Rick Steves' Europe

Hey, I'm Rick Steves, back with more of the best of Europe.

What's my favorite country?

Well, I've shot 18 episodes in Italy over the years, and you're about to see why.

This is the best of Italy.

Thanks for joining us.

The more I know Italy, the more I love it.

It comes with the complete package-- great art, awe-inspiring history, some of the tastiest food anywhere, and, of course, plenty of dolce vita.

Revisiting some of our favorite Italian stops, we travel from top to bottom of this California-sized peninsula.

We start in Venice, then visit Florence, the best of the Italian Riviera, my favorite hill towns in Tuscany and Umbria, Rome, Naples with the Amalfi Coast, and finish in Sicily.

Hold on to your raviolis.

Our first stop--Venice, one of Europe's best preserved historic cities, a mighty maritime power in its day, and for centuries, a favorite of romantics.

Venice, more than any other European city, has a seductive charm.

There's no place like it.

For centuries, it was nicknamed La Serenissima-- the most serene place.

Its main square, Piazza San Marco-- with its Grand Doge's Palace and Basilica of St.

Mark, capped by its towering campanile-- was for centuries the most powerful couple of acres in all of Europe.

Like a grand boulevard, its Grand Canal winds through a city lined with once-mighty palazzos.

The Doge's Palace, the ruling center and residence of Venice's dukes, was built to show off the power and wealth of the republic and to remind visitors that Venice was number one.

Its lacy exterior, a distinct blend of East and West, is proudly Venetian Gothic.

Next door, the Basilica of St.

Mark was built in a distinctly Eastern style.

Its domes and elaborate exterior remind us of the trading power's close ties with the Greek, Byzantine, and Muslim worlds.

The interior glitters with its gold-leaf mosaic work.

The remains of St.

Mark lie beneath the golden altarpiece.

A medieval masterpiece, its stunning golden wall of 250 painted enamels features prophets and saints and at its center: Jesus, as the ruler of the cosmos.

The city is actually a car-free maze of about 100 islands laced together by several hundred bridges and a vast web of alleys and canalside walkways.

With a shrinking population and in a state of elegant decay, Venice survives on the artificial respirator of tourism.

Survey the city by cruising the Grand Canal on a boat called a vaporetto.

These work like city busses except that they never get a flat, the stops are docks, and if you get off between stops, you'll drown.

Venice is romantico, a great place to fall in love, enjoy a honeymoon, or a special anniversary.

Visiting here, many feel that they're experiencing beauty, people, and even life itself at a more intense level.

Savvy travelers leave the center and explore, walk and walk to the far reaches of the town.

Don't worry about getting lost.

Keep reminding yourself, "I'm on an island, and I can't get off."

Worst-case scenario, you run out of island, take a moment to study your map, and you get to enjoy a nice drink.

On this blitz tour of Italy, we'll be connecting all of our stops by handy train rides.

A couple hours south of Venice is Florence, the epicenter of the Italian Renaissance.

That was the cultural explosion that 500 years ago helped pull Europe out of the Middle Ages and into modern times.

Visitors gaze into the eyes of Michelangelo's "David," enjoy Botticelli's "Birth of Venus," delve into the 3D wonders of Ghiberti's glorious bronze gates, and appreciate Fra Angelico's serene beauty, and the cathedral features a beloved bell tower and a chance to climb the dome that kicked off the Renaissance for a view you'll never forget.

Florence was long an economic powerhouse.

Rather than its church, it's the City Hall, once the palace of the Medici family, that towers over the main square.

Michelangelo's "David" originally stood here.

This is a copy.

The original David is now the centerpiece of the nearby Accademia Gallery, which feels like a temple to humanism.

At its altar stands one very impressive human.

The shepherd boy David sizes up the giant.

Thoughtful and self-assured, he seems to be thinking, "I can take this guy."

This statue was an apt symbol, inspiring Florentines to tackle their Goliaths.

I'm meeting my Florentine friend Tommaso at I Fratellini, a venerable hole in the wall much loved among locals for its tasty sandwiches and wine sold by the glass.

Grazie.

Pante: Thank you, and when you're done, you leave it on the rack.

Steves: Boy, it's intense in the city.

Pante: Yes.

It is.

Well, if you want to leave the tourists, let's cross the river and let's go to where the Florentines live and work.

Steves: What's that?

Pante: The Oltrarno area.

Steves: There's much more to this town than tourism, As you'll quickly learn in the characteristic back lanes of the Oltrarno district.

Artisans busy at work offer an opportunity to see traditional craftsmanship in action.

You're welcome to just drop into little shops, but remember, it's polite to greet the proprietor.

Your key phrase is, "Posso guardare?"

-- "Can I take a look?"

Posso guardare?

Man: Certo.

Steves: Grazie.

Here in this city of art, there's no shortage of treasures in need of a little TLC.

The Ponte Vecchio, or Old Bridge, has been busy with shoppers since before the Renaissance.

Jewelry is a Florentine specialty.

The bridge is lined with gold and silver shops, a tradition that goes back centuries, and for art lovers, you can't miss the finest collection of Italian paintings anywhere-- the Uffizi Gallery.

The Uffizi's collection, displayed on one comfortable floor, takes you on a sweep through Italian art history, from the 12th through the 17th century.

In the Renaissance, as in the ancient world, people saw the glory of God in the beauty, order, and harmony of the human body, God's greatest creation.

Classical statues clearly inspired Sandro Botticelli.

For me, his "Birth of Venus" is the Uffizi's purest expression of Renaissance beauty.

The goddess of love, born from the foam of a wave, is just waking up.

Botticelli combines the beauty of nature and the human body.

The hands, wings, and robe mingle with the wind.

With Venus' flyaway hair, the airy spaciousness of the distant horizon, and the flowers, caught at the peak of their beauty, tumbling in slow motion, the world itself is fresh and newborn.

After all those urban thrills, I'm ready for a little break.

That's why we're heading for a delightful slice of the Italian Riviera.

The Cinque Terre is 5 little towns beautifully isolated in the most seductive stretch of the Italian Riviera.

As if designed for good times, you can explore the region's rugged little ports, follow a wine train high into the vineyards, make pesto in its birthplace, dive from spectacular cliffs, and hike, soaking up more sun and scenery than you can imagine.

The Cinque Terre, which means 5 lands, was originally described in medieval times as the Five Castles.

Tiny communities like this grew up in the protective shadows of their stony castles, their people ready to run for refuge at the first hint of a Turkish pirate raid.

As the threat of pirates faded, the communities grew with economies based on fish, olives, and grapes.

Today the big employer is tourism.

Each rustic town is a variation on the same theme, a well-whittled pastel jumble of homes filling its ravine.

These days, the castles, which used to protect the towns from marauding pirates, guard only glorious views.

This 10-kilometer stretch of coastline is the rugged alternative to the glitzy Riviera resorts nearby.

The traffic-free charm is a happy result of its natural isolation, just sun, sea, sand-- well, pebbles--and people.

For me, this is Italy at its most relaxed.

For a home base, choose among the 5 villages, the most popular--Vernazza, where the big news is the hourly arrival of the train, bringing an almost rhythmic surge of visitors into town.

There's one main street.

It runs from its train station down to the sea.

Of the 5 towns, Vernazza has the closest thing to a natural harbor.

The old castle no longer says, "Stay away."

Instead, it seems to welcome people-packed excursion boats.

Settle into a comfy spot on the breakwater, study the arrangement man and nature have carved out here over the last 15 centuries.

Crumpled hills come with topographical lines, a terraced, green bouquet of cactus, grapevines, and olive trees blanketing the surrounding hills.

Today the castle functions as a tourist lookout and a restaurant, and the fort's lowest deck is perfect for a romantic meal.

For a sweet dessert wine, sip the local Sciacchetra.

It's served with biscotti, ideal for dunking.

Savor the view and the unforgettable setting.

Italy's Cinque Terre is an irresistible mix of nature, culture, and human activity, well-worn locals, sunburned travelers, and inviting, family-friendly piazzas.

Sure, the place is now well-discovered, but I've never seen happier, more laid-back tourists.

While the Cinque Terre now endures the storms of the modern world, the region's charms are as endearing as its people are resilient.

From Riviera beaches to Central Italian hill towns, trains scenically connect the dots.

For many, the quintessence of Italy is found in the regions of Tuscany and Umbria.

That's where feisty, little towns were perched on hills for safety in centuries past.

Today each hill town comes with reminders of a hard-fought history, a rich culture, and enduring traditions, and there are many hill towns to choose from.

Siena maintains much of its medieval character.

Its sprawling main square and towering city hall recall the days when it rivaled even Florence.

Assisi--with its walls, gates, and castle-- was home to St.

Francis.

Its massive basilica remains a favorite destination for countless pilgrims today.

Volterra was an Etruscan capital centuries before Christ.

Within its ancient wall, the town's rustic center offers an evocative Tuscan charm.

San Gimignano, with its prickly skyline, stands like a medieval mirage on its hilltop.

Of the original 60 or so towers, about a dozen survive.

Back before there was a strong central government, rich people fortified their own homes with towers like these... and the country of San Marino, all 24 square miles of it, is unique in that it's still independent.

While novel today, tiny, two-bit dukedoms like this were once the norm.

Medieval Italy, like most of Europe before the rise of modern nation-states, was a collection of independent, little San Marino-type city-states.

Many of them were just fortified towns on hills.

The good traveler can still discover magic hill-town moments.

Civita di Bagnoregio, perched on its pinnacle in a grand canyon, is a classic, if tiny, Italian hill town.

Entering the town, you're enveloped in history.

Passing under a 12th-century arch, you enter another world.

Every lane tells a story, especially if you poke around and talk to people.

Man: Come, Rick.

I want to show you my mill.

Steves: The olive mill Maurizio's grandfather once ran is now the centerpiece of his restaurant, and he's happy to tell me how grandpa made the olive oil and how that olive oil helps make an unforgettable bruschetta.

Rocchi: A good extra virgin olive oil, and you're ready for a big bruschetta.

Steves: A good bruschetta is simple-- bread toasted over the coals, garlic, tomatoes, salt, and oil.

Enjoying a rustic bruschetta is a fine way to cap a visit to a rustic village like Civita di Bagnoregio.

Up next, we're heading from the charms of small-town Italy to the monumentality of the Eternal City.

Rome, the historic and political capital of Italy, is a city of layers.

You'll find ancient Roman grandeur, Renaissance splendor, Baroque razzle-dazzle, Vatican mystique, and today's modern Italy so in love with life.

In its glory days, the word "Rome" meant not just the city, but what Romans considered the entire civilized world.

There's history everywhere here in the city of the Caesars.

The Colosseum reminds us of ancient pageantry and gladiators.

Monuments like Trajan's Column boosted imperial egos.

Statues show how emperors were worshiped as gods on Earth.

The Pantheon, Rome's temple to all the gods with my favorite skylight anywhere, inspired future ages to great domes of their own... and since ancient times, for 1,700 years now, pilgrims believing Jesus climbed these very stairs on the day he was condemned, have scaled the Scala Santa on their knees.

While Rome's many churches are busy with people, they're also busy with art.

Pop into just about any church, and every inch is slathered with Baroque-style ornamentation, "Oh, wow" spiral columns framing scenes that almost come to life, cupids doing flip flops, and ceilings opening up into the heavens.

Lodged in the heart of Rome, Vatican City is the spiritual capital of over a billion Roman Catholics.

It's built on the memory and grave of the first pope--St.

Peter and its centerpiece-- St.

Peter's Basilica.

This most glorious church in Christendom is huge-- 600 feet long, bathed in sunbeams.

It can accommodate thousands of worshipers.

The ornamental cherubs dwarf a large man.

As a tour guide, I've lost entire groups in here.

The adjacent Vatican Museum-- with its miles of hallways sumptuously decorated with precious tapestries, dramatic frescoes, and ancient statues-- leads to the Sistine Chapel with its beloved ceiling frescoed by Michelangelo.

Rome is a city of neighborhoods and gathering places for people who call it home, like the Campo de' Fiori, literally the field of flowers.

This has long been a fragrant and vibrant market.

The market thrives in the morning.

What's seasonal during your visit will be favored by local chefs and featured on their daily menus.

We're here in May, and it's puntarelle , asparagus, and artichokes.

After dark, Rome takes on yet another personality, and a short walk laces together its top nightspots.

Back at Campo de' Fiori, the artichokes and tomatoes are packed away, and the social street lamps are turned on.

These characteristic lanes, even late at night, feel safe and friendly.

The nearby Piazza Navona is a carnival 365 nights a year.

While this oblong square got its shape from a long-gone ancient stadium, today the games are limited to browsing and flirting around its famous Bernini fountain.

Just down the street is the floodlit Pantheon.

It looms high above our 21st century, as if aching to tell its story, 2,000 years of Roman history, and at the same time, it provides a venerable backdrop for al fresco diners... and the Trevi Fountain, a bubbly baroque avalanche dating from the 1700s, seems purpose-built for today's Roman embrace of life.

With history, art, and people perpetually partying under the stars, it's no wonder people come here in droves for the promise that a coin tossed over the shoulder will assure their return to this Eternal City.

That may sound silly, but every year, I go through the ritual, and it works.

Whoo!

I like to say, if you're enjoying the urban intensity of Italy as far south as Rome, go further south.

It just gets better.

Italy intensifies as you plunge deeper.

Naples, southern Italy's leading city, is as intense an urban scene as anything you'll find in Western Europe, yet it still somehow manages to breathe, laugh, and sing with a captivating Italian accent.

Man: [Speaks Italian] Steves: You name it, it occurs right on the streets today as it has for centuries.

Kids turn a wide spot in the sidewalk into a soccer field.

Hey, hey, hey, hey!

Walls are crusty with posters and death announcements.

Woman: [Speaking Italian] Steves: Neighborly chit-chat and heated arguments take place curbside.

Plastic buckets help Grandma do business with the delivery boy.

It's a cauldron of community, and everyone's out and about... and fast food, it comes in the form of a folded pizza.

Just south of Naples along a breathtaking coastline, you'll find trendy resort towns, ancient ruins, and enchanting getaways.

From Sorrento, wedged on a ledge under the mountains and over the sea, you can take a cruise to the seductive Isle of Capri with its romantic Blue Grotto... Man: [Singing] Steves: Then drive the dramatic Amalfi Coast.

The drive south from Sorrento is one of the world's great road trips.

Cantilevered hotels and villas cling to vertical terrain, and beautiful, sandy coves tease from far below.

As you hyperventilate, notice how the Mediterranean really twinkles.

For our finale, it's Sicily, the island off the south end of the Italian peninsula.

It's famed for its ancient temples, its tasty food, and its bella chaos -- the beautiful chaos of Sicily.

over the last 2,500 years, the island of Sicily has been ruled by Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, then Spaniards before becoming part of Italy.

The island's complicated past makes it distinct from the rest of Italy.

It's got its own cuisine... a uniquely festive lifestyle, and people who are Sicilian first and Italian second.

It all combines for a full-bodied and tasty travel experience.

The ancient city of Agrigento is the most impressive ancient site in Sicily, its ridge lined with Greek temples.

It was a religious ensemble, about a dozen temples for a dozen gods, each serving a different role.

Here at Agrigento you were fully covered, and of all those temples, the Temple of Concordia is the best preserved.

Cefalu--Sicily's most romantic port town.

With a golden crescent beach and sitting safely under its dramatic rock still capped by a fortress, Cefalu cradles its past in a way that's easy to enjoy.

Since the town was founded, its streets have lined up with the prevailing wind to catch the cooling breeze.

To this day, laundry flaps in the breeze.

And Palermo is Sicily's main city and historic capital, a busy port corralled by mountains.

A noisy and energetic metropolis, its architecture reflects the rule of its many overlords as well as its rich heritage.

Walking the lively streets, you're surrounded by a scruffy elegance.

It's a city that invites exploration.

You feel Palermo's boisterous spirit in its markets.

Wander among a commotion of stalls, all competing for the buyers attention.

It's an entertaining scene, complete with singing salesmen.

Man: [Speaks Italian] Steves: Scusi.

Man: [Shouts in Italian] Steves: Whether you understand the lyrics or not, this slice-of-life market action is some of the best in Europe.

[Men shouting in Italian] Woman: [Shouting in Italian] [Men shouting in Italian] Steves: Whether you want bella chaos in the market, tranquility in the countryside, inspiration in the museums, or just a romantic perch to ponder it all, Italy is popular for good reason.

Italy seems made to order for our travel dreams, and in this greatest-hits tour, we've only scratched the surface of its cultural, artistic, and edible delights.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Rick Steves.

Until next time, keep on traveling.

Ciao.

Steves: Hey, baby.

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey!

Venice.

Yeah!

Man: [Speaking Italian] Steves: Didn't understand a word he said.

Man: OK?

Staves: Got Superman coming.

Ha ha ha!

Ha ha ha!

Ha ha ha!