The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
Italy is at its most tasty out of season
Television chef Gino D’Acampo points us in the direction of his favourite places to visit when the country is cool and quiet
Italy is wonderful in the low season. I can move around faster, because places are not swamped with tourists. I hate queuing, and the restaurants in peak season are stupidly expensive, so I always appreciate Italy when it’s quieter. For example, I think the best time to go to Sardinia, where I live, is October. The weather isn’t too hot but it’s still sunny and I can get to places very easily and really get to know the island.
I’m originally from Torre del Greco, close to Naples, and I visited Sardinia for the first time in 2004. The first thing I remember about the island was how clear the water was. The little white-sand beaches looked so exotic, but as soon as we started to explore, the people reminded me that I wasn’t too far from home – Italians are always friendly and accommodating, and I think that’s what has always made Italy so special. This is maybe the best thing about visiting in the off-season – you’re mostly mixing with locals, so you really get a sense of a place and its people. Here are my top spots for out of season travel in my home country.
ROME
‘No one should ever go to Rome in summer. From my experience, it’s always packed with tourists and it’s hot and sticky. Rome is beautiful in the autumn, when it’s slightly cooler and there are fewer people around.’
How to do it: Gino is right: autumn in Rome is sublime. The weather is often perfect for weeks, with etched blue skies and perfect sightseeing temperatures. Chestnut sellers appear on street corners and restaurants tempt you with the season’s first truffles and porcini (ceps).
Museums and galleries, too, are quieter, and the Villa Borghese, Rome’s loveliest park, is radiant with colour. Open-air sights that can be an ordeal under a broiling summer sun – the Colosseum and Roman Forum, say, or St Peter’s Square and the Trevi Fountain – are at their best under autumn skies.
This time of year also brings lower accommodation rates. Aim to stay close to the historic centre, around the Pantheon or Piazza Navona, so you can walk to the sights, not near the main Stazione Termini station. The three-star Navona (00 39 06 6830 1252; hotelnavona.com) offers double rooms from £90, including breakfast, based on two sharing.
NAPLES
‘I prefer to visit in winter, rather than summer because the buildings in the city are very close to each other and, when it’s hot, it’s unbearable.’
How to do it: Naples is in the south, which, as Gino suggests, makes summer gruelling. But winters are generally mild and ideal for exploring sights such as the Museo Archeologico (mannapoli.it) and the Capodimonte (capodimonte.cultura. gov.it) and San Martino museums.
The city is also a good base for exploring nearby Pompeii and Herculaneum (pompeiisites.org), two outdoor sites that are markedly freer of visitors in winter. The same goes for nearby Capri and the Amalfi Coast, which retain their scenic splendour while lacking the summer appeal that brings in the big crowds.
Winter also sees some wonderful Neapolitan traditions, notably the ceremonies around Dec 16 to mark the miraculous liquefaction of the blood of St Gennaro (museosangennaro.it/en), along with the displays in local churches of the handcrafted presepi, or Christmas cribs, for which Naples is famous.
To stay, Il Convento (00 39 373 751 8277; hotelilconvento.it; doubles from £67) is a relatively modest three-star, but it is in the Quartieri Spagnoli, Naples’ most vibrant neighbourhood.
VALLE D’AOSTA
‘Everyone goes there for ski season and, yes, the skiing is great, but if you go in
Rack of lamb served at Lou Ressignon in the Valle d’Aosta
spring the food is better. You can eat amazing ingredients fresh from the mountain, such as porcini mushrooms, truffles, rabbit and pheasant.’
How to do it: The Valle d’Aosta divides in two: the valle, or valley, of its name, and the spectacular mountains of the Gran Paradiso and other Alpine peaks on its flanks. Head for towns and villages in the latter to sample Gino’s spring dishes, to places such as Cogne, where Lou Ressignon (00 39 01 657 4034; louressignon.it) has been a reliable dining choice for more than 50 years – it also has five homely rooms (doubles from £90). Or push the boat out at the one-Michelin star Le Petit Bellevue (00 39 01 657 4825) in the Relais & Chateaux Hotel Bellevue (hotelbellevue.it; doubles from
£220, including breakfast).
Cogne is relatively busy, so if you want smaller places with equally good food, make for Les Fleurs (00 39 01 6559 2003; residencelesfleurs.it; dou(Gaddi bles from £50), another restaurant with rooms – and superb views – near Gresson. In nearby Pila, menus change daily and seasonally at Société Anonyme de Consommation (00 39 339 535 5644; ristorantesociete.it), with high-quality cooking in a restored mountain barn.
FLORENCE
‘The most romantic times to visit are spring and autumn. People come to Florence to see the art, and art needs to be looked at with the right light – in summer, it’s too bright, and in winter,
it’s too dark.’
How to do it: See Michelangelo’s David and the famous Uffizi gallery by all means, but don’t ignore the artworks that are dotted around the city’s streets and churches. There’s a small fee to see the art in the two largest churches – the Giotto in Santa Croce and the Ghirlandaio, Masaccio – but you can wander free into many churches, notably Santa Trinita (Ghirlandaio frescoes), Santa Felicita (Pontormo’s Deposition), Orsanmichele (Orcagna and fine exterior sculpture) and the sublime San Miniato al Monte and Aretino frescoes, mosaics and marblework).
And don’t miss often overlooked artistic treasures such as the collections of the Museo dell’Opera (duomo. firenze.it), Palazzo Pitti (uffizi.it/en/ pitti-palace) or the works of Fra Angelico in the Museo di San Marco (polomusealetoscana.beniculturali.it).
For a treat, stay at the Brunelleschi (brunelleschihotelflorence.com; doubles from £183, including breakfast), moments from many key artistic highlights but located on a quiet side street.