Italy revealed

the long version

Ignoring the main cities of Florence, Venice, Rome, and Naples - all of them inundated with hordes of tourists - travel consultant Charles FitzRoy leads the reader on a breathtaking journey across rural Italy, through its remote villages and towns, to the heart of its cultural history: the inimitable grandeur of its art, seen here in the setting in which it was originally created. Divided geographically into four areas of outstanding interest - Tuscany and northern Lazio, the Veneto and Friuli, Umbria and the Marche, Sicily - Italy Revealed provides twenty-one remarkable itineraries, each designed to take no more than a day or two. From the Palladian villas of the north to the Norman churches of the south, through low-lying plains, rolling hills, and the jagged volcanic mountains of Sicily, each tour leads the traveller out into the exquisite reaches of the Italian countryside. And FitzRoy offers a host of invaluable tips on how to get around and where to sample the best local fare, as well as a treasure trove of historical facts about the artists, their patrons, and the villages that have been transformed by their genius.