With its Medieval cities, Emilia Romagna provides a unique mélange of experiences. Maven palates can sample the Balsamic vinegar or enjoy the operatic Ravenna festival that is sprinkled with jazz and ethnic performances. Home to Ferrari and equestrian races, this region is all about horse power and pulsating nightlife. Immortalised in Dante’s Divine Comedy, you can also learn the secrets surrounding the lamp that illuminates his tomb. To the east of France is Liguria, the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. With its picturesque harbours and lush cliffs and hillsides that seem to rise from the sapphire Ligurian sea, this opulent coastline is spellbinding with its aristocratic mansions that teeter at the water’s edge. It’s the panoramic beauty of Portofino – a tiny fishing hamlet (and celeb getaway) so called because of the large population of dolphins found here – that is the biggest draw.

Lombardy, more specifically Milan in Lombardy, is where you come to put on the ritz. Despite the popularity of its fashion capital and its pret houses and boutiques, it also has the most charming art boroughs in Brescia, Bergamo and Cremona. The architecture here spans from Romanesque and Gothic to Renaissance and baroque. The ambrosial Italian Lake District and National Park sits pretty with its villas on the Island of Comacina in Lake Como and its natural landscapes which include the Stelvio National Park.

You would believe Philip Dunne when he said, ‘It’s easy to understand why the most beautiful poems about England in the spring were written by poets living in Italy at the time,’ if you only visited Friuli Venezia Giulia. The extravagance of nature is alternated with the most lavish of man’s creations like the 15th century hilltop castle at Trieste. In a world where silence is broken only by the rhythm of the waves washing against scalloped shores and secret grottos you can unwind in one of nature’s secret treasures by trekking the jagged ravines or taking dips in the tranquil lagoons of Grado.

Turin, the regional capital of Piedmont, boasts of some great monumental testimonies to the important role played by Piedmont in modern Italian history. It is the seat of the House of Savoy (the reigning dynasty of Italy until 1947) and the first capital of the Kingdom of Italy. A major tourist lure is ‘the holy shroud’ at the cathedral of Turin, the ancient winding-sheet in which the body of Christ was wrapped after his crucifixion. The acres of symmetrical vineyards yield some of the best Piemonte wine.

Famous for its snow-capped mountainous landscape that descends into placid lakes, Trentino Alto Adige has been eminent courtesy the Brenner Pass which became the means of controlling trade from the north to the south. The prospect of a ski vacation here at the idyllic Madonna di Campiglio is hard to pass up. This is a haven for culture buffs who have a fair share of historic sites and monuments to admire. Trento’s Romanesque-Gothic Cathedral dating from 1545 to 1563 hosted the most famous Council of Christianity. The town of Rovereto vaunts two particular points of architectural interest, both dating back to the 15th century: the Castle and the Church of St. Mark. The tallest mountains of Europe including Mont Blanc, are nestled in Valle d’Aosta. This is a must see for any globetrotter and a must climb for any serious mountaineer.

If your passport bears the Italian rubber stamp but you haven’t been to Venice your trip will remain incomplete. Celebrated by some and deemed decadent by others, Venice is still the aquamarine city that brings people drifting on gondolas to its doorstep. Veneto is of course more than Venice. Padua is an ancient city with a majestic Basilica that houses the relics of Saint Anthony and attracts millions of pilgrims every year. Verona has been consecrated by the most famous English bard in Romeo and Juliet. This ecletic ambience is good for the soul.