The centre of Florence has become one of the most saturated destinations in Italy: queues at the Uffizi, a crush on the Ponte Vecchio, squares taken by storm all year round. Yet the same Renaissance and medieval art — frescoes, cathedrals, palaces and stone alleyways — survives intact in cities and villages that almost no one crowds. Here are the alternatives to experience Italian art at leisure.
Firenze in high season: → the alternatives below are far quieter.
Between the moat of the Castello Estense and the medieval alleys, Ferrara hides red-brick courtyards and passageways where the noise of the city melts away.
Very quiet Jun 21, 2026
In the Valtiberina near Arezzo, Anghiari rises through medieval lanes and artisan workshops: a Tuscan village to discover on foot, at your own pace.
Very quiet Jun 21, 2026
In the heart of Bologna, the Santo Stefano complex hides a maze of silent courtyards and cloisters just steps from the crowded porticoes.
Very quiet Jun 21, 2026
In Cividale del Friuli, the Lombard Tempietto preserves stuccoes and frescoes: a masterpiece of early-medieval art still little visited.
Very quiet Jun 21, 2026
In Anagni, the Romanesque cathedral and the crypt of San Magno hold some of the finest cycles of medieval frescoes in Italy.
Very quiet Jun 21, 2026
In Tuscania, off the beaten track, a medieval church preserves a cycle of fourteenth-century frescoes that almost no one comes to see.
Almost deserted Jun 21, 2026
Among the hills of the Varese area, a small stone church preserves one of the most extraordinary cycles of early medieval frescoes in Europe.
Almost deserted Jun 23, 2026