Today we visit one of my favourite places in the world: Italy.

Aperitivo

I’ll start with a little aperitivo of facts about Italy.

First off, it was also an Italian that kicked off European exploration of the Americas in 1492. Yes, that’s right, Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa and was Italian, not Spanish.

Secondly, there are only three countries in the world completely surrounded by another country, and two of those are within Italy. These encircled countries are The Vatican City and San Marino. The only other enclaved country of this sort is Lesotho in South Africa.

And for today’s final morsel: Italy is also home to all three of Europe’s active volcanoes. Mount Stromboli, Vesuvius and Mount Etna.

Carolee in Calabria. This place is really special

Il secondo

For today’s secondo I’ll share some lesser-known tips for visiting Italy:

'Nduja (and Calabria)

If you’re visiting Calabria in Southern Italy you need to get into 'Nduja. 'Nduja is a spicy, salty, salami like paste. Try it, eat it, buy some to take home even bathe in it. It’s honestly one of the tastiest foods known to humankind. I also recommend visiting the Callipo tuna factory in Calabria. Not only does this enterprise stand up to and defy the mafia, but they also sell delectable 'Nduja. Oh, and they also have a great gelato and Calabria’s other speciality, Tartufo di Pizzo.

Venice on a budget

Everyone wants to go to Venice. Well, that’s how it seems when you’re actually there. The hotels are cramped and extortionately priced, and despite Italy’s reputation it’s possible to pay a lot of money for really disappointing food.

So to avoid these problems, head out in search of bàcari bars serving cicchetti. Cicchetti is basically Venetian tapas. It’s cheap, tasty, and goes perfectly with a glass of wine. If you eat and drink standing at the bar you even get a discount.

If you want to save even more money, why not do what I did as a student and stay outside of real Venice in “Venice Mestre”. I stayed at a campsite with a pool and disco for the Italian teenagers. I really was living the good life.

Catania

Spending only one night in Catania may gown down as one of my all-time biggest regrets. It’s a gritty, Sicilian city that at first appears to be a bit rough around the edges. This is what makes it special though. It’s real Sicily.

Catania is filled with those wonderful little coffee bars where you can purchase a tiny espresso, or even caffè corretto and get change for a euro. Catania also has an abundance of scruffy bars serving excellent drinks and the kind of restaurants you can only dream of from outside of Italy.

What’s more, the entire city lives in the shadow of Mt Etna, and the views are mesmerising, especially from the top of any tall building. I’ll let the view from Basilica Cattedrale Sante’Agata speak for itself.

Right, time for a digestivo. Tonight I’ll be opting for an Aperol spritz.

One of the most unexpectedly fascinating journeys I’ve taken was travelling by train from Venice to Ljubljana.

Despite being connected by direct rail lines, the only way to travel from Italy to Slovenia by rail is on foot. Our train took us as far as the Italian border town of Gorizia, where we had to walk two miles, cross the border, and finally catch another train at Nova Goricia. We knew the second leg of the journey was going completely different from the first from the moment the ancient graffiti covered train pulled into the station. The empty train creaked and groaned as it hauled itself up into the mountains. This photo was taken moments after clearing a particularly long tunnel, when we were greeted by our first sight of snow on this cold Spring day.

I’m planning to write more about how to travel between Venice and Ljubljana (and also cram in a visit to Lake Bled) in a future post.