Vacations to Italy

Redtag.ca features Vacation Packages to such cities as enchanting Veniceand its sister city Trieste, sunny Lamezia in Calabria, energetic Rome and the booming beach city of Pescara. Visit the "Italy Flights" page and see where we can take you. Vacation bundles to Italy become available in the spring, so think about taking a vacation to please the mind, body and taste buds in Italia.

The staff here at Redtag.ca have a soft spot for this country. Well, who wouldn’t? Even if you have been there, this peninsula is enchanting enough to boast more repeat visitors than any other European country in the last 50 years.

Let us begin in the south with the seaside resort town of Lamezia Terme. Aside from being a stunning sunny destination, it is also one of the most important commercial centers of Calabria. This port grew out of three neighboring villages – Nicastro, Sambiase and Saint Eufemia. The heart of Lamezia Terme is Saint Eufemia due to its efficient design. There are echoes of its historical past, such as ancient Greek Colonies, the famous Benedictine abbey of St. Mary’s and over 8 kilometers of sandy coast and mountains.

As is it with the rest of Italy, cuisine is hugely important to the Calabrians or "Calabrese" as they say. This fruitful region is one of Italy’s main producers of olives, wine, eggplants and chili peppers, some of the main ingredients of Calabria’s local cuisine. Summers here have an average temperature of 35°C, the spring and autumn months are warm yet breezy and the winters are mild.

Now, everyone should have their own Roman holiday. The eternal city is one of the most vibrant places in the world and will remain in your heart forever. We’ve all heard that Rome wasn’t built in a day and it certainly takes longer than that to take it all in. So, rent a Vespa and zoom around town just like the locals would. The sheer imperial scale of Rome is sure to knock you out.

Rome is really so vast and rich in attractions, that if you stayed for a month, you still wouldn’t see everything. Start with Trastevere, one of the oldest neighborhoods in Rome. It’s not a tourist laden area and you will find the best wineries and restaurants here. In Rome, you are surrounded by the remnants of the ancient civilization; ruins of villas, temples, baths, theaters and arenas to explore. The Coliseum and The Vatican are definite must sees. The Spanish steps is the perfect place to observe your surroundings and it leads to the Campo De Fiori a lively open-air market square surrounded by narrow streets and smaller offshoot renaissance piazzas. This area is full of bars, restaurants, pubs and small shops.

Let’s head east to Pescara in the province of Abruzzo. This booming beach town is the home to 200,000 people and is the one of the most popular vacation spots on the Adriatic coast. The wide beach extends for almost 15 miles from Francavilla in the south to Montesilvano in the north. And Pescara has many fine restaurants and trattorie where fish and seafood is artistically served according to the most delicious recipes of maritime Abruzzo. Enjoy Pescara’s incredible ice cream at any of the local gelattorias while perusing the high fashion boutiques upon the main boulevard.

Onto the north, to the beautiful city of Trieste, due to its location in the north and along the border of Slovenia, it has extensive contacts with different ethnic groups, including French, Austrian and Slavic. This gives the town a cosmopolitan quality not found in other Italian cities, giving it a unique multicultural character. Trieste is often overlooked by many tourists in favour of its better known sister city of Venice, but it’s ideal for those looking for a relaxing "off the well-beaten path" destination in Italy. For a relatively small city, Trieste is a great place to shop, particularly for antiques.

For romantics or those just looking for love, look no further than Venice.

Actually located four kilometers from the mainland, on 115 islands of the Venetian Lagoon, it’s sprinkled with more than 150 canals and 400 bridges. For centuries, the city has lived on the water, actually waterway conditions are as important for Venetians as the road conditions are in any other city.

Piazza San Marco is the center of the city, where you can access most of Venice’s famous landmarks. There’s San Marco’s Basilica, a cathedral that is anything but traditional looking. And February is the perfect time to visit as the famous Carnival takes place for the entire month. It’s one of Italy’s most prestigious and longest running celebrations. Venice comes alive with excitement and an air of mischief as you roam around, masked and dressed as your favorite character.

Soon, it will be time to take that leap across the pond and discover the "Dolce Vita" or sweet life in Italy.