (with more than 40 horses) that offers everything from pony rides to jumping, dressage and trekking for experienced riders. Plus a tennis court, a small spa and two swimming pools, open from June through September. Mountain bikes can be rented and the countryside is ideal for hiking. A week’s full-board, including wine with meals, costs from £469 in May or £518 in August (under-13s sharing their parents’ room £280/£308), with Real Holidays (020 7359 3938, www.realholidays.co.uk). Flights can be arranged on request.
7 HIDE AWAY
Of all Italy’s islands, Pantelleria is the most remote and mysterious. A volcanic outcrop 45 miles off the coast of Tunisia, it served for many years as a prison. More recently, its stark landscapes, hot springs and crystal-clear seas have attracted high-profile visitors, including Eric Clapton, Isabella Rossellini and Giorgio Armani (who owns a house on the island). The celebrities come to get away from it all, and that’s what you could do by renting a rustic cottage such as Dammuso Cirinpancola, which sleeps four and is close to a rocky beach. It costs a total of £853 for a week in May, £1,076 in August, with Interhome (020 8891 1294, www.interhome.co.uk). Get there by hydrofoil from Trapani in Sicily, or, during the summer, you can fly from Milan or Rome with Air One (www.flyairone.it).
8 TAKE BABY
Travelling with a new baby? In Italy you’ll be treated like a celebrity wherever you go. And you can make things even easier for yourselves by booking into the Club Med (0845 367 6767, www.clubmed.co.uk) family village at Metaponto in Basilicata. Included in the price is a club room for children under two that’s open 24 hours a day and kitted out with food mixers, cots, changing mats, baby baths, bottle warmers, sterilisers and a restaurant.
Located on a sweeping sandy beach, the village also has supervised clubs for older children, offering everything from tennis lessons to unicycling. A week’s all-inclusive costs from £616 in May or £910 in August (under-12s £355/£668, under-4s £293/£379 and under-2s £110/£164).
9 HIT A HIGH NOTE
Head to the Tuscan village of Torre del Lago in summer and you’ll be able to catch some world-class opera performed in the romantic waterfront setting of the open-air Settori Teatro. The Puccini Festival is in its 52nd year and will feature performances of Tosca, Turandot, Madama Butterfly and La bohème between July 21 and August 20. Tickets start at £20 and can be bought at the official website (www.puccinifestival.it) or by calling the ticket office (00 39 0584 359322).
Stay on the beach at the Grand Hotel Royal, in nearby Viareggio, a stately old institution with an attractive pool. A week’s half-board in August costs £965, with Magic of Italy (0870 888 0220, www.magicofitaly.co.uk).
10 DIP YOUR TOES
Tourism is still relatively new to Calabria — the toe of Italy’s boot — and because of this, the region has character and authenticity to spare. The landscape is rugged, with sun-parched mountain ranges and mile upon mile of unspoilt coastline, and the people are unaffected and welcoming. One of the best places to base yourself is the family-friendly, five-star Hotel Parco dei Principi, on the beach at Roccella Jonica, close to Locri and Reggio. A week’s B&B starts at £655 in May, £875 in August, including car hire, with Simply Travel (0870 405 5005, www.simplytravel.co.uk).
11 TEST YOUR METTLE
If you want a taste of mountain-climbing without spending years learning the ropes, head to the Dolomites, where the Via Ferrata — the Iron Way — is a system of ladders, bridges, chains and fixed cables that allows keen amateurs to tackle some fearsomely steep slopes. You need no special training, but you must have a good head for heights, be reasonably fit and have the right equipment. The last is provided by KE Adventure (01768 773966, www.keadventure.com), which offers eight-day expeditions for groups of up to 10 people, climbing to heights of 9,925ft and staying at a hotel in the Val Badia. The cost is £895, B&B. Flights are not included; fly to Verona with BA (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com) or to Brescia with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com).
12 BEAT A RETREAT
Escape to the hills of Basilicata and stay in a former Benedictine monastery. Casa dei Ricordi, which dates back to the 12th century, is now an agriturismo where the friendly owners run informal cookery courses and encourage guests to pick their own ingredients from the gardens. The property has a pool, a terrace with views across to the Dolomiti Lucane mountains and two vaulted stone restaurants that specialise in hearty southern cuisine.
A week’s self-catering costs £190pp in May, £227.50pp in August, based on four sharing an apartment. Book with Cottages to Castles (01622 775217, www.cottagestocastles.com) and fly with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com) to Brindisi.
13 DRAW INSPIRATION
This year sees the launch of Universal Leonardo, a Europe-wide project aimed at bringing the work and ideas of Leonardo da Vinci to a wider audience. To coincide with a programme of new exhibitions, The Traveller (020 7436 9343, www.the-traveller.co.uk) is running a series of week-long trips, accompanied by a leading art historian, that will include private viewings of Leonardo’s paintings in Florence, a tour of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan and a visit to Vinci, the artist’ s birthplace. The tour, which also features nights in Pisa and Vigevano and visits to the science museum and the Leonardo exhibition in Florence, departs on June 10, July 8 and August 14, and costs £1,995, half-board, including two lunches. More information on the project will be published at www.universalleonardo.org.
14 GO UP IN THE WORLD
There’s a lot more to the South Tyrol than yodelling and lederhosen. High in the hills above Merano, and only accessible by cable car, is the Vigilius Mountain Resort, an ecofriendly hotel with stylish minimalist interiors and a restaurant built using wood from a 300-year-old Austrian barn. The 42 rooms have sensational views of the surrounding peaks, there is a spa and, if you want to spend your days hiking, the kitchen will prepare picnic lunches.
A week’s B&B costs £1,095 in May or £2,120 in August, including car hire, with Italian Expressions (020 7433 2675, www.expressionsholidays.co.uk).
15 DOWN SHIFT
Take a gentle cycling tour of Tuscany, meandering along quiet country lanes that wind their way through fields and vineyards. On some cycling holidays you spend every day in the saddle, but on this one, with Headwater (0870 066 2650, www.headwater.com), you move on every other day, staying at small, friendly, three- and four-star hotels, your luggage waiting for you when you arrive. Take the family — the distances and gradients are designed to be suitable for children aged eight and up — and the credit cards, for shopping in Siena and Florence on your days off.
Eight nights, including half-board, notes, maps and bike hire, cost £1,029 in May, £1,158 in August (under-12s £699). Or drive and pay £859 in May, £949 in August, including car ferry (under-12s £519).
16 GO RUSTIC
Stay on a farm in the unspoilt countryside of central Sardinia and eat home-grown food served, family-style, at a large dining table. Daniel and Rita, the charming owners of Mandra Edera, pride themselves on treating their guests to traditional Sardinian and Italian cooking. They also offer a high standard of facilities: four smart bedrooms in the main farmhouse and eight garden suites share a swimming pool, Jacuzzi and outdoor terrace. Horses grazing in the surrounding fields can be saddled up for evening rides and guests can hike, rent mountain bikes or go fishing. A week’s half-board costs £388 in May or £429 in August, with Just Sardinia (01202 484858, www.justsardinia.co.uk). Flights start at £199.
17 LEARN TO COOK
Most people return from holiday with a suntan and an expanded waistline. But wouldn’t it be lovely to come back with a new understanding of Italian food and the skills to cook it? A week’s intensive course should do the trick, based on a 250-acre organic farm near San Gimignano. As well as hands-on tuition from professional cooks, you are given tastings of cheese, wine and olive oil, taken to shop at local markets, and to restaurants where, before eating, you get a tour backstage. With your own private terrace overlooking the Tuscan hills, shared use of a large pool, a day off to explore Florence and a farewell banquet with champagne and fireworks, the week-long trip costs £1,475, including all meals and excursions, with Summer’s Leases (0845 230 2223, www.summersleases.com). Flights are extra.
18 DO AS THE ROMANS DO
The coast of Abruzzo is where many Romans go to cool off in summer. The beaches are typically Italian: neat lines of sunloungers and umbrellas, children playing in the shallow water, seafront restaurants with starched linen. One hotel is outstanding: the family-run Mion (00 39 085 935 0935, www.mionhotel.com), an unpretentious four-star that gets the simple things right. The staff are charming, the food is superb and there is a lovely sunny terrace, a pool and steps leading onto the beach.
Nightly rates start at £60, half-board, in May or £77 in August. It’s a half-hour drive from Pescara airport, which is served by Ryanair (www.ryanair.com).
19 CAPRI BLUE
Of all Italy’s islands, Capri is the undisputed prettiest, its steep limestone cliffs rising from the almost impossibly blue waters of the Bay of Naples. Its whitewashed houses are bedecked with flowers and there are some lovely walks that will take you through pine trees, down to pebble beaches and along ancient paths to Roman ruins. One of the most charming places to stay is the five-star Caesar Augustus, a family-owned mansion on the cliffs, where a week’s B&B costs from £1,450 in May, £1,480 in August, with Scott Dunn (020 8682 5080, www.scottdunn.com). If you want to learn to sail, ask the owner, Paolo Signorini, a former Olympic sailor, to take you out on his yacht. A one-day course around the island costs £350.
20 DO THE GRAND TOUR
Italy looms so large on the travel landscape that it can be embarrassing to admit you don’t know it at all. If you’re a beginner, one approach is to take a guided tour, mopping up the best-known sights in one swoop. Voyages Jules Verne (0845 166 7035, www.vjv.com) has a trip that manages to squeeze Naples, Florence, Rome, Pompeii, Assisi, Pisa, Siena and the Vatican all into one week. With overnight stays at three different four-star hotels and some free afternoons, the pace is not too taxing. The trip costs from £855 in May or £745 in August, including breakfast and two dinners.
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