Who can resist a quintessential Italian village? I love a labyrinth of tight, cobblestoned streets, houses huddled together, terracotta roofs and ancient city walls built for defensive purposes that take you back to medieval times. There is a strong feeling that time has stood still. Life is simple, slower, more intimate.

What matters most to Italians is family and food, which is clearly evident with a strong sense of community everywhere. Life feels real with a different set of priorities that keep alive the importance of family and values from days long gone.

The Most Beautiful Villages in Italy Association was founded 25 years ago to recognise the best of “hidden Italy”. The aim was to promote the great historic, artistic and cultural heritage of small Italian villages. To be selected the village must have a distinctive trait of BEAUTY which represents the concept of MADE IN ITALY as an expression of Italian excellence.

The list includes more than 350 villages selected from the 20 regions that make up Italy. About 10 million Italians - or 16.6% of the population - live in a village with fewer than 5,000 residents.

As defined by the Association:

A borgo is a fascinating small Italian town, generally fortified and dating back to the period from the Middle Ages to the Renaissance. It usually rises around a castle or noble palace and is often surrounded by defensive walls and towers. Whether Medieval or Renaissance, sea or mountain, rural or lake, all of our certified Borghi represent the best of Unknown Italy: a journey through art, history, artistic treasures and savors, for a unique and memorable travel experience.

Every one of the five different itineraries include beautiful villages from the list.

For more information, click the link below

This year the new additions that have been added to the prestigious list range from a lakeside hamlet in Lombardy to a medieval mountain town in Basilicata.

Five villages will be permanent additions to the list, while two received a ‘guest’ designation: a temporary, two year appointment due to their population exceeding the 15,000 cut-off to qualify. One of the ‘guest’ villages is part of the Lake Garda/Dolomites tour and the second ‘guest’ village is called Termoli in Molise, which I explored last year with the idea of creating a new tour around this region.

This small village on the edge of Lake Garda first captured my attention four years ago when I saw photos of a spectacular elevated bike path suspended over the edge of the lake. It is a called Ciclopedonale, a cliff-hugging pedestrian and cycling path that connects Limone sul Garda to Trentino.

For the last two years it has been a wonderful inclusion on the Lake Garda/Dolomites tour, as it is a short ferry ride from our village called Riva del Garda where we stay for three nights.

Limone sul Garda is famous for lemons with a heritage of lemon houses and an olive mill. As you approach from the lake you can see the remains of the old lemon houses dotted amidst the houses. These limonaie were structures enabling the locals to protect their lemon trees from the frosts of winter. Lemon groves were brought to the shores of Lake Garda by monks in the 14th century, but it would take four centuries for them to become established in Limone.

I stayed three days in the old town in November when there were no tourists and loved this seaside town. The Borgo Vecchio (old town) of Termoli, on the Adriatic Coast, was once a hub for fishing. It has an ancient walled centro storico with pastel coloured houses and some of Italy’s narrowest alleys, with views of the traditional trabocchi - old fishermen’s wooden huts - suspended above the water. The main symbol of the village is the medieval Swabian Castle built by Frederick II, a Holy Roman Emperor, in the 13th century.

Few have heard of this region and even fewer have visited. Encircled by the regions of Lazio, Abruzzo, Puglia and Campania, it’s about a three hour drive from Rome and Naples. It is the second smallest region in Italy with a total population of around 300,000. But this is its superpower. Imagine . . . spend the morning in the mountains, stop for lunch in its valleys, and watch the sunset on one of its beaches. Note the sand! No pebbly beaches here. The beach - Spiaggia di Sant’Antonio - boasts a Bandiera Blu flag which is a coveted environmental status that signifies pristine water quality.

Molise is also home to the country’s second oldest National Park that covers more than 300,000 acres of thick beech forests, lakes, rushing rivers and the rounded peaks of the Apennine Mountains.

The regions of Molise, Abruzzo and Le Marche are definitely on my radar for further exploration!

Ci vediamo la prossima settimana.

Deb