IT · Curated travel guide
Colosseum, Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna and 7 more — what each one is, and why it is worth the detour.
Chosen from everything Wikidata knows about Italy and ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions describe them, which is about as close to "famous" as open data gets. One is on UNESCO's World Heritage list.
Ancient Roman amphitheater in Rome
An oval amphitheatre in the centre of Rome, Italy, just east of the Roman Forum. No ancient amphitheatre ever built was larger, and none still standing in the world is as large.
Photo: FeaturedPics, CC BY-SA 4.0
Active stratovolcano in the Gulf of Naples, Italy
A somma–stratovolcano in Campania, Italy, rising close to the shore of the Gulf of Naples, roughly 9 km (5.6 mi) from the city of Naples, which lies to its west. It is one of several volcanoes making up the Campanian volcanic arc.
Photo: pietro scerrato, CC BY 3.0
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Active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy
Also called simply Etna, an active stratovolcano on Sicily's east coast, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between Catania and Messina. It sits over the convergent margin where the Eurasian and African Plates meet.
Photo: Jacopo Werther, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Bell tower in Pisa, Italy
Also simply the Tower of Pisa, the campanile, a freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral, famous for leaning by nearly four degrees because of an unstable foundation.
Photo: Chabe01, CC BY-SA 4.0
Highest mountain in the Alps (4,806.m)
A mountain of the Alps, 4,807.3 m above sea level, standing right on the border between France and Italy. It is Europe's highest mountain outside the Caucasus, Europe's second most prominent, and the 11th most prominent in the world.
Photo: Christian David, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Roman temple, later church, in Rome
An ancient temple in Rome, Italy, first built under the emperor Augustus and rebuilt under Hadrian (117–138). Since AD 609 it has been a Catholic church, the Basilica of St. Mary and the Martyrs. It is perhaps the best-known rotunda, and the most influential on architecture.
Photo: NikonZ7II, CC BY-SA 4.0
World Heritage
Ancient Roman road
Also known by its Latin and Italian name, Via Appia, one of the ancient republic's earliest Roman roads and among the most strategically important, linking Rome with Brindisi in southeast Italy.
Photo: Livioandronico2013, CC BY-SA 4.0
Cathedral church of Milan, Italy
Properly the “Metropolitan Cathedral-Basilica of the Nativity of Saint Mary”, Milan's cathedral church, in Lombardy, Italy. Consecrated to Mary's Nativity, it is where the city's archbishop, now Mario Delpini, has his seat.
Photo: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0
Opera house in Milan, Italy
Opened on 3 August 1778 as “il Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala”, a historic opera house in the Italian city of Milan.
Photo: Jakub Hałun, CC BY-SA 4.0
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Officially the Italian Republic, a country of Western and Southern Europe: a peninsula reaching into the Mediterranean, with the Alps along its northern land border, plus nearly 800 islands, Sardinia and Sicily above all. On land it meets France to the west, Austria and Switzerland to the north and Slovenia to the east, and it surrounds two enclaves, San Marino and Vatican City.
Officially The Italian Republic. Known locally as Italia.
Based on the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0: the facts are Wikipedia's, the wording is this site's.
This guide lists 10: Colosseum, Mount Vesuvius, Mount Etna and Leaning Tower of Pisa and others. Appian Way is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
By machine, from open data, with no human ranking them and nobody able to pay for a place on the list. Everything Wikidata records in Italy that is a building, a landform, a protected area or a tourist attraction, has coordinates, a photograph and an English Wikipedia article, is ranked by how many Wikipedia language editions wrote about it. Provinces, cities, airports, stations and stretches of sea shared with the neighbours are filtered out.
1 of the 10 in this guide: Appian Way. That is not the full count for Italy, only the listed sites that made this guide.
Italian. The currency is EUR.
A travel eSIM is usually the cheapest way, and avoids a roaming bill. The plans suggested at the foot of this guide start at $1.81 for 2GB per day. The eSIM is data-only and sits alongside your normal SIM, so calls, texts and WhatsApp keep working on your own number.
TIM, Iliad and Wind. Your phone picks whichever has the best signal where you are, the same way a local phone does.
Maps, tickets and translation all want data, and roaming is the expensive way to get it. A Computatus eSIM eSIM connects to TIM, Iliad and Wind once you land, and installs by QR code before you leave.
| Plan | Data | Valid | Price | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2GB per day Cheapest | 2 GB | 1 day | $1.81 | Get it → |
| 2GB per day | 2 GB | 1 day | $2.15 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 15 days | 3 GB | 15 days | $2.69 | Get it → |
| 3GB for 30 days | 3 GB | 30 days | $2.86 | Get it → |
| 3GB per day | 3 GB | 1 day | $3.04 | Get it → |
| 5GB per day | 5 GB | 1 day | $3.67 | Get it → |
No app needed. Install by QR code before you fly, keep your own number for calls, and it connects the moment you land.
A commission on plans bought through these links is what pays for this guide. Nothing above depends on it: the places are chosen before any price is looked up.
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