All things considered, I'd rather be in Italy

Spending two weeks in the north of the best country in Europe

There is an urban myth that the actor and comedian W. C. Fields’s tombstone has the epitaph, “all things considered, I’d rather be in Philadelphia,” or words to that effect. This is because Fields disparaged Philadelphia in a 1925 Vanity Fair article, writing his mock epitaph as “Here Lies / W. C. Fields/ I Would Rather Be Living in Philadelphia.”

W. C. Fields wouldn’t really like to be in Philadelphia, but I am not joking in my really quite catchy title to this travel guide. I really do mean it when I say that all things considered, I’d rather be in Italy. I visited Italy for the first time on my first trip abroad unsupervised (though not unaccompanied) after I finished school and since then I have been consistently coming back.

In my Speedy Boarding series I ask my guests where if given one million pounds they would live their best life for the year. My answer would undoubtedly be Italy. Perhaps Italians or those who live in Italy may laugh at this or disagree - “I can’t leave?!” Even for the most ardent patriot that must be tricky.

But I do not live in Italy and so daydreaming about spending a year there is an idyllic fantasy. But I have so far never had one million pounds and a year my disposal, and so have usually spent around two weeks at a time there. This is what my latest travel guide is about: how to spend two weeks in the boot of Europe.

Because Italy is actually really quite large (not for nothing is it called the boot and not the loafer or the brogue) I am going to split this into two suggestions. Today’s will focus on the north of the country. In a couple of months I will revisit this theme and cover the south.

I’m sure I will leave out some disgruntled reader’s favourite part of the country or overpromise about some city that I had a dreamy time in, so a reminder: these are my recommendations based on where I have visited. I have not yet been to Turin and so you will not find Turin within this guide. This is no doubt blasphemy to some but I have self-imposed the rule that I have to have actually experienced something I recommend and it’s a rule I shall stick to.

So, we’re off to the north. Where to start? Tuscany, obviously. It’s not really the north but it can’t be missed.

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