The energetic, historic capital of Italy’s Emilia-Romagna region, Bologna is our favorite type of city. It is large enough to have lots of things to see and do but is easy to navigate and lacks the crowds that can flood some of the bigger cities.

READ: 18 Best Things to Do in Bologna, Italy

Ancient ruins, incredible natural scenery, great food, and energetic cities combine to make Sicily an ideal destination.

READ: 15 Fun Things to Do in Sicily

The hilltop views, the ancient sites imbued with tales of gods and emperors, the amazing wine for just a few euros, the hidden hot springs, and the Mediterranean sun--there's everything to love about Sicily.

READ: Best Cities in Sicily to Visit on Your Trip

The natural Saturnia hot springs in Tuscany, Italy is visually striking and physically relaxing to visit.

READ: Saturnia Hot Springs in Italy: A Complete Guide to Visiting

50 Incredible Landmarks in Italy to Visit

READ: 50 Incredible Landmarks in Italy to Visit

We expected Palermo to be gritty, rough-around-the-edges, largely without charm or intrigue. What we found was a city with blemishes, but also with a mix of fascinating influences, amazing food, friendly people, and a cultural and religious history stretching back for millennia.

READ: 17 Fun Things to Do in Palermo, Italy, to See the Best of the Sicilian Capital

Emilia-Romagna is considered by many to be the “bread basket” of Italy, the culinary heart of the country. A two-week visit isn’t enough time to try everything the region has to offer, but we did our best.

READ: Emilia-Romagna Food: 11 Traditional Dishes to Try in Northern Italy

Tables filled with exotic produce, deep fryers sizzling with fritters, Sicilian nonnas snaking their carts through the crowds to visit the vendors they’ve purchased from for decades. It’s just another typical morning in the Palermo markets.

READ: Exploring the Historic Street Markets of Palermo, Sicily

Like many of our trips, this one started out with a simple musing: “I wonder if they have any hot springs in Sicily.” We’re passionate about hot springs and we thought maybe we would get lucky, but had no idea it would lead us to the Vulcano Island mud baths in the Aeolian Islands.

READ: Indulging in the Vulcano Island Mud Baths

One of the interesting things about Italy is that each region has its own cuisine. While there are some commonalities, there are significant differences in what’s traditional and readily available on menus in different areas.

READ: Genoa Food: From Focaccia to Fish

Less than an hour from the heart of Rome are the ruins of an ancient city preserved by nature, much in the same way that the eruption of Mount Vesuvius stopped Pompeii in its tracks.

READ: Ostia Antica: The Ancient City Near Rome You’ve Never Heard Of

From a viewing platform above the action, we were able to watch the giant cheeses take shape.

READ: Visiting a Parmigiano-Reggiano Cheese Maker in Italy

It was already 8pm when we assembled at the massive marble building known as Vittorio Emanuele Monument. It was the meeting point for our tour of some of the most famous remains of ancient Rome, and we were beyond excited.

READ: Going Underground on a Night Tour of the Colosseum

Any time we travel, paying a visit to local food markets is always on the top of our list. And in a food-focused region like Emilia-Romagna, indulging in the Bologna markets was necessary.

READ: Nature’s Best is On Display at Food Markets in Bologna

A summer retreat for over 1,000 years, Tivoli, Italy, hosted ancient Romans and the Renaissance elite in its rolling hills just 20 miles from Rome. Here's a look inside its two most famous sites -- Hadrian's Villa and Villa d'Este.

READ: History and Beauty Collide on a Tour of Tivoli, Italy

There’s just something special and cozy about cooking with someone’s grandmother in a real apartment in Rome. Her training ground was cooking with her mother and grandmother and her goal was loving her family with food.

READ: Food is Love at this Lively Cooking Class in Rome

Imagine the most fabulous photo you've ever seen of the Italian countryside. Then, add a series of pools to those hillsides where you can gaze out across the land and lose yourself in the serenity. This place is real. It's Villaggio della Salute Piu.

READ: Heaven on the Hillside — A Perfect Spa Day in Italy

Rome is one of our favorite cities in the world. Nearly everyone visits the Colosseum, but intrepid travelers need to visit the Appian Way and the Catacombs of San Callisto.

READ: All Roads Lead to Rome on the Appian Way

It’s Wednesday. And that means it’s the Siena market day. We love local markets around the world and we were excited to see this one. …

READ: Market Day and Sightseeing in Siena, Italy

In which we got all access to some of the best wineries in Tuscany! During the Cantine Aperte wine festival in Italy, wineries open their doors to the public and reveal their secrets.

READ: Exploring Italian Wineries During at the Cantine Aperte Wine Festival

It’s interesting to think that without a rather dramatic flaw in engineering, Pisa wouldn’t be nearly the tourist center that it is. Nevertheless, Pisa is …

READ: A Legendary Mistake: The Leaning Tower of Pisa

San Gimignano, Italy is a beautiful little walled town that was declared by UNESCO to be part of the World’s Architectural Heritage. Its striking architecture is straight out of the 1200s, and is “the epitome of a Tuscan hill town.”

READ: The Tuscan Hilltown of San Gimignano, Italy

The Paestum ruins, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are comprised of three major Greco-Roman temples and a number of smaller ruins. Visiting Paestum can be a highlight of a trip to Italy. We visited in the off season and had the ruins completely to ourselves.

READ: The Ruins of the Paestum Temples