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Weekly roundup
Ciao, here’s what we’re exploring this week!
Ever wondered what it would feel like to trade Florence’s crowds for a royal city that still flies under the radar? In Turin, Savoy palaces, arcaded boulevards, the Mole Antonelliana, and world-class museums sit within a walkable center framed by Alpine peaks, with café tables serving hot chocolate, bicerin, and truffle-laden dinners instead of rushed tourist menus.
Take a moment to see why slipping Turin into your next Italy trip can give you big-city culture without the big-city chaos.
Hidden Italy
Beyond Milan and Florence: Italy’s Royal City Hiding in Plain Sight
Instead of the usual Rome–Florence–Venice loop, Travel + Leisure’s latest guide heads to Turin, Italy’s often-overlooked first capital, where grand Savoy palaces, arcaded boulevards, and chandeliered cafés deliver big-city culture without big-city chaos.
Turin wraps royal residences, the soaring Mole Antonelliana, and one of the world’s greatest Egyptian museums into a compact, walkable center framed by snow-dusted Alpine peaks.
In Piedmont’s capital, café-hopping means sipping thick hot chocolate and bicerin, while dinners lean into French-inflected Italian cooking, white truffles, and hazelnut-laced desserts.
Choosing Turin here means fewer tour groups, easier museum days, and more time lingering over an aperitivo as everyday Torinesi life unfolds across elegant piazzas.
Beyond the hotspots
Study In Bologna: Inside Italy’s Oldest University
Bologna is a good base if you want real student life, medieval streets, and a university that has been teaching since before most countries existed.
Around the Archiginnasio, historic libraries, wooden anatomy theatres, and creaking lecture halls show how the Alma Mater Studiorum shaped the idea of a modern university.
Under the red roofs and porticoes, cafés, bookshops, and busy piazzas give you that day-to-day mix of lectures, aperitivi, and late-night conversations that define a real campus city.
From here, weekend trips to fellow ancient campuses in Padua and Naples connect you to a wider network of Italian universities that helped define European culture and academic freedom.
City spotlight
Nine Italian Cities, One You’ll Always Return To
Metro just spotlighted an Italy itinerary built around nine different cities, framed by the one place the writer keeps returning to year after year. Think of it as a mix of first-time favorites and “forever” cities, stitched together by easy train hops and long, lazy walks between gelato stops.
Rather than sprinting through a greatest-hits loop of Rome, Florence, and Venice, this itinerary leans into contrast, with lakeside calm one day, buzzing university streets the next, and coastal towns where dinner is whatever came off the boats that morning.
There is still plenty of culture, from frescoed churches and hidden courtyards to family-run trattorie and waterfront promenades where the evening passeggiata is the main event. Still, the rhythm is softer, the crowds thinner, and the focus is on places you can actually imagine coming back to.
By the end, one city clearly emerges as “the one” you keep returning to, not the most glamorous but the place that feels like home the second you arrive, and a convincing answer if you are torn between trying somewhere new and revisiting an old favorite.
Do This, Not That
Venice 🇮🇹
Venice during cruise-ship hours can feel like a theme park on water. Venice before breakfast and after dinner feels like another city entirely.
Do this: Book a room in Cannaregio or Dorsoduro, drop your bags, and go wandering at night with no map. The tourists thin out, the alleys go quiet, and suddenly Venice feels like a secret city built just for you. Pair it with a sunset vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal, and you get most of the gondola romance for a fraction of the price.
Not that: Do not sleep in Mestre on the mainland, “because it is cheaper, and turn Venice into a commute. You will see it at its loudest, most crowded hours, then leave just as it starts to feel mysterious and cinematic.
Itinerary of the week
Three Days in Verona 🏛️
Day 1: Wander Piazza Bra and tour the Arena di Verona, then stroll Via Mazzini to Juliet’s House and balcony before ending in Piazza delle Erbe and Piazza dei Signori for spritzes and people-watching.
Day 2: Climb Torre dei Lamberti for panoramic city views, cross Ponte Pietra to explore Castel San Pietro and the Roman Theater, and linger over gelato and wine bars in the evening.
Day 3: Escape to the vineyards of Valpolicella or the shores of Lake Garda for a full-day tasting and scenery trip, with stops in medieval villages and lakeside promenades.
Expect velvety Amarone, cicchetti-style snacks, creamy gelato, and evenings that feel equal parts Shakespearean stage and golden-hour riverfront.
Italian Dish of the Week
Cacio e Pepe (Rome)
Cacio e Pepe literally means “cheese and pepper,” and that is exactly what it is: pasta (usually tonnarelli or spaghetti), Pecorino Romano cheese, and freshly cracked black pepper. No cream, no butter, no garlic. The magic happens when the starchy pasta water and grated cheese come together to form a silky sauce that clings to every strand.
Why You Should Try It: This is one of those dishes that looks boring on paper and then completely surprises you at the table. The flavor is intense but not heavy: salty, creamy, peppery, and a little bit sharp from the Pecorino. If you want to understand what Italians mean when we say “simple but done well,” Cacio e Pepe is the perfect example.
What Makes It Special: Romans are picky about this dish because it is deceptively complex to execute: too much heat and the cheese clumps, too much water and the sauce is watery rather than creamy. When it is done right, you get a glossy, velvety coating and that deep perfume of toasted pepper. It is also one of the most “local” choices on the menu – this is what many Romans actually eat at home and in traditional trattorie.
Get involved
📊 Take this edition’s poll
Confirms whether Turin is your primary base versus a stop on a multi-city route.
Would you rather anchor a 4–5 day trip in Turin this year?
Why it matters
Choosing Turin is a way to keep the depth of an Italian capital while avoiding the tour-group crush. You get easier museum days, quieter piazzas, and long aperitivo hours watching Torinesi live their lives, rather than fighting for space at the usual landmarks.
It is the kind of city that makes Italy feel both grand and everyday at once, and one you can actually imagine returning to again and again.
Alla prossima,
Francesca Vitali
Editor-in-Chief
Italy Dream Life
PS: Love Italy as much as we do? Follow us on Instagram @ItalyDreamLife for daily inspiration, hidden spots, and real moments from il bel paese. Because Italy isn’t just a destination—it’s a lifestyle. 🇮🇹✨
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