Mountain towns an easy drive from Trento, where the road climbs from vineyards into spruce forest and pasture: larch-and-stone villages, summer malghe selling their own butter, and winters of quiet snow on the Altopiano and in the Val di Sole.

Small towns across the province of Siena that belong to Italy's national association of olive-oil towns, from Chianti's stone hill villages to the volcanic slopes of Amiata and the clay country south of the Val d'Orcia. Where to taste new oil, and when to go.

Campania's coast rewards anyone who books a room instead of a return ferry: lemon terraces above the Tyrrhenian, evening passeggiata in near-empty piazzas, and hotels along the Amalfi Coast and on Capri that guides have vouched for.

Towns in the province of L'Aquila where a national or international dining guide has named a table, from the saffron fields around the Navelli plain to the mutton grills of the high Altopiano delle Cinque Miglia.

Hill towns on the ridges around Florence, where olive terraces, pietra serena doorways and Sangiovese vineyards sit above the Arno plain, all close enough to reach in under an hour by car or regional train.

The Ligurian coast either side of Genoa runs to pebble coves, painted seafronts and fishing harbours reachable by regional train in well under an hour, with focaccia col formaggio, fried anchovies and pesto along the way.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

Marche eats quietly and well: white truffle from the Metauro valley, brodetto on the Adriatic, vincisgrassi baked in inland kitchens, all of it within reach of the coastal railway and the branch lines that run up into the hills. These are smaller Marche towns with a guide-named table and a station you can actually arrive at.

The Adriatic railway and the Romagna branch lines run from Rimini through fishing canals, brick hill towns and pinewoods, past piadina counters and sardines on the grill, with every stop within easy reach of the coast road.

Sicilian villages of tufa and lava stone, reachable by rail and bus rather than hire car, from the baroque terraces of the Val di Noto to the vine slopes under Etna and the salt-scented ridges above the Tyrrhenian coast.

Brescia holds shoreline on both Lake Garda and Lake Iseo, from lemon-house terraces and olive groves to a wooded island with no cars. A guide to the lake towns on the province's western and southern shores.

Umbrian hill villages built in pink limestone and travertine, ringed by olive terraces and reachable on the regional railways that thread the Tiber valley and the shore of Lake Trasimeno. Painted majolica, black truffle, new oil in November, and station platforms within walking distance of the old gates.

The Adriatic coast north and south of Bari runs on limestone, sea walls and a railway line that stops in the middle of each old town, from the fishing harbours of Trani and Giovinazzo to the cliff coves at Polignano a Mare. Sea urchins, focaccia barese and swimming off the rocks, all reachable without hiring a car.

Tuscan villages of stone and pale plaster that build an annual festival around one ingredient: chestnut flour, new oil, wild boar, truffle, the first wine of the year. All of them have passed the national assessment of Italy's most beautiful villages, and all of them cook in public at least once a year.

Campania eats seriously well beyond its capital, from buffalo mozzarella on the Sele plain to Cilento anchovies salted in wooden barrels and pizza cooked by the metre above the Bay of Naples. These towns hold kitchens rated by the most demanding of the guides, and each can be reached without a car.

Sandstone and river-cobble villages along the Via Emilia and up into the Apennine valleys, where the walled centre is worth the climb and the kitchen at the bottom of it makes tortelli by hand. These are the smaller places in Emilia-Romagna that combine a certified beautiful village with a table a national dining guide has singled out.

Ligurian villages of slate and painted stucco where the kitchen is as good as the view: trofie with pesto pounded in marble, anchovies from the boats below, Vermentino from terraces cut into the hillside. Each has passed the national assessment of Italy's most beautiful villages, and each holds a table the strictest guides bother to list.

Between the rice fields of the Novarese, the Monferrato vineyards and the western shore of Lake Maggiore, the country around Novara keeps kitchens that cook risotto with Gattinara, lake fish, and rice-fed beef, and that hold the guides' hardest-won recognition.

Southern Umbria's walking country, where limestone hill towns sit a day's walk apart along the old pilgrim routes, above the Nera valley, the Marmore falls and the oak woods east of Terni. Stone houses, black celery and river trout, and stages you can cover on foot between breakfast and a late lunch.

Seven Basilicata towns that belong to the national association of olive-oil towns, from the hill mills of Acerenza and San Mauro Forte to the groves above the Ionian at Rotondella. Where to taste new oil, and when the presses run.

Inland from the Adriatic, the hills behind Pescara press some of Italy's best oil from Dritta, Gentile di Chieti and Leccino, in stone-built towns where the mills run through late autumn. These smaller places belong to the national association of olive-oil towns, and the harvest is still the reason the calendar turns.

Inland Umbria and its Tuscan border country run on stone, olive oil and slow afternoons, with hill towns built of pale travertine and warm brick looking out over the Tiber valley. All of these are within easy driving distance of Perugia, and all have signed the international slow-living charter.

Lava-stone lanes, Hyblaean stone farmhouses and hill towns with Etna on the horizon, all within easy driving distance of Catania. Villages recognised by the national assessment of Italy's most beautiful villages, where the pistachio, the ricotta and the Nerello Mascalese are local rather than imported.

Inland from the Arno plain, the province of Pisa rises into ridges of sandstone and clay where towns sit on ground too steep to spread. A guide to the hill towns worth the drive, from white truffle country above the Arno to the alabaster ridges and geothermal valleys of the Val di Cecina.

Six Marche towns that lie inside the boundary of a national park, in the limestone country of the Sibillini and the upper Tronto valley: sheep's cheese, sulphur springs, beech woods and stone villages under the high ridges.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.

The 1,000 Italian towns most travelers skip. Each one handpicked and written by Peter Benei, who lives in Pietrasanta, Tuscany.