If I were to ask you what is your first thought when you think of Italy, what would spring to mind?

In my case these days it would probably be something to do with the area of Italy where I lived for over 7 years.  It is a lovely place and certainly well worth a visit.  But my teen self would probably have thought back about Ancient Roman civilisation.  Rome was indeed the first place that I wanted to visit and explore all the ruins that were left behind.

 Next question may well be how are you going to explore Italy?

Are you going to explore independently?

Are you going to join a tour?

The first couple of times when I went to Italy, I explored some of the main tourist cities and towns on a tour.

But when the opportunity arose to see something a bit different, I took it.  A great example of this was climbing up to the top of the island of Capri to explore the Villa Jovis.

It still remains one of the highlights of my exploring in Italy.  It was basically deserted, hardly anyone had made the trek up the hill. 

I loved the shopping in Florence.  In fact I still have the leather jacket I bought on my second trip to Italy.

On my third trip to Italy I booked a walking tour of Tuscany and Liguria.

At this time I was probably at my fittest.  Although I picked a tour that had easy walks, some of them were long but certainly highly enjoyable.  

The foccacia in the Cinque Terre was just gorgeous.

The scenery was stunning.  I have longed to go back ever since.

There are so many places that I still hope to go to, spanning the country from north to south.

Where did you go on your first trip to Italy?

What were your first impressions of the country?

Where are you planning to go next?