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welcome to italy

The capital of Italy is Rome and it is one of the busiest cities in Europe for tourists. Holidays to Italy could include warm beaches with crystal clear waters; to skiing high up in the mountains and sipping wine while strolling lush green rolling hills. No vacation would be complete without touring some of the many ancient buildings and viewing historical artifacts. Italy has a vast range of hotel and resort accommodation styles - deluxe and luxury resorts to budget hotels and comfortable suites.

Italy is situated in Mediterranean Europe. It shares borders with France in the north-west, Switzerland and Austria in the north and Slovenia in the north-east. The peninsula is surrounded by the Ligurian Sea, the Sardinian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea in the west, the Sicilian Sea and the Ionian Sea in the south and the Adriatic Sea in the east. Italian is the language of the majority of the population.

There is a great deal of variety in the landscape in Italy, although it is characterized mainly by two mountain ranges: the Alps and the Apennines. The Alps extend over 600 miles from east to west. It consists of great massifs in the western side, with peaks rising to over 14,000 feet, including Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc), and Cervino (the Matterhorn).

The main islands are Sicilia, rising up to the great volcanic cone of Mount Etna (10,860 feet) and Sardegna. The main archipelagos are the Tremiti Islands in the Adriatic Sea, the Tuscan Archipelago, the Pontine Islands, the Aeolian Islands and the Egadi Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the coast of Sicilia.

The summers are hot and dry, but the temperature is reduced on the coast by sea breezes and in the Apennines and Alps it is pleasantly cool. In mountain areas, winter is ideal for skiing, and summer for excursions, hiking, etc. Seaside and lake resorts, with their excellent hotel facilities, have an intense tourist season in the summer, while the cities that are rich in art treasures are ideal in spring and autumn.