Certosa di Maggiano, a stunning period residence and luxurious 5 star hotel nestled in the countryside just outside the medieval walls of Siena, is home to the award-winning “Il Canto” restaurant and the gastronomic wizardry of Chef Paolo Lopriore.

A fusion of the principals of classical Chinese medicine and the results of the latest western scientific research have inspired the wellness treatments available at the Lefay Resort & Spa: a luxurious eco-sustainable hotel immersed in the beautiful scenery of Lake Garda.

Borgo Storico Seghetti Panichi: a stunning period residence in the heart of the Marche, historic gardens created by the German landscape designer and botanist Ludwig Winter, and bio-energetic paths identified by the eco designer, Marco Nieri.

Visitors to the Alinari National Museum of Photography (MNAF), in Florence’s “delle Leopoldine” in Piazza Santa Maria Novella, are taken on a fascinating journey tracing the history and evolution of photography, from the origins of the media to the present day.

Forty hectares of Tenuta San Lorenzo’s four hundred hectare estate, in the countryside between Foligno and Spello, are used to cultivate the grapes for Umbria’s magnificent Sagrantino di Montefalco, a dry and full bodied red with a bouquet which recalls the scent of the wild blackberries growing in San Lorenzo’s woods.

A journey to five of Italy’s most beautiful fortresses, from the Fosdinovo castle in Sarzana to the Castel dell’Ovo in Naples, discovering the myths, legends and unsolved mysteries hidden within their ancient walls.

The thermal waters of Val D’Orcia, highly-prized since the times of the Etruscans and Ancient Romans, and spa treatments which unite Mediterranean wisdom with oriental wellness principals: the ingredients for Fonteverde Natural Spa Resort’s continued success.

From Laghetti di Egna in the province of Bolzano, all the way to the legendary Pyramids of Segonzano in Val di Cembra, Trentino Alto Adige’s “Sentiero Dürer” is a wonderfully scenic footpath, immortalized in works by the great renaissance artist, Albrecht Dürer.

Ragusa Ibla’s Locanda Don Serafino is not just a charming little hotel in the baroque heart of southern Sicily, it is also a famous Michelin Star restaurant where guests are bedazzled by the culinary wizardry of the young chef, Vincenzo Candiano.

A string of museums, aristocratic villas, churches and castles are included in the “Back to Baroque” exhibition: an ambitious, multi-site project curated by Nicola Spinosa, covering two hundred years of Baroque art in Naples.