Recipe: Ribollita (Bread and vegetable soup)

Imagine the aroma of fresh herbs hanging from the stalls of a local Tuscan market. The scent of pizza eaten on the piazza wafting through the air. Creamy gelato dripping from the side of your cone onto the sidewalk. When you hear the city of Tuscany mentioned, visions of mouthwatering cuisine comes to mind.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups wet cannelloni beans
• 2 cups wet borlotti or pinto beans
• ½ Savoy cabbage
• 1 lb. Swiss chard
• 3 ripe or canned tomatoes
• 2 stalks celery
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• 1 leek
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 sprig of thyme
• Whole-wheat bread
• Extra-virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preparation:

1. Cook the beans (after soaking them overnight), retaining all of the cooking water. Take about three-quarters of the beans and strain through a sieve right back into their water. Set the rest of the beans aside.
2. In a large pot, sauté the finely chopped onion with a clove of garlic in eight tablespoons of oil. When they’re brown, add the sliced celery, carrot, and leek.
3. Sauté for a while, and then add the chopped tomatoes, rinsed and sliced Swiss chard, Savoy cabbage, thyme, salt, and pepper.
4. Pour in all of the liquid from the beans and cook the soup very slowly for an hour, adding a little warm water if necessary. Towards the end of cooking time, add the beans.
5. Place slices of bread in the bottom of the soup bowl, pour half of the soup over them, cover with another layer of bread, and then pour in the rest of the soup.
6. Before serving, let the soup stand for a few minutes. Serve with a splash of good extra virgin oil.

Servings: 6

• Romantic Villages of Alpine Europe

Italy Through the Viewfinder

By Sarah West for Grand Circle Cruise Line

Packed with history and teeming with spirit, Italy has long been a destination for filmmakers intent on capturing its assertive beauty and mysterious charms. But the European peninsula is not merely a backdrop in these cinematic exploits—it’s a star in its own right. Italy's sheer variety of locales—rolling vineyards, ancient cityscapes, and sun-soaked shores among them—give it a unique ability to match any emotion a story calls for, and the country's A-list appeal never fails to draw visitors.

The Many Faces of Rome

Known as the "Eternal City," the Italian capital of Rome has played an eternal role in cinema, continually luring both filmmakers and audiences alike with its multi-faceted persona.

The city's up-market glamour contrasts sharply with its workaday realities in Federico Fellini's La Dolce Vita. Laden symbolism and stylish cinematography, this thought-provoking 1960 social commentary chronicles a gossip-columnist's desperate search for the Roman "sweet life." From sleepless nights in the clubs lining the famed Via Veneto to dalliances in Trevi Fountain, the film's antihero zigzags through his days in search of an idealized—and hopelessly unattainable—lifestyle.

The stoic Rome of emperors and popes lend an air of disquiet to the historical thriller Angels and Demons. Based on the best-selling book by the same name, the film follows a Harvard symbologist as he deciphers clues to a religious conspiracy hidden throughout the city, whose beloved sights—like the ancient Pantheon and the lively Piazza Navona—transform into ominous entities as they get swept up in the action.

Picture-perfect Procida

Rome may be a versatile performer, but when filmmakers want to set a sumptuous scene, they look no further than vibrant Procida on Italy’s western coast.

Director Michael Radford selected the tiny island as one of the romantic settings for his Academy-award-winning tragi-comedy, Il Postino. Pastel-hued homes, zig-zagging scalatinelli (staircase streets), and hilltop city squares serve as beautiful backdrops to a budding romance forged by the lovely lyrical stylings of poet Pablo Neruda.

But it’s not all poetry in Procida. The island’s colorful facades and cozy cobbled streets provide a stark contrast to the sinister overtones of the psychological thriller, The Talented Mr. Ripley. The film’s scheming anti-heroes (among them a down-on-his-luck musician and an indolent Princeton grad) bask in opulence of Italian island life—until they turn on each other, and a deadly game of who’s who ensues.

A Softer Side of Sicily

Perhaps most famous for its mafia connections, Sicily has long been typecast as a gritty gangster's paradise. But there's more to this warm Mediterranean island than Corleones and Tattaglias.

Sicilian humanity is on full display in the Academy Award-winning film Cinema Paradiso. With the enchanting fishing village of Cefalu as its backdrop, this coming-of-age, Italian-language classic—about a filmmaker returning to his small-town roots—celebrates the kind eccentricity of everyday Sicilians and, fittingly, the romance of the cinema.

And for breathtaking views of the island's centuries-old architecture and magnificent seaside vistas, Ocean's Twelve can't be beat. While technically a crime caper, this visually indulgent romp through Castellamare del Golfo off Sicily's northwest coast is decidedly more about getting away from it all than going to the mattresses.

From its stylish cities to its serene hamlets, these films and countless others have explored nearly every inch of Italy—and have brought cinemagoers along for the beautiful ride.

Find out which Italian destinations have made it to the silver screen in this cinematic tour.

• Italian Coastal Odyssey: Hidden Italy, Sicily & Malta

Italy’s Amalfi Coast

by Tom Lepisto from Insider

At the spot on the “boot” of Italy where the shin meets the ankle, a 25-mile stretch of mountainous Mediterranean shoreline offers striking vistas that have awed visitors since ancient Roman times.

Called the Amalfi Coast, for the town at its center, it’s also known as the Divina Costiera (divine coast) because of its scenic beauty. Its charms also include a pleasant Mediterranean climate and a long history that has endowed this area with a romantic blend of treasures from many centuries. Extending along the southern shore of the Sorrentine Peninsula from Positano to Vietri sul Mare, this gem of the Italian landscape has inspired artists, authors, and composers from many countries— and even offers one vista so infinitely enticing that legend says it is the one Satan showed Jesus to tempt Him to rule on Earth rather than in Heaven.

Fortunately, there’s no reason for mortal visitors to resist the temptation to enjoy the Amalfi Coast’s delights. A drive along the coastal highway Strada Statale 163 provides a gallery of views as you round its many twists and turns, each seemingly more impressive than the last. Steep, rocky slopes rise abruptly from the water’s edge, sometimes concealing crescents of beach below cliffs in secluded coves. Colorful towns climb the vertical contours of the landscape, yielding to terraced slopes green with lemon groves and vineyards. Designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997 (under its Italian name Costiera Amalfitana), this area was recognized for its extraordinary blend of land, sea, culture, and nature.

Precipitous Positano

Anchoring the western end of the Divina Costiera, the fishing village of Positano has a distinctive topography that impressed American author John Steinbeck, who wrote in a 1953 Harper’s Bazaar article that “Its houses climb a hill so steep it would be a cliff except that stairs are cut in it.” In addition to having foundations cut horizontally into the mountainside, rather than underneath them in the usual manner, some houses in this town of about 4,000 permanent residents are painted in bright colors. This custom is said to have originated as a way for local fishermen to quickly identify their homes from a distance.

Steinbeck was also struck by the attitude of the Positanese, whom he noted “have been living here since before recorded history and they don’t intend to change now.” The town’s residents in past millennia included millers who ground the flour used to bake bread for the Roman Emperor Tiberius, who feared being poisoned if he used sources closer to Rome. In a later era, Positano was home to seafaring traders who brought home the wealth to build the 16th- and 17th-century mansions that still dot the town. The dome of the church of Santa Maria Assunta, rebuilt in 1700 during that era of prosperity, is a landmark visible from many points in and around the town. Because of the way the whole town is built into the steep slopes above the beach of Spiaggia Grande, with higher mountainsides rising above, Positano’s historic architecture blends in with the landscape to present a spectacle that has been many centuries in the making.

A route for keen eyes

To the east along the coast, the next town is Praiano, another cliff-perched village that was one of Positano’s historic rivals for the bounty of the sea. In times past, observers from all of the Amalfi Coast’s communities kept an eye out to sea from up in the hills. When they spotted a school of fish, or a salvageable shipwreck, they alerted local sailors, who would then race to the scene because a strictly enforced code gave the first ones to arrive the right to claim marine resources. On a broader scale, one of the first international maritime codes—the Tavole Amalfitane—originated in this seafaring region in the twelfth century as a way to regulate trade throughout the Mediterranean.

The Amalfi Coast is also dotted with visible evidence of a less orderly side of its sailing history: some 30 seaside watchtowers built in medieval times to detect the approach of Turkish or Saracen pirates. Sentinels would light fires atop the towers when they spotted an approaching pirate ship, alerting defenders and giving villagers time to seek safety by literally “heading for the hills.”

East of Praiano, the coastal road crosses the Vallone di Furore, one of the deepest of several gorges that cut their way through the cliffs along this stretch of coastline. Here, as at many places along the road, the construction of the highway itself is an impressive feat, involving many bridges, tunnels, viaducts, and hairpin turns. Completed during the time of the Bourbon dynasty in the early 19th century, and often simply called the “Amalfi Drive,” the road is a masterpiece of the highway engineer’s art that ranks among Italy’s most eye-catching autostradi.

Amalfi, a town with a storied past

The coast’s namesake town, Amalfi, is located where the road crosses another gorge, the Valle dei Mulini. It’s a town of about 7,000 year-round inhabitants with a picturesque harbor where fishing and pleasure craft moor today. The scene was markedly different in the eleventh century, when this was a major commercial trade port whose power rivalled that of Venice, Genoa, and Pisa. As the seat of the Amalfi Maritime Republic, the town ruled the entire region and conducted extensive trade with the North African ports of Tunis, Algiers, and Tripoli, which has left traces of Arab influence in some of the local architecture to this day. During its medieval heyday, Amalfi’s “Arsenal of the Republic” was one of the preeminent shipbuilding centers in the Mediterranean, launching 80-foot-long vessels that boasted 120 oars. Amalfi’s most prominent historic landmark, the Cathedral of St. Andrew (Duomo di Sant’Andrea), has borne witness to local history since the ninth century. Inside are relics of Andrew, the town’s patron saint and one of the Twelve Apostles. The bronze doors at the main entrance date from 1060 and demonstrate the town’s maritime reach, having been brought across the Mediterranean from Constantinople.

Into the hills for time-honored vistas

On the slopes of the Lattari Mountains above Amalfi, towns perched more than one thousand feet above the seacoast offer famous vistas and their own distinctive histories. Ravello is home to the Villa Rufulo, built by a 13th-century noble family whose taste in selecting a viewpoint has stood the test of time. The villa’s landscaped grounds, with their sweeping vista of the coast below, were the inspiration for the garden of the magician Klingsor in Richard Wagner’s opera Parsifal. At the nearby Villa Cimbrone, the view from the “Terrace of Infinity” has impressed artists including J.M.W. Turner, and is said to be the panorama of Earthly grandeur that the Devil used to tempt Christ.

Higher in the hills, the village of Scala is one of the oldest communities on the Amalfi Coast. Founded in the fourth century AD, it boasted 130 churches at its height during the medieval reign of the Amalfi Maritime Republic. Some historic sanctuaries, including the twelfth-century Cathedral of San Lorenzo, still stand, while others lie in ruins that in their own way evoke the region’s remarkable heritage. Scala is also home to extensive stands of chestnut trees, whose nuts contribute to this area’s selection of tasty treats.

From its beaches to its lofty viewpoints, the Amalfi Coast offers a combination of scenic beauty and maritime history that many visitors find soul-stirring. To trace its shoreline, and to climb the innumerable stairways that make up many streets in its towns, is to make a pilgrimage through one of the world’s most enchanting seascapes.

• Impressions of Italy: The Amalfi Coast & Tuscany

Pompeii’s Darkest Day

by Philip McCluskey for Insider

The morning of August 24, AD 79 started out like any other. Well-heeled Romans hurried about their business, frequenting markets, preparing meals, chatting with neighbors. Noblemen and ordinary citizens discussed the recent election.

Just hours later, everything changed. Nearby Mount Vesuvius erupted with such force that its ash plume climbed more than 15 miles skyward. We know in alarming detail what happened that day because a young eyewitness to history recorded the destruction: Pliny the Younger lived to tell the story of the most famous and destructive eruption of all time, and shared it in his letters to the historian Tacitus.

In the early afternoon, small pieces of cooled, hardened lava, called “lapilli,” started raining down on Pompeii. It continued for hours, increasing in intensity. Panicked residents began to flee the city under an ever-increasing rain of ash and pumice. Houses shook violently, “swaying to and fro as if they were torn from their foundations.” Pliny describes how the terrified citizens fled, tying pillows on their heads for protection from the rocks that flew around them. The ash cloud blotted out the sun, causing a blackness that was “darker and thicker than any night.”

Soon the streets were buried under the accumulated rocks and ash. Roofs began collapsing under the weight. More toxic debris rained down on Pompeii, breaking through windows, slowly burying the city and those who remained inside. People on the streets trying to escape suffocated from the poisonous air. Finally, early on August 25th, surge after surge of superheated lava burst through the city walls, instantly killing any last survivors—and forever silencing Pompeii.

After making their escape, Pliny and the survivors of the nearby town of Misenum returned to a deathly still landscape. “The sight that met our still-terrified eyes was a changed world, buried in ash like snow.”

A city lost—and found

Following the devastation, Pompeii was abandoned and even its name and location were eventually forgotten. It wasn’t until 1748 that the first scientifically backed excavations began in earnest at the behest of the King of Naples, Charles of Bourbon. What archaeologists found and continue to unearth to this day is an entire and almost wholly preserved provincial Roman city in which remarkable details of Roman life were found, taking visitors back to a moment literally frozen in time.

Walking around Pompeii today, the imaginative visitor can almost hear water pouring through the ancient baths, horse hooves clicking on the pavement, and Roman voices shouting through the streets. Often, it’s the mundane details that resonate most powerfully: 2,000-year-old graffiti that wouldn’t be out of place on any present-day city wall (‘Satura was here on September 3’) … perfectly formed loaves of bread fresh from the oven, left in haste while the baker ran for his life … alabaster jugs that held the cremated remains of loved ones.

One of the most moving sites in Pompeii is the Garden of the Fugitives, which holds many of the casts of the victims. The casts tell a grim story, as adults, children, and even tiny infants were found. One can almost see the outlines of terror writ large on their faces. Many hold their hands up to their faces as a last effort to ward off the ash and flames. Two casts lie intertwined, urging the viewer to ask, who were these people? Slaves, forced to stay by their owners? Lovers in a final embrace?

Preserving a living monument

Preserving Pompeii for the future is a daunting task. At 109 acres, the sheer size of this UNESCO World Heritage Site is a mixed blessing. The biggest challenge is trying to stop the city’s decline and decay, while at the same time accommodating more than two million visitors a year. Rainfall and flooding have caused several collapses in recent years. Conservation efforts are ongoing, but costs have been mounting. Grand Circle Foundation is proud to have contributed $150,000 to the World Monument Fund toward restoration efforts.

Pompeii is among the world’s most unforgettable archaeological sites, offering visitors unique insight into the culture and society of an ancient Roman civilization while recalling the last tragic moments of its inhabitants. Hopefully, with ongoing conservation efforts, this city frozen in time will continue to live for another two millennia.

• Impressions of Italy: The Amalfi Coast & Tuscany

Paint It Black

The enduring art of the gondola in Venice

from the Inside Scoop

Think of Venice, and you’ll likely imagine elegant black gondolas steered by rowers clad in horizontal stripes. But were it not for a 16th-century decree, Venice’s canals would have been overtaken by brightly colored paint and gilded flourishes—a far cry from the understated beauty of today’s gondolas.

In the early 1500s, rich and powerful Venetians used gondolas as their personal coaches—and decorated them sumptuously as a way of flaunting wealth. The brighter the color, the more expensive the paint, so garish hues were preferred. Many festooned their boats with real gold. While these wealthy Venetians may have impressed one another, they did not impress city leaders, who looked upon the custom as wasteful and unnecessary. In 1533, they passed a law banning the painting and decorating of gondolas, forcing their owners to see-and-be-seen in the blackened, pitch-stained hulls left behind after waterproofing.

Today, paint is used to give gondolas their black veneer, but little else has changed in terms of their construction—or in terms of the traditions surrounding their use.

Labor of Love

It takes an experienced builder around 500 hours to build a gondola in one of three designated boatyards. Each boat is made from 280 individual pieces and eight different types of wood: oak, elm, lime, larch, fir, cherry, walnut, and mahogany. In the 16th century, an estimated 10,000 gondolas plied the canals of Venice. Today, there are only a few more than 400 that remain and only about 20 new gondolas are built per year. These gondolas are used exclusively for scenic canal cruises.

Just as these structures need an experienced craftsman, they require an experienced gondolier as well. But breaking into the profession is notoriously difficult with only 425 licenses in play at any given time. For one, licenses tend to stay within families, so most gondoliers are born into the job. Less often, experienced gondoliers with no children will take apprentices under their wings. Regardless, obtaining a license requires years of apprenticeship and rigorous testing. And with good reason: it is not easy. Only three or four new licenses are granted each year.

Boy’s Club

Being a gondolier in Venice is not only a coveted position for men—they make more money than nearly anyone else in Venice—but a highly sought after position for women. Unfortunately, the 900-year-old Gondolier’s Guild refuses to grant a license to a woman.

Only two so far have even come close. Alex Hai, a German woman, failed her test so many times, she went to court and won permission to operate independently of the guild—the only gondolier in Venice to do so. Venetian-born Giorgia Boscolo, daughter of a celebrated gondolier, actually did pass her navigation test and receive a license in 2010—but could only operate a gondola if a male colleague requested the day off.

As the Guild chooses whether it will change with the times, one thing remains constant in Venice—the gondola’s timeless appeal.

• Undiscovered Adriatic: Eastern Italy, Venice, Puglia & Malta

Sicily: The Soul of Italy

The rise of a unique culture just off the Italian mainland

by Amanda Read for Grand Circle Cruise Line

If Venice and Rome are like exquisitely made up divas, then Sicily is the naturally gorgeous girl next door who is blissfully unaware of her charms. Those who dare to unlock Sicily’s mysteries will find an authentic, Old-World Italian island full of life and character—a true diamond in the rough.

A tumultuous past

The Greeks were the first to be attracted to Sicily’s shores almost 3,000 years ago. Romans, Carthaginians, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, and Spaniards followed—just to name a few. Each of these peoples left their unique mark on Sicily, before being pushed out by the next wave of intruders, resulting in one of the most captivating cultural mélanges in the world. Where else can one see ancient Greek temples, Roman amphitheaters, Norman fortresses, and Baroque cathedrals all in one place?

While the cultural treasures left behind by Sicily’s numerous conquerors were certainly a blessing, almost 3,000 years of foreign domination also took its toll on the island. Plundered and subjugated by so many different powers, Sicily ended up a rather poor and impoverished region. Having been exploited for so long, Sicilians built up a strong sense of kinship among themselves while trying to survive in a cruel world, as well as a deep-rooted mistrust of all sorts of government authority. This is originally how the mafia gained a toehold here. Formed as a secret organization to fight against the rulers who had crushed the country and its people for centuries, it later became something more sinister.

Sicily is different

Locals think of themselves as Sicilian first and Italian second; when Sicilians visit the Italian mainland, they are off to “Il Continente.” Although the Strait of Messina separating Sicily from the rest of Italy is only 2.5 miles wide, the cultural gap couldn’t be greater. Sicily seems a world apart.

And speaking about differences: not only does the Sicilian dialect sound distinctly different than those of other parts of Italy, the cuisine here differs even more. The food alone makes a trip here worthwhile. One could consider it the original fusion cuisine—a blend of ingredients from Arab, North African, Greek, Italian, and Spanish traditions to create exquisite and exotic dishes. This diversity makes the Sicilian kitchen the most versatile in the Mediterranean. Sicily’s rich culinary tradition dates back to when the first Greek colonists arrived here in the eighth century BC. In fact, the very first cookbook in Europe was written in Sicily by the ancient Greek chef Mithoecus. And one of Sicily’s classics, Spaghetti con le Sarde—pasta with sardines, pine nuts, wild fennel, and raisins—is thought to date back to the Arab’s first expedition into Sicily in the year AD 827. The story goes that the army cooks were ordered to forage for food and found sardines at the port, wild fennel from the fields, and raisins drying in the vineyards. Somehow the combination worked.

Perhaps the thing that most distinguishes Sicily from the rest of the country, though, is its people and their unique way of living. Those who enjoy Italy for its warm-hearted people and their joy of life (la dolce vita) will never forget the intensity of the Sicilian experience. It is here where they have truly mastered the sweet art of doing nothing (dolce far niente). Sicily is still authentic, Old World Italy at its best.

Although it’s part of the Italian Peninsula, Sicily has a culture all its own—discover what sets the island apart.

• Italy’s Western Coast & Islands: A Voyage from Rome to Valletta

Siracusa

The city of antiquty

by Philip McCluskey for Grand Circle Cruise Line

Cicero called Siracusa “the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all.” Archimedes had his famous “Eureka!” moment here, and luminaries such as Plato, Sappho, and Caravaggio were drawn here during the city’s artistic and intellectual awakening. The city is mentioned in the Bible as a stop for the proselytizing Saint Paul, and is the celebrated birthplace of Greek theater. Siracusa has many claims to fame, and its history is as fascinating as it is long.

From colony to colonizer

Siracusa was originally settled by the Corinthians in 734 BC, and the settlers chose an ideal location on the southeastern coast of Sicily: It had two natural ports, was near fertile lands, and could be easily defended from attackers. Within 100 years, the city had become so successful that it was sending out colonists to other parts of Sicily. It soon became a locus of power on the island: a status that drew those in search of power themselves.

Dionysius the despot

The city reached its peak during the tyrannical reign of Dionysius the Elder, who ruled from 405 until 367 BC. Rising from humble beginnings as a clerk in public office, Dionysius used his impressive military prowess (and considerable guile) to become ruler of the city. His rule saw a number of wars—most notably with Carthage—yet it also saw the development of the city walls and its reputation as a strong military power. One site in Siracusa is named for the famous tyrant: the Orecchio di Dionisio, or “Ear of Dionysius.” The entrance to this 200-foot-long cave is similar in shape to a human ear, which may help explain the cave’s remarkable acoustics. Any sound made inside the cave can be amplified up to 16 times; it is said that the eponymous dictator would cast his prisoners here at night so that he could hear every word they said.

A stream of conquerors and a string of bad luck

After the Romans took over in AD 211, Siracusa retained its status as a provincial capital but gradually started to lose its power and influence. Subsequent periods of Frankish, Norman, Byzantine, Arab, Swabian, and Spanish rule only further depleted its standing in the Mediterranean. Earthquakes in 1542 and 1693 destroyed a number of important buildings. By the time it was being bombed by both Allied and German forces during World War II, much of the city’s rich cultural heritage had been destroyed or was in disrepair.

Restoring Siracusa

Thanks to impressive reconstruction efforts undertaken in Siracusa, some of the most interesting pieces of the city’s history have been restored. The most important reemergence has been the island of Ortygia, the nucleus of the city. Strolling through the medieval streets here, travelers see the remnants of Greek, Roman, Norman and Baroque architecture, recalling the many iterations of life on this tiny isle. They are all clustered around the Piazza de Duomo, the attractive city square that is home to the city’s famous Cathedral.

You can also find the Fountain of Arethusa in Ortygia, a site which is featured in Greek mythology. It is said that the river god Alpheios fell in love with a water nymph named Arethusa. Arethusa, the story goes, ran all the way to Ortygia to escape the river god’s advances. When she arrived, she asked for the help of the goddess Artemis, who protected all women. In order to hide Arethusa from the pursuing Alpheios, Artemis turned her into a freshwater spring. Alpheios was clever however, and rerouted his river to mix with Arethusa’s. Now, it is said that Arethusa and Alpheios mingle forever in this fountain.

Siracusa is also said to be the birthplace of Greek theater, and was the only school of classical drama outside of Athens. The Greek Theater, originally built in the fifth century BC, was carved from rock on Temenite Hill and was home to performances of legendary playwrights Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus. Though it certainly shows signs of age (and you would too if you were 2,600 years old), the theater is remarkably intact—so much so that it is still a center of public life of the city. In fact, Siracusans still gather here for Greek tragedies, especially in May and June for the city’s annual Greek Theater Festival.

A fascinating past, a bright future

In naming Siracusa a World Heritage Site in 2005, UNESCO noted that the city offered “a unique testimony to the development of Mediterranean civilization over three millennia.” The city is now among the most popular places to visit in Sicily, thanks in large part to the edificial evidence of its rich and varied history. Perhaps it is fitting that Siracusa’s past is a big part of what will no doubt be a promising future.

• Italy’s Western Coast & Islands: A Voyage from Rome to Valletta

Then & Now: Chianciano

Modern Chianciano began to take shape in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as advertisers and developers realized and publicized the city’s potential as travel destination. In the 1920s, Italian architects including Marchi and Loreti built spas to attract and delight locals and visitors from around the world. Among Chianciano's most notable resorts are those built within the Acqua Santa ("holy water") Park, set around a spring of thermal mineral waters within an ancient forest. The waters there boast a range of healing and detoxifying properties, and are said to improve metabolism, digestion, and the absorption of dietary fats.

Today, this quintessential Tuscan hill town is lauded as one of the best health resorts in Europe, its thermal waters having lost none of their luster over the interceding millennia. In addition to its many spas, the town is an attractive destination for any traveler looking to wander the grand piazzas and soak in the medieval ambiance of its Medici-era old town, or to witness the beauty of the surrounding countryside, a gentle landscape of rolling hills, thick with forests of chestnut, ilex, beechwood, and oak.

In addition to the charms of the city itself, its convenient location in the heart of Tuscany makes it an ideal base of exploration for day trips to the region’s many gems, including Florence, Siena, and Rome.

Come see this splendid spa town for yourself when you join us on our Impressions of Italy: The Amalfi Coast & Tuscany vacation, and experience the rejuvenating energy that have drawn people to it for more than 7,000 years.

• Impressions of Italy: The Amalfi Coast & Tuscany