The Italy guide
Everything you need to know about Italy, all in one place
Italy changes as you travel from the Alps to Sicily. Its twenty regions have their own food and local traditions, shaped by centuries before unification. Explore the maps and learn the stories behind the places. Then practise the Italian you will use at the café or on your next train journey.
Italy · Facts
Read it, then make it stick
Selected topic
Geography of Italy
The Alps close off the north, while the Apennines run down the peninsula. Between them, the broad Po Valley holds much of the northern farmland. Sicily and Sardinia extend the country far beyond the familiar outline of the boot.
Italy · Maps
Know the shape of the country
Start with the twenty regions, then place thirty cities within them. A third map follows the rivers across the north and explores the lakes and seas around the peninsula.
Pick a map. It opens and plays right here.
Italy · Words
Take Italian with you
Lesson 1 of 10
Greetings and politeness
Hello, thanks, please: the ten openers everything else builds on.
Explore more country maps
Keep going one country deeper
When you have had your fill of Italy, every country here has maps of its own.