Dolce Vita in Italy

No one knows for certain if Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare's protagonists, really existed...but Verona does all it can to cherish their memory. Every day, rain or shine, lovers from around the world rush to the Via Cappello to declare their undying devotion to each other under a balcony constructed in...1936! A much better option is to visit Juliet's tomb located in the San Francesco al Corso Monastery. A deeply moving place...

Every summer since 1913, the year Verdi was born, Verona has reinvented opera within its most ancient Roman arena! As is custom, after the lights go out, the spectators illuminate the Roman amphitheater's tiers with 14,000 candles. These points of light herald in the opening notes of music. Here, great classics such as Aida, La Traviata, Turandot, and Nabucco are experienced like nowhere else.

You have the Scala, the Paris Opera, and then there is La Fenice! Attending La Fenice for a performance of Romeo and Juliette, Tosca, or La Traviata (which Verdi composed right here), you'll find yourself swept up by the romance of the arts. You are in a one-of-a-kind building that is entirely devoted to the opera. Devastated by fire in 1774, 1836 and again in 1996, the most famous neoclassical theatre in the world has always risen from the ashes. Bringing joy to opera lovers everywhere...

While it may be a picture postcard cliché, don't be too quick to judge... There are moments here that you can't experience anywhere else in Italy, once-in-a-lifetime moments, like a gondola tour on the Grand Canal in the early hours when the city is half asleep and the tourists have not yet stirred; speeding gracefully through the silent waters past cafés serving a final glass of champagne or a morning coffee; and pushing forward past building façades lapped by the lagoon...

According to UNESCO, 'Florence is home to the greatest concentration of universally renowned works of art in the world'. In the city center, the Uffizi Gallery houses many of these treasures including the superb The Birth of Venus (1485). This depiction of the goddess of love is the work of famous artist Sandro Botticelli and she is now seen as a symbolic guardian to newlyweds' … art protecting love!

Why not escape the crowds and take a moment to yourself in the Boboli Gardens where Grand Duke Francesco I dei Medici married Bianca Capello (and other beauties). Today, lovers still 'get lost' among the cypress lanes, trimmed copses and various grottoes. The 'Italian-style' garden, the site of the Boboli extends over nearly 45 hectares and enjoys wonderful views of the city. 

Driving through the vineyards of Chianti makes for a bucolic and oenological journey. All along the S222 - nicknamed the 'Chiantigiana' - centuries-old cypress and olive trees at the summits overlook the vine-covered slopes. The Etruscans who moved here first cultivated the vines that nowadays extend high up to the villas, churches and isolated convents. Along the way, the enoteca and various estates will pour a little of this landscape into a glass for you...

If you had to give seduction a face, it could well be Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni, entwined in the Trevi fountain in the middle of the night. After that scene, Rome's fountain leapt off the reel of La Dolce Vita (Fellini) and has become an icon of Roman romance. Lovers - and the rest - still throw in a coin to ensure that they will return to Rome again...

Partially filmed on Capri in 1963 at the Villa Malaparte, Contempt is still considered a cinematic masterpiece 50 years on. Shooting on Jean-Luc Godard's film had to contend with the tension between Brigitte Bardot, her entourage and a nascent profession: the paparazzi. The very modern Villa Malaparte is closed to the public; however, you can visit the Villa San Michele, another architectural wonder on the island.