Land celebrated for the arts

Italy is a land celebrated for the arts, and not the least among the arts that have attained their highest expression in Italy is the art of hospitality. The Italian welcome is as warm and traditional as a glass of fine wine. This comparison is apt, for travellers in ancient times gave the country its first name: Land of Wines. Italians are such good hosts because they get so much practise welcoming visitors from all over the world.

The most popular vacation

Italy is one of the most popular vacation countries in Europe, all seasons being good for a visit. In summer, Italy is an international playground, with visitors from all continents mingling with vacationing Italians at the famous resorts. Spring comes early to Italy and autumn lingers - and so will the wise traveller who wants to enjoy at a more leisurely pace the art centres, the large cities and the holiday resorts such as those in the Lombardian lake region where spring and fall are ideal seasons.

Sports resorts

In winter, the Italian Alps are unequalled for scenery and skiing. In northern Italy are some of the world's most renowned winter sports resorts, easily reached from such centers as Torino, chief city of the westernmost Piemonte region; from Milano, hub of the central mountain and lake district; and from Venezia, leading city of the eastern region. Skiing is also a summer sport in the Torino Alps and the lofty mountains surrounding the Valle d'Aosta.

Natural scenery and historical backgrounds

From the sunny southern slopes of the Alps to the lush orange groves of Sicily, Italy offers enormous variety in its natural scenery and historical backgrounds. Because a good part of Italy grew up as a collection of independent city-states, customs and food vary greatly from region to region. This rich history is preserved in the colourful folklore festivals that take place in all of Italy's regions throughout the year.

5,310 miles of shoreline

Most of the year the beaches are sunny, with 5,310 miles of shoreline bordering Italy and its islands. You can usually find waters where the temperature is right for swimming. And history is always in season: choose any time of year to tour historic buildings and view the world's greatest art treasures, for this is a land that has been writing and preserving its history for over three thousand years.

There are plenty of options available for finding cheap flights to Italy, including traditional scheduled flights, budget airline flights, and a smaller number of charter flights to ski resorts and popular summer destinations such as Sicily, Sardinia and Naples.

One thing to bear in mind when searching for flights to Italy is that there is a wider choice of main and secondary airports here than just about any other European country. Milan, northern Italy's industrial and cultural powerhouse, offers the widest choice of flights from the UK, with no less than four possible arrival airports to consider. Milan is also the most important hub for struggling national airline Alitalia, and a useful transfer centre for onward train journeys.

The Italian capital Rome also has a reasonable choice of flight options, although it is not well served from the Midlands after Thomsonfly, and then British Airways, axed their flights to Rome from Coventry and Birmingham respectively. Note that Rome is one of the few cities where the airport favoured by the budget airlines (Ciampino) will actually leave you closer to the city centre than the main international airport (Fiumicino). Other major destinations, including Bologna (Forli), Florence (Pisa), Verona (Brescia) and Venice (Treviso) also offer a choice of arrival airports.

The two major Italian islands of Sicily and Sardinia also offer a bewildering choice of arrival airports, whereas no such confusion exists when considering flights to cities such as Turin, Genoa, Trieste and Naples - all have one airport and can only be reached by direct scheduled flights from London!