79 articles
Foggia
Foggia, Apulia, Italy: provincial capital on the Tavoliere delle Puglie plain, first recorded 1069, Frederick II residence, rebuilt after the 1731 earthquake; agriculture-led economy, cathedral, Teatro Giordano.
Giugliano in Campania
Giugliano in Campania (Giugliàn) is a town of about 125,000 in the Metropolitan City of Naples on the Campanian plain, near the Roman colony of Liternum; largest non-provincial-capital comune in Italy, historically Iulianum, fief of the Pinelli.
Guidonia Montecelio
Guidonia Montecelio, comune in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Lazio; 89,011 residents (2025), third most populous in Lazio. Formed 1937 by joining hilltop Montecelio with planned Guidonia, built around the Barbieri airfield and named for General Alessandro Guidoni.
Isernia
Isernia (Aesernia in Roman times) is a hill town of about 20,700 people and provincial capital in Molise, southern Italy, founded as a Latin colony in 263 BC, home to the 700,000-year-old Isernia La Pineta Paleolithic site, the cathedral of San Pietro Apostolo, and the National Palaeolithic Museum.
L'Aquila
L'Aquila, capital of Abruzzo, Italy: a 13th-century city of 99 castles at 721 m on the Aterno, repeatedly rebuilt after earthquakes, most recently the 2009 quake, with reconstruction now 96% private and 60% public, and Italian Capital of Culture 2026.
Latina, Lazio
Latina (formerly Littoria) is a foundation town in Lazio, Italy, inaugurated 18 December 1932 after the Pontine Marsh reclamation; provincial capital since 1934, renamed Latina in 1945, second Lazio city after Rome with about 128,000 residents.
Lecce
Lecce (Lupiae in Roman times) is the Baroque capital of the Salento peninsula in Apulia, southern Italy, nicknamed the Florence of the South for its Barocco leccese architecture in local limestone, Santa Croce, and UNESCO tentative-list status.
Livorno
Livorno (Leghorn), Tuscan port city on the Tyrrhenian coast, founded as a Medici free port (city status 1606, Free Port 1676); known for its canals, Fortezza Vecchia, Terrazza Mascagni, cacciucco, and the Italian Naval Academy.
Lucca
Lucca is a city and provincial capital in northwestern Tuscany, Italy, on the Serchio plain; it kept its independence until 1847 and is famous for its intact Renaissance walls.
Marsala
Marsala, western Sicily's largest town in Trapani province, stands on ancient Lilybaeum, founded by Motya's Phoenician refugees in 397 BC; known for Garibaldi's 1860 landing and fortified Marsala wine (over 17 degrees).
Matera
Matera, in Basilicata, southern Italy, is famous for the Sassi, cave districts cut into the Murgia rock, inscribed by UNESCO in 1993 with the Park of the Rupestrian Churches, evacuated in the 1950s and repopulated from the 1980s.
Messina
Messina (Missina; ancient Zancle) is a port city of about 217,000 in northeastern Sicily on the Strait of Messina, capital of the Metropolitan City, rebuilt after the 1908 earthquake, home to Italy's busiest ferry port and the proposed Strait of Messina Bridge.
Montalcino
Montalcino is a hill town in Siena province, Tuscany, in the Val d'Orcia, famous for Brunello di Montalcino DOCG wine, its 1361 Sienese fortress, and UNESCO-listed landscape.
Montepulciano
Montepulciano is a Tuscan hill town in the Province of Siena, on the ridge between Val d'Orcia and Valdichiana, known for Piazza Grande, Michelozzo's Palazzo Comunale, San Biagio, and Vino Nobile DOCG wine.
Naples
Naples (Napoli), major port city in southern Italy, capital of Campania; founded as Neapolis in 470 BC, UNESCO World Heritage historic centre since 1995, Italy's third most populated city, flanked by Vesuvius and Campi Flegrei volcanoes.
Norcia
Norcia (ancient Nursia), a town at 604 m in Umbria's Valnerina, province of Perugia, birthplace of Saints Benedict and Scholastica (born 480); heavily damaged by the 2016 earthquakes, with its Basilica of San Benedetto rebuilt and reopened in 2025.
Nuoro
Nuoro (Nugoro), Sardinian city of about 33,000 at 550 m in the Barbagia, provincial capital since 1927, home of Nobel laureate Grazia Deledda, the ethnographic museum ISRE, and the Festa del Redentore.
Orvieto
Orvieto, ancient Etruscan Velzna (Volsinii), is an Umbrian hill town in Italy on a 150-metre tufa cliff, known for its Gothic cathedral begun in 1290, about 1,200 underground caves, St. Patrick's Well, and Orvieto DOC wine.
Palermo, Sicily
Palermo (Palermu; Balàrm) is the capital of Sicily, Italy, fifth-largest Italian city, 625,956 residents. Phoenician, Byzantine, Islamic (831-1071), then Norman capital under Roger II; UNESCO Arab-Norman site inscribed 2015.
Perugia
Perugia, Italian city and capital of Umbria, ancient Etruscan Perusna and later Augusta Perusia, home to the University of Perugia founded by papal bull in 1308.
Pesaro
Pesaro (Pisaurum) is an Adriatic city in the Marche, Italy, co-capital of the province of Pesaro and Urbino, birthplace of Rossini, UNESCO Creative City of Music 2017, and Italian Capital of Culture 2024.
Pescara
Pescara, Adriatic coastal city and provincial capital in Abruzzo, Italy; created 2 January 1927 by merging Pescara and Castellammare Adriatico; nearly 80% destroyed in 1943 bombings; new comune with Montesilvano and Spoltore from 2027.
Pisa
Pisa, Tuscany, Italy: medieval Maritime Republic on the Arno, home of the UNESCO-listed Piazza del Duomo with the Leaning Tower, the University of Pisa (founded 1334/1343), and Galileo's scientific heritage.
Pistoia
Pistoia (Pistoriae), Tuscan provincial capital 32 km from Florence; Roman-origin, Lombard stronghold, 12th–13th-century peak, Italian Capital of Culture 2017, city of art with Romanesque churches and 90,908 inhabitants (2020).
Pompei
Pompei is a town of about 23,400 people in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Italy, on the southern slope of Mount Vesuvius, best known for the nearby ruins of ancient Pompeii.
Portoferraio
Portoferraio, main town and ferry port of Elba in the Province of Livorno, Tuscany; founded 1548 by Cosimo I de' Medici as Cosmopoli, Napoleon's 1814–15 exile capital, with about 11,750 residents and 3.2 million annual ferry passengers.
Positano
Positano, comune in Salerno province on the Amalfi Coast, Italy; cliffside resort town of about 4,000 people, UNESCO-listed landscape, Steinbeck's 1953 essay, and severe landslide risk.
Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli (Puteoli) is a Campanian port town on the Gulf of Pozzuoli inside the Campi Flegrei caldera, a former major Roman harbor now known for bradyseism, recurring evacuations, and the 2026 magnitude 4.7 quake.
Prato, Tuscany
Prato, Tuscany: second-largest Tuscan city (198,327 residents, 2026) on the Bisenzio River near Florence, capital of the province of Prato, home to Europe's largest textile district, a large Chinese community, and a pioneering circular textile recycling economy.
Quartu S. Elena
Quartu S. Elena (Quartu Sant'Elena), a large town in the metropolitan city of Cagliari, Sardinia, four Roman miles from Caralis, with 38 nuraghi, the Nuraghe Diana, and the partially submerged Roman maritime villa of Sant'Andrea (2nd-4th century AD).