Alastair Sawday's Special Places to Stay Italy

Here are hundreds of irresistible excuses for going to Italy as quickly as possible. Be welcomed and utterly seduced by the vitality and sheer authenticity of Italy and its people.

This collection of some 400 places provides ready-made friends and contacts, with beautiful and interesting houses to spend time in. Stay in a B&B at the foot of Mount Etna, a medieval hamlet in Le Marche, an eco-pod in Puglia - there's even an entire village in Tuscany.

Find plenty to do and learn too; we have a farm that runs pottery and textile holidays in Puglia, and one in Tuscany where you can go truffle hunting or honey collecting, and there€™s an organic farm where you can help yourself to the vegetables.  

Explore Rome and indulge in the romance of Venice, Naples and Florence.