A Boot full of variety

Seriously, the Italian peninsula – nicknamed Lo Stivale, considering the shape traced by the natural boundaries – is a complex and fascinating territory, continuous discovery for the same Italians too, from the north, the center and the south.

Because living in northern Italy or central Italy or southern Italy is very different. And living in the Alps or in the Apennine area is not quite the same thing and not even if you live in the Po Valley or in the coastal area.

Sometimes they seem distant worlds, in reality they are lands that talk about millennial micro-cultures and deeply rooted traditions and – above all – they are environments with peculiar atmospheres that are very difficult to replicate.

Among the highest mountains in Europe there are Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa, and are part of the Italian Alps that crown the Italian boot to the north (from the French border to the west with the Aosta Valley to the Slavic border to the east with Friuli Venezia-Giulia), the headquarters of the Gran Paradiso National Park, the Stelvio, the Belluno Dolomites and the Val Grande; descending from the borders with Switzerland and Austria we find the pre-Alpine belt with lower peaks that turn into hills until they decrease in the Po Valley (Piemonte, Lombardia, Veneto, Trentino Alto-Adige and Friuli Venezia-Giulia, Liguria, Emilia-Romagna are the regions that cover this area) and this is the where you can find the most important italian rivers (Po’, Adige, Brenta, Tagliamento, Reno ) and lakes (Lake Garda, Lake Iseo, Lake Como, Lake Maggiore).

It is not over yet! There is still the central part to go and we can cross the boot in his lenght choosing the road of the Apennines (it has peaks that do not exceed 3,000 m) or the two coastal belts (the west of the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea to reach Sardegna and the east of the Adriatic Sea) up to the tip (Calabria) or heel (Puglia) with in the middle the Ionian Sea… and then you can jump to reach Sicily.

It is worth noting that the coasts of the Ligurian Sea are high, rocky and jagged (especially in the Riviera di Levante) and sandy beaches are found only in the West; the coasts of the Tyrrhenian Sea are low and interspersed with high headlands (Piombino, Argentario, Circeo…) or open in spectacular bays (Gaeta, Naples, Salerno, Policastro, Sant’Eufemia); the coasts of the Adriatic Sea are flat and sandy and thanks to artificial breakwaters have given shape to environmental oasis with fauna and flora; the coasts of the Ionian Sea (from Sicily to Puglia) are flat and sandy and have large creeks (except the coasts of southern Calabria, more rugged).

And let’s not forget that if we go down a little more we find the Mediterranean Sea with high and rocky coasts that become, in the sea of Sardinia, beaches of fine white sand, or pebbles, or shells or colored sands.

And it’s just the Italy of natural beauty that we were talked about, but there’s something else of course.

“I had reached that level of emotion where the heavenly sensations of the arts and passionate feelings meet. Coming out of Santa Croce, I had a heartbeat, life had dried up for me, I walked fearing to fall.”

Stendhal (French writer of the nineteenth century, author of the novel “The Charterhouse of Parma” of 1839) was taken by tachycardia and dizziness observing the extraordinary beauty of the Basilica of Santa Croce in Florence.

He wrote it in his essay “Gran Tour in Italia” and this vertigo experienced in front of a Work of Art took the name of Stendhal Syndrome.

Need to say more?

The Association of I Borghi più Belli d’Italia (the Most Beautiful Villages of Italy) has the task of safeguarding the historical, artistic, cultural, environmental and traditions of small Italian towns that are not usually visited by mass tourism.

It is here that you can feel the real wealth of our Bel Paese, where you can find surprising treasures and get caught up in the dizziness.

It’s up to you. You can decide to live in the city or countryside, in the hills or at the sea, at the lake or in the mountains; to live in the historic center or among the vineyards; to live in a medieval village or in an ultra-modern villa.

Each choice opens up little worlds that are just different pieces of a single picture, one that portrays a complex and intense country like Italy.

Ernest Hemingway wrote in a letter to a friend in 1919: “I have so much nostalgia for Italy that when I write about it I don’t know that I special that you can only put in love letters”.

Because if you’ve seen Italy even once you can’t get it out of your heart.

Choose the stracasa which can seak to your heart, you’ll be right.