136 articles
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.
Legnano
Legnano, Lombard town in the Alto Milanese about 25 km northwest of Milan; site of Frederick Barbarossa's 1176 defeat by the Lombard League; textile-industrial past, Legnano bicycles, Palio di Legnano.
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.
Mantua
Mantua (Mantova), Lombard city on three Mincio lakes, ruled by the Gonzaga 1328-1707; Renaissance court city with Palazzo Ducale, Mantegna's Camera Picta, Palazzo Te; UNESCO site with Sabbioneta since 2008.
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.
Merano
Merano (Meran) is South Tyrol's second-largest city, a former Tyrolean capital turned Habsburg spa town at the Passer-Adige confluence, with 42,046 residents, a near-even German-Italian split, Terme Merano, and 1.22 million overnight stays in 2024.
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.
Milan
Milan (Italian: Milano; ancient Mediolanum), capital of Lombardy and Italy's second largest city, about 1,305,000 municipal inhabitants; historic financial and manufacturing center, home of the Duomo, with a 2018 Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan and C40 low emission zone.
Modena
Modena (Latin Mutina), city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy; Roman colony founded 183 BC, buried Roman city 5 m deep, 1099 Romanesque cathedral, UNESCO site since 1997, Este duchy capital from 1598, 183,763 residents.
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.
Monza
Monza (Modoetia, Modicia) is a Lombardy city near Milan, capital of Monza e Brianza, founded around Theodolinda's basilica, a medieval commune from 1174, home to the Villa Reale, its park, and the Autodromo Nazionale racetrack.
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.
Novara, Piedmont
Novara (Novaria) is the capital of the Province of Novara in Piedmont, Italy, on the plain between Sesia and Ticino. 103,238 residents (2026); Roman municipium grid, Savoy city, Battle of Novara 1849, Antonelli's San Gaudenzio dome.
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.
Padua
Padua (Padova, Patavium), Veneto city in northern Italy, capital of its province; home of the University of Padua founded 1222 and two UNESCO sites, the 1545 Botanical Garden and the 2021-inscribed 'Padova Urbs picta' fresco cycles.
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.
Parma
Parma, city in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, on the Parma stream and Via Emilia; Roman colony founded 183 BC, seat of the Farnese duchy from 1545, home of Parma ham, Parmigiano Reggiano, the Teatro Regio, and the University of Parma.
Pavia
Pavia, Lombard city on the Ticino river 35 km south of Milan, Italy; ancient Ticinum, Lombard kingdom capital, site of the 1525 Battle of Pavia, home of the 1361 University of Pavia and the Certosa di Pavia.
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.
Piacenza
Piacenza (Placentia) is a city of about 102,000 in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, on the right bank of the Po 67 km from Milan. Founded as a Roman colony in 218 BC, later a Farnese duchy seat and first city annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1848.
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).