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🇮🇹Things to Do in Italy
From the Colosseum to the cliffside villages of the Amalfi Coast - the essential sights, and how to keep your own record of them.
Travel guide - last updated September 2026
Italy doesn't have one obvious itinerary - it has at least four. Rome carries two thousand years of history in the same afternoon, Florence and Venice hold the Renaissance and the canals, and the coastline south of Naples is a different trip entirely. Most first visits pick a region rather than trying the whole country at once. Here are 10 places worth building a trip around.
Top attractions
The sights most first-time visitors build an itinerary around.
Colosseum, Rome
The largest amphitheater ever built, finished in 80 AD. Book a skip-the-line ticket ahead, and pay the small upgrade for arena-floor or underground access if you want to see where gladiators actually waited.
📍 Rome
🚉 Nearest station: Colosseo on Metro line B, which opens directly onto the amphitheatre; trams 3 and 8 also stop nearby.
Vatican City & Sistine Chapel
St. Peter's Basilica, the Vatican Museums, and Michelangelo's ceiling in one visit. Book a timed-entry ticket in advance - the walk-up queue for the Museums can run over two hours in peak season.
📍 Vatican City, Rome
🚉 Nearest station: Ottaviano-San Pietro on Metro line A, a 10-minute walk to the Vatican Museums entrance; Cipro is marginally closer to the queue, and tram 19 stops at Risorgimento.
Roman Forum & Palatine Hill
The political center of ancient Rome, now open-air ruins next to the Colosseum. A combined ticket covers all three sites and is valid for two consecutive days, so there's no need to rush.
📍 Rome
🚉 Nearest station: Colosseo on Metro line B - the Forum shares its entrance boulevard, Via dei Fori Imperiali, with the amphitheatre.
Uffizi Gallery, Florence
One of the world's great Renaissance collections, including Botticelli's The Birth of Venus. Reserve a timed slot online - same-day tickets routinely sell out from spring through autumn.
📍 Florence
🚉 Florence has no metro: walk the 15 minutes from Firenze Santa Maria Novella, the main station, or take the C1 electric minibus to Piazza della Signoria.
Venice Canals & St. Mark's Square
A city built on water, with St. Mark's Basilica and the Doge's Palace anchoring the square. A gondola ride is touristy but genuinely worth doing once; a vaporetto (water bus) is the cheaper way to actually get around.
📍 Venice
🚉 Nearest station: Venezia Santa Lucia, which opens straight onto the Grand Canal - from there vaporetto lines 1 and 2 run down to San Marco in about 40 minutes.
Pompeii
A Roman city preserved almost intact under volcanic ash from Mount Vesuvius's 79 AD eruption. Give it at least three hours - the site is much larger than most people expect, and Vesuvius itself is climbable from the nearby town of Ercolano.
📍 Pompeii, near Naples
🚉 Nearest station: Pompei Scavi-Villa dei Misteri on the Circumvesuviana line between Naples and Sorrento, barely 100 metres from the Porta Marina entrance.
Amalfi Coast
Positano, Ravello and Amalfi town, strung along cliffside roads above the Tyrrhenian Sea. The coastal road (SS163) is stunning but narrow and slow - many visitors base themselves in Sorrento and take the ferry instead of driving.
📍 Amalfi Coast, near Naples
🚉 No railway reaches the coast road: take a train to Salerno or Sorrento, then SITA Sud buses along the cliffs, or the seasonal ferries, which are slower but spare you the hairpins.
Leaning Tower of Pisa
The bell tower has leaned since construction stalled in the 12th century on soft ground. Book a climb slot in advance if you want to go up - only a limited number of visitors are allowed inside at a time.
📍 Pisa, Tuscany
🚉 Nearest station: Pisa San Rossore, a 10-minute walk from the Field of Miracles; Pisa Centrale has more services and is 20 minutes away on foot or a short ride on the LAM Rossa bus.
Naples
The birthplace of pizza, with a UNESCO-listed historic center predating most of Rome's own landmarks. A Neapolitan margherita here - thin, wood-fired, slightly charred - is the reference point every other pizza gets compared to.
📍 Naples
🚉 Nearest station: Napoli Centrale at Piazza Garibaldi, the hub for Frecciarossa trains, the Circumvesuviana and Metro line 1, whose art stations are worth the ride on their own.
Cinque Terre
Five colorful fishing villages along the Ligurian coast, connected by a coastal hiking trail and a short train line. The full trail between all five can take a full day - many visitors instead pick two or three villages and take the train between them.
📍 Cinque Terre, Liguria
🚉 Each of the five villages has its own station on the La Spezia-Levanto regional line, and trains run every 15-30 minutes - the Cinque Terre Card covers unlimited hops between them.
Mark Italy, get the stamp
In MyPassportStory, every country you mark - visited, lived in, or still on the list - becomes a stamp like these in your own travel passport. Add the cities you stopped in, draw the route between them, and turn the whole trip into a shareable passport-style image.
Open MyPassportStoryPlanning questions
How many days do you need in Italy?
A week is enough for one region done properly - Rome plus a day trip, or Florence and Tuscany. Two weeks lets you combine Rome, Florence and Venice, or pair the north with a few days on the Amalfi Coast.
What's the best time to visit Italy?
April-June and September-October bring warm weather without peak-summer crowds or heat. July and August are hottest and busiest, especially on the coast; many smaller-town restaurants close for a stretch in August when Italians themselves travel.
Is Italy good for a first-time visit?
Yes, though it rewards picking one region over trying to see everything - the train network (especially the high-speed Frecciarossa) connects Rome, Florence, Venice and Naples quickly, but each deserves more than a single day.
Do I need a visa to visit Italy?
Italy is part of the Schengen Area, so citizens of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and many other countries can visit visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180-day period; other nationalities need a Schengen visa arranged in advance. Check the official visa information for your nationality: vistoperitalia.esteri.it.
What are some things to do in Italy on a tight budget?
The Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps and most church interiors are free. Italy's state museums and archaeological sites, including the Colosseum, are free on the first Sunday of the month from October through March.
Can I rent a car in Italy, and what licence do I need?
Yes, though you will not want one in Rome, Florence or Venice. An EU or EEA licence is valid as it is; every non-EU visitor is legally required to carry an International Driving Permit alongside the home licence, and police do check. Minimum age is typically 21, with a young-driver surcharge under 25 and a credit card required for the deposit. The one rule that catches visitors out is the ZTL, the limited-traffic zone in almost every historic centre: driving into one is an automatic fine that arrives months later through the rental company. Italian road rules and permits are published by ACI at aci.it; cars are available from Europcar, Hertz and Avis.