INTRODUCTION
Of all European countries, Italy is perhaps the hardest to classify. It is a modern, industrialized nation, with companies like Fiat and Olivetti market- leaders in their field. It is the harbinger of style, its designers leading the way with each season's fashions. But it is also, to an equal degree, a Mediterranean country, with all that that implies. Agricultural land covers much of the country, a lot of it, especially in the South, still owned under almost feudal conditions. In towns and villages all over the country, life grinds to a halt in the middle of the day for a siesta, and is strongly family-oriented, with an emphasis on the traditions and rituals of the Catholic Church which, notwithstanding a growing scepticism among the country's youth, still dominates people's lives here to an immediately obvious degree.
Above all Italy provokes reaction. Its people are volatile, rarely indifferent to anything, and on one and the same day you might encounter the kind of disdain dished out to tourist masses worldwide, and an hour later be treated to embarrassingly generous hospitality. If there is a single national characteristic, it's to embrace life to the full: in the hundreds of local festivals taking place across the country on any given day, to celebrate a saint or the local harvest; in the importance placed on good food; in the obsession with clothes and image; and above all in the daily domestic ritual of the collective evening stroll or passeggiata - a sociable affair celebrated by young and old alike in every town and village across the country.
Italy only became a unified state in 1861 and, as a result, Italians often feel more loyalty to their region than the nation as a whole - something manifest in different cuisines, dialects, landscape, and often varying standards of living. There is also, of course, the country's enormous cultural legacy: Tuscany alone has more classified historical monuments than any country in the world; there are considerable remnants of the Roman Empire all over the country, notably of course in Rome itself; and every region retains its own relics of an artistic tradition generally acknowledged to be among the world's richest.
Yet there's no reason to be intimidated by the art and architecture. If you want to lie on a beach, there are any number of places to do it: unlike, say, Spain, development has been kept relatively under control, and many resorts are still largely the preserve of Italian tourists. Other parts of the coast, especially in the south of the country, are almost entirely undiscovered. Beaches are for the most part sandy, and doubts about the cleanliness of the water have been confined to the northern part of the Adriatic coast and the Riviera. Mountains, too, run the country's length - from the Alps and Dolomites in the north right along the Apennines, which form the spine of the peninsula - and are an important reference-point for most Italians. Skiing and other winter sports are practised avidly, and in the five national parks, protected from the national passion for hunting, wildlife of all sorts thrives.
Italy's regional differences: the North and the South Italy breaks down into twenty regions, which in turn divide into different provinces. Some of these regional boundaries reflect long-standing historic borders, like Tuscany, Lombardy or the Veneto; others, like Friuli-Venezia Giulia or Molise, are more recent administrative divisions, often established in recognition of quite modern distinctions. But the sharpest division is between North and South. The North is one of the most advanced industrial societies in the world, a region that despite recent hiccups is one of extraordinary economic dynamism. Its people speak Italian with the cadences of France or Germany and its "capital", Milan, is a thoroughly European city. The South, derogatively known as il mezzogiorno, begins somewhere between Rome and Naples, and is by contrast one of the economically most depressed areas in Europe; and its history of absolutist regimes often seems to linger in the form of the spectre of organized crime and the remote hand of central government in Rome.
The economic backwardness of the South is partly the result of the historical neglect to which it was subjected by various foreign occupiers. But it is also the result of the deliberate policy of politicians and corporate heads to industrialize the North while preserving the underdeveloped South as a convenient reservoir of labour. Italy's industrial power and dynamism, based in the North, has been built on the back of exploited southerners who emigrated to the northern industrial cities of Turin, Milan and Genoa in their millions during the Fifties and Sixties. Even now, Milan and Turin have very sizeable populations of meridionali - southerners - working in every sector of the economy.
This north-south divide is something you'll come up against time and again, wherever you're travelling. To a northerner the mere mention of Naples - a kind of totem for the South - can provoke a hostile response; and you may notice graffiti in northern cities against terroni (literally "those of the land"), the derogatory northern nickname for southerners. In recent years this hostility has been articulated through the rise of the Lega Nord, who have campaigned against southern immigration to the North and promoted the future independence of northern Italy from the South.
Oddly enough, the Lega Nord's campaign against the entrenchment and vested interests of the Italian political establishment, not to mention organized crime and the Mafia (whose power has over recent years spread to the north of the country), has to some extent backfired, in that the north-south rift has become partly diffused by the tangentopoli ("bribesville") corruption scandals - especially given that the centre of the whole affair was, after all, Milan itself. Most northern Italians have been forced to revise their simplistic view of the South as a drain on the country's resources, and look to sort out the problems in their own political backyard; and in turn cities like Naples, previously a focus of Camorra corruption, have begun to clean up their act, too. The massive political upheavals of the late Eighties and early Nineties seem to have given most Italians a greater sense of unity than ever before, if only by virtue of their opposition to the old political establishment. Whether this collective outrage will carry through into anything more permanent, however, is anybody's guess.
Where to go The North is "discovered" Italy. The regions of Piemonte and Lombardy, in the northwest, make up the richest and most cosmopolitan part of the country, and the two main centres, Turin and Milan, are its wealthiest large cities. In their southern reaches, these regions are flat and scenically dull, especially Lombardy, but in the north the presence of the Alps shapes the character of each: skiing and hiking are prime activities, and the lakes and mountains of Lombardy are time-honoured tourist territory. Liguria, the small coastal province to the south, has long been known as the "Italian Riviera" and is accordingly crowded with sun-seeking holiday-makers for much of the summer season. Nonetheless it's a beautiful stretch of coast, and its capital, Genoa, is a bustling port with a long seafaring tradition.
Much of the most dramatic mountain scenery lies within the smaller northern regions. In the far northwest, the tiny bilingual region of Valle d'Aosta is home to some of the country's most frequented ski resorts, and is bordered by the tallest of the Alps - the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc. Moving east, Trentino- Alto Adige, another bilingual region, and one in which the national boundary is especially blurred, marks the beginning of the Dolomites mountain range, where Italy's largest national park, the Stelvio, lies amid some of the country's most memorable landscapes.
The Dolomites stretch into the northeastern regions of the Veneto and Friuli- Venezia Giulia. However here the main focus of interest is, of course, Venice; a unique city, and every bit as beautiful as its reputation would suggest (although this means you won't be alone in appreciating it). If the crowds are too much, there's also the arc of historic towns outside the city - Verona, Padua and Vicenza, all centres of interest in their own right, although rather overshadowed by their illustrious neighbour. To the south, the region of Emilia- Romagna has been at the heart of Italy's postwar industrial boom and has a standard of living on a par with Piemonte and Lombardy, although it's also a traditional stronghold of the Italian Left. Its coast is popular among Italians, and Rimini is about Italy's brashest, tackiest (and trendiest) seaside resort, with a high reputation on the clubbing scene. You may do better to ignore the beaches altogether, however, and concentrate on the ancient centres of Ravenna, Ferrara, Parma and the regional capital of Bologna, one of Italy's liveliest, most historic but least appreciated cities.
Central Italy represents perhaps the most commonly perceived image of the country, and Tuscany, with its classic rolling countryside and the art-packed towns of Florence, Pisa and Siena, to name only the three best-known centres, is one of its most visited regions. Neighbouring Umbria is similar in all but its tourist numbers, though it gets busier every year, as visitors flock into towns such as Perugia, Spoleto and Assisi. Further east still, Marche may in time go the same way, but for the moment is comparatively untouched, its highlights being the ancient towns of Urbino and scoli Piceno. South of Marche, the hills begin to pucker into mountains in the twin regions of Abruzzo and Molise, Italy's first really remote area if you're travelling north to south, centring on the country's highest peak - the Gran Sasso d'Italia. Molise, particularly, is a taster of the South, as is Lazio to the west, in part a poor and sometimes desolate region whose often rugged landscapes contrast with the more manicured beauty of the other central regions. Lazio's real focal point, though, is Rome, Italy's capital and the one city in the country which owes allegiance neither to the North or South, its people proudly aloof from the rest of the country's squabbles. There's nowhere quite like Rome: it's a tremendous city just to be, and in terms of historical sights outstrips everywhere else in the country by a long way.
The South proper begins south of Rome, with the region of Campania, which is as far as many tourists get. Naples is a petulant, unforgettable city, the spiritual heart of the Italian South, and on hand nearby are some of Italy's finest ancient sites in Pompeii and Herculaneum, not to mention the country's most spectacular stretch of coast around Amalfi. Basilicata and Calabria, which make up the instep and toe of Italy's boot, are harder territory but still rewarding, the emphasis less on art, more on the landscape and quiet, unspoilt coastlines. Puglia, also in the "heel" of Italy, has underrated pleasures, notably the landscape of its Gargano peninsula, the souk-like quality of its capital Bari, and the Baroque glories of Lecce in the far south. As regards Sicily, the island is really a law unto itself, a wide mixture of attractions ranging from some of the finest preserved Hellenistic treasures in Europe, to a couple of Italy's fanciest beach resorts in Taormina and Cefal, not to mention some gorgeous upland scenery. Come this far south and you're closer to Africa than Milan, and it shows, in the climate, the architecture, and the cooking - with couscous featuring on many menus in the west of the island. Sardinia, too, feels far removed from the Italian mainland, especially in its relatively undiscovered interior, although you may be content to explore its fine beaches, which are among Italy's best.
