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The BBC Profiles provide an economic, historical, and political overview, with a section on current leaders. The Profiles also list the media outlets, which include television and radio stations and the press.

Published January/February 2007
A wonder of Milan, the many-spired Duomo has drawn admirers like these Catholic monks for nearly 600 years. ...click to view photos

National Geographic's People and Places feature provides a short overview of the destination and include a Features section with related articles, photos, and videos, depending on the destination.

Travel + Leisure Magazine's guide to the greatest hotels worldwide as selected by its team of reporters and editors.

Weatherbase provides historical weather information such as "average number of day above 90," "average number of days with thunderstorms," and other similar types of data.

From website: The miracle of Italy is that all its treasures come packaged in a gorgeous country of majestic mountains, placid lakes, idyllic islands, splendid cities and wonderful walled villages. An ideal climate plus warm and gracious people make Italy a perfect destination for an active vacation, the art lover, the gourmand, the hedonist combined, why not, with business...click for website

Up-to-date information provided by the State Department on matters such as passport and visa requirements, safety and security, crime, health and medical issues, any areas of instability, and the location of the nearest U.S. embassy or consulate. It also links to Travel Warnings for that country, if there is one.

Frommer's Forums are divided into countries, and all the messages relating to a country are presented in a list that makes it easy to browse through the topics.

Review site with hotel reviews and candid photos posted by users.

Concierge.com destinations guides include information on getting there, getting around, lodging, places to eat, see and do, ... etc. Although Concierge.com may not have as many hotel recommendations as some guide books, they provide hotel photos along with the recommendations. The destinations guides also have links to articles about the destination published by Concierge.com or Conde Nast Traveler.

Frommer's has put a substantial amount of content online, making Frommers.com a good resource for travel planning. The site is easy to navigate since all the destinations are organized by similar topics such as "Getting There," "Restaurants," and "Suggested Itineraries."

USA Today's Country Guides have information on topics such as Money, Health, Accommodations, Entertainment, Top Things To Do and See, Getting There, Getting Around, Climate, and Map. You can also select the topics you are interested in and create a mini guide that puts all the information on one page for easy reading.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published December 2006
Sardinia's split personality lures some to its ancient ruins and quiet coves, others to its glittering marinas and epic dive sites. Mike Di Paola does it all on a Mediterranean playground ... click for full article

From Lonely Planet
Apart from its photogenic and increasingly cool capital Turin, and an impressive gastronomic trail that winds its way through towns such as Alba, Asti and Barolo, Italys northwestern region of Piedmont remains pleasantly off the map....click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published May 2006
Look out, Tuscany, here comes Puglia. Down in Italy's heel, a rich and ancient culture is taking on a high-stepping style. Ondine Cohane catches the momentand the cucina ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published August 2007
Cruise ships may ply the same waters, but don't assume that all itineraries are created equal. Here, our top picks in ten popular spots around the world-and why we think they're the best. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published August 2007
Unrivaled access, special connections, destination savvy-these are just some of the tools each of these uber-agents can deploy to bring the most to your next big trip. In parsing the day-to-day events of an actual itinerary, Consumer News Editor Wendy Perrin demonstrates how the intuitive maneuvers of a great travel planner can turn any journey into a smoothly orchestrated, magical experience. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published June 2006
Your indispensable guide to 35 rigorously vetted villa rental agents in 16 countries ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published March 2005
Anyone with a place in the country owes a debt to prolific architect Andrea Palladio, who built the first modern retreats on the rolling green of the Veneto. ... click for full article

In addition to standard listings on attractions, restaurants, and lodging, Fodors.com has a section called "Features" that are specific to the destination. For example, the Features section for Paris has articles titled "Cheese Primer," "Bistro to Brasserie," "Pampering Spas," . . . etc.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published November 2006
Sir Harold Evans wakes up and thinks he has gone to heaven. In Positano, that's an easy mistake to make. And when he comes back to earth, there remains a mystery to solve...

At midnight in Naples' empty airport terminal, there were no porters and no baggage carts and no sight of the driver we'd booked. A catch-22 ensued. Yes, said the solitary and grumpy customs agent, I could go and look for the driver. But no, I couldn't come back to help hand-wheel our family luggage through. Next time, backpacks. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published July 2003
There's only one word for time spent on Capri and that's sybaritic. And all good sybarites agree that long walks and climbs on the island's winding pathways tend to heighten the pleasures of the hotel pool and its adjacent bar. A good walking map is an absolute necessity, as is a guidebook that tells you what you're looking at (see 'Reading,' below). The Villa Jovis walk is demanding but well worth the effort: Follow the signs on the corner walls (you have to watch for them). ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published July 2003
Odysseus, Tiberius, Bardot, and Onassis-Capri, that eternal two-thousand-year-old seductress, has had them all. Alan Furst joins the club ... click for full article

Virtual Tourist has user reviews on topics such as Hotels, Things To Do, Restaurants, Local Customs, Nightlife, Off the Beaten Path, Tourist Traps, Transportation, ... etc.

Gayot's 72 Hour Vacations describe a 3 day itinerary with suggestions of where to eat, what to see, and where to stay.

IGoUGo is a travel review site. The reviews are organized into "journals," which are a collection of reviews by an author about a trip, such as reviews on hotels, restaurants, nightlife, experiences, photos, ... etc.

Published July/August 2006
This cappuccino at the Bar Ginori (Via Ginori 11/r) brought a smile to my face," says photographer Sisse Brimberg....click to view photos

This Florentine insider creates the perfect trip to Tuscany's capital and tells you where to stay and eat and what to see.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2003

Shopping & Service
1. Tip wisely. Americans are famously generous, but in Europe a ten percent tip is perfectly acceptable for waiters. If a service charge is included (check your bill carefully), don't leave anything more.

2. Shop tax-free. Some stores participate in a program called Global Refund. It's a better value on more expensive purchases: Spend $161 in the United Kingdom, for example, and get $13 back; spend $1,612 and get $208 back. See www.globalrefund.com for details ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
September 2005
This quintessential view of the Arno River and the Ponte Vecchio has both cinematic and aesthetic merit. In the evocative movie A Room with a View, shot 20 years ago, this vista triggers a serendipitous chain of events that ultimately reunites the heroine, Lucy Honeychurch (Helena Bonham Carter), and the freethinking George Emerson (Julian Sands) in Florence-countries and conquests later. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published December 2002
Eloise Danto's Undiscovered Museums of Florence (Surrey Books) is, unfortunately, out of print in the United States, but it can be ordered from booksellers in Great Britain. An excellent guide (in Italian) to Turin's large and small museums, Musei d'ItaliaTorino, is in local bookstores (Touring Club Torino, $10). Among the best English-language books about individual museums are: Masterpieces from the Magnani-Rocca Foundation Collection, a superb handbook with a page dedicated to each artwork (Nuova Alfa Editoriale, $15; on sale at the museum); Encyclopaedia Anatomica, about the waxworks of La Specola and nearly as quirky-and gruesome-as the museum itself (Taschen, $30; abridged, $10); and Shoes and Famous Feet, a large-format bilingual catalog of the Ferragamo exhibition (Elemond Electa, $33). ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published June 2004
Guy Martin's mission was James Bondian: To fly, drive, eat, sleep, talk, shop, and even ski his way around Europe, assiduously tracking who, in this age of antiterrorist vigilance, knew what about him, when they knew it, and how

New York's JFK, Terminal 7, British Airways counter, outbound to London Heathrow: The ticket agent swipes the machine-readable inside cover of my passport in the slot on her keyboard, then sniffs at the mainframe's response on her display. She swipes it again, checks my ticket, and furrows her brow.
"What's up?" I say. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2002
A center of design, Milan is famous for creating beauty-and exporting it. But everything in the city, from leather boots to Ambrosian rituals, reminds Albert Innaurato that the Milanese nest in glory

Perhaps only a fool goes to a city looking for its "soul." And Milan's soul? It's a commonplace in Italy that the greatest beauty coexists with the most homely human enterprises, but Milan? "Where's the beauty?" even the natives-especially the natives-will ask. Where are the glories of sinking Venice? The miracles, pagan and Christian, of Eternal Rome? Or the gorgeously seedy 24/7 spectacle that is Naples? ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2002
How Milan combines fun and affordable food
An Appetite for Aperitivi
Aperitivi are adventures in Milanese eating. Drinks are supposedly the point. Don't be taken in. Many hotels serve only canapes and sweets, but in restaurants, you can usually get a taste or three of their main dishes. Here, heart and liver; there, brain and kidney of mooing beast-all for next to nothing. And Italians don't capisc" finger food; go get seconds and even thirds. Some places limit aperitivi to general pasta or pasta with artichoke and/or frog bits. Pizzerias serve fresh slices. The various pubs are apt to have stews of rabbit or lamb. Never fear to ask, since the kitchens are already preparing for dinner: You can sometimes get healthy portions of that night's specials, and the server will be flattered that you're interested. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2002
Opera and more in Italy's northern capital
Opera is the tip of a tuneful iceberg in Italy's northern capital.

Get the mercoledì (Wednesday) edition of the Corriere della Sera-the Sunday New York Times of Milan. Everything that's on that week-at La Scala, the Conservatorio, the Piccolo Teatro, the galleries and museums-is listed, along with all the trendy places. Small sections pick up on unusual events that might well be worth a visit. Free in most hotels, Hello Milan is a good paper for a lot of useful advice about getting tickets, and it's in English. ... click for full article

Podcasts of Traveler Magazine's selection of the world's greatest walking tours. The podcasts last about 20-30 minutes.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published August 2007
The dollar may be taking a beating in Europe, but you don't have to. Our correspondents have combed five favorite European cities for the best small, stylish, and reasonably priced accommodations (most are $250 a night or less) and restaurants that serve great food at a great value. From a Roman villa on the Tiber to a sleek modern hotel just off Las Ramblas-all you have to do is choose. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published March 2005
With star architects' magnet structures on its periphery and sleek design in its center, Rome has never seemed so fresh

The Eternal City's contemporary building boom extends to every imaginable amenity-from accommodations and cuisine to shopping and cultural attractions.

The country code for Italy is 39. Prices quoted are for the current month. The U.S. embassy is at 119 Via Vittorio Veneto (06-46-741; www.usembassy.it). ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published December 2005
A mystery to many but a friend to all, the hotel concierge is a traveler's most overlooked ally. Christian L. Wright reports on these ultimate insiders and how to put them to work for you ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published March 2005
As the fringe of the Eternal City undergoes a building boom, all roads are leading from the ancient center. Mimi Murphy shows the way to Rome's emerging outskirts

Arrivederci, Roma. Good-bye, good-bye to Rome..." I remember the very first time I was serenaded with that song, at an outdoor table at a quaint little restaurant in Trastevere in 1978. I got a bit choked up because I was leaving Rome the next morning after a too-brief visit, and I had fallen in love with its Old World charm and inherent European style. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published April 2004
Municipalities are the new Medicis, erecting trophy buildings to entice the itinerant masses. Paul Goldberger reflects on this year's bumper crop ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published December 2003
Why settle for a country house when you can settle in a foreign country? Carolina Buia reports on making yourself at home in nine to-die-for destinations

Overview: The Italian countryside continues to inspire writers and filmmakers alike. Consider Frances Mayes, whose Under the Tuscan Sun caused a near stampede into Tuscany upon its 1996 publication and has since been adapted into a movie starring Diane Lane. Today, Tuscan real estate comes at a premium, especially between Florence and Siena, in the popular Chianti region, where a modest-albeit fully restored-villa will set you back about half a million dollars. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published March 2007
The author of Aloft, an oenophile, on the romance of Italian winemaking-and what he learned about the reality

It's a quarter to six on a July morning, and I'm walking down a rutted gravel road with winemaker Fabio Chiarelotto at his vineyard on the outskirts of Suvereto, a tiny medieval town in the Maremma, the marshy western half of Tuscany that meets the Mediterranean Sea. We carry big plastic water bottles, milk crates to sit on, and pruning shears; for the next five hours, we'll be green-pruning a plot of merlot, cutting away fat berry clusters in order to allow the vine's resources to go to the few grapes that will attain fullest concentration and flavor in the fall. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published September 2003
What if, instead of leaving at week's end, you could make this Tuscan view-this life-your own? Andre Aciman has a dream

I count the days. I know that I shouldn't. And I try not to. But I do it all the same, because I'm superstitious and need to dampen the magic each time I'm ready to let go and embrace this dreamy Tuscan landscape whose peculiar spell is to make you think that it's yours forever. That you're here to stay. That time actually stopped the moment you left the highway and drove down a pine-flanked road that steals your breath each time you spot the house whose sole purpose on earth, it seems, is to compress in the space of seven days the miracle of a lifetime. Like a lover who knows he's in way over his head, I niggle and fuss and am all too hasty to find fault with the small things, because the large ones can, with just a few colors and a few tones and the toll of bells all over the valley, easily shame my puny attempts to rehearse the wake-up call that is to take everything away. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published June 2006
Under the Tuscan Sun launched a thousand villa fantasies-and highlighted a host of problems that can afflict renters in a foreign land (or this one, for that matter). After leasing an Italian villa herself and touring numerous others with rental agents extraordinaire, Consumer News Editor Wendy Perrin renders the process foolproof with her hard-won wisdom-and a list of 35 thoroughly vetted and vouched-for villa rental specialists in 16 countries. Don't lease a home without it ... click for full article

From National Geographic Traveler
Published April 2005
Experience some of Italy's most beloved cities and quiet places from the inside out: Take your cues from the folks who live there....click for full article

Published July/August 2007
Like a promised land, the medieval town of Assisi rises from an Umbrian valley....click to view photos

Published November/December 2005
Built on more than a million pilings, the magisterial Church of Santa Maria della Salute rises on Dorsoduro, one of Venice's six sestieri, or districts. ...click to view photos

Podcasts of Traveler Magazine's selection of the world's greatest walking tours. The podcasts last about 20-30 minutes.

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published August 2007
The dollar may be taking a beating in Europe, but you don't have to. Our correspondents have combed five favorite European cities for the best small, stylish, and reasonably priced accommodations (most are $250 a night or less) and restaurants that serve great food at a great value. From a Roman villa on the Tiber to a sleek modern hotel just off Las Ramblas-all you have to do is choose. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
July 2007
In a city where nearly every view is frame-worthy, this balcony at the Bauer Il Palazzo delivers big-time. You're above Venice's great intersection, where the Grand Canal meets the lagoon. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published June 2004
Guy Martin's mission was James Bondian: To fly, drive, eat, sleep, talk, shop, and even ski his way around Europe, assiduously tracking who, in this age of antiterrorist vigilance, knew what about him, when they knew it, and how

New York's JFK, Terminal 7, British Airways counter, outbound to London Heathrow: The ticket agent swipes the machine-readable inside cover of my passport in the slot on her keyboard, then sniffs at the mainframe's response on her display. She swipes it again, checks my ticket, and furrows her brow.
"What's up?" I say. ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published October 2004
It was an eight-year nightmare: Fire, destruction, delays. But next month the curtain rises again at La Fenice opera. Guy Martin looks at what it took ... click for full article

From Conde Nast Traveler
Published November 2005
Of all the world's cities by the sea, none is as spellbinding as Venice. And of all Venice's complex charms, nothing quite surpasses the Lido, its legendary island, where the pull of nostalgia is as strong as that of the Adriatic itself. Andre Aciman goes down to the beach ... click for full article