The Reality of Milan: The Cathedral That Came by Water
The marble under your hand on the roof of Milan Cathedral was cut in the mountains north of Lake Maggiore, and it…
Regional Guide
Italy
Explore the best of Italy: sights, culture, routes and travel tips from PenguFly, plus cheap flights to plan an unforgettable trip to Italy.
Cheap flights to Florence: choose the airport by the train into town
A cheap ticket to Florence is not necessarily a ticket to Florence Airport. From the States, I would judge the booking by…
The Reality of Florence: The Art Is the Receipt
Florence is very good at making art look inevitable. Turn a corner and there is marble, bronze, or a dome occupying the…
The Reality of Catania: Basalt, Water and the Volcano
Catania is built out of the thing that keeps threatening it. The pavements are lava, cut into slabs. The Baroque churches are…
The Reality of Genoa: The City That Wrote Down Which Private Houses Had to Host the King
In 1576, the government of the Republic of Genoa established an administrative system that had no equivalent anywhere in early modern Europe.…
Cheap flights to Genoa: the airport built out into the sea, the coast it actually opens, and the two autumn deadlines nobody tells you about
Genoa's airport is shaped by geography. Pinned between the steep Ligurian Apennines and the sea, Genoa has almost no flat land along…
The Reality of Turin: The City That Put a Test Track on the Roof of Its Car Factory
At the southern edge of Turin sits a building that explains the entire city in a single architectural gesture. The Lingotto factory,…
Cheap flights to Turin: the airport train, the ski shuttles, and the Milan habit that costs you an hour
Here is the arithmetic that decides a ski trip to the western Italian Alps, and almost nobody runs it. Fly into Milan…
The Reality of Matera: The City Italy Emptied by Law
The Sassi—the two sprawling districts of cave dwellings cut directly into the limestone ravine—are widely considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited…
Cheap flights to Bari: the door to Puglia, the private railway to Matera, and the Sunday trap
On an early trip to southern Italy, I booked a bargain flight to Bari, planning a weekend getaway to the historic cave…
Cheap flights to Milan: three airports, the “Milan” that’s actually Bergamo, and the train that decides your morning
On one of my first trips to Italy, I booked a remarkably cheap ticket to "Milan" on a budget carrier. It was…
The Reality of Matera: From National Shame to Boutique Showcase
Stand on the edge of the plateau at first light and look down into the Sassi. The two great bowls of stacked…