Elena Marchetti

Borghi, arte e storia minore

Si occupa di borghi, centri storici, chiese e siti archeologici: paesi sotto i mille abitanti e architetture fuori dalle guide turistiche ufficiali.

439 guides published on Mete Nascoste.

Guides by Elena Marchetti.

Strasbourg, Alsace, France

City corners

Instead of Paris: Strasbourg, Where France Meets Germany and the Result Is Magnificent

The UNESCO Grande Île, half-timbered houses, the European Parliament and winstub where Riesling flows freely. Alsace is a world apart.

Jul 5, 2026

Bath, Somerset, United Kingdom

City corners

Instead of London: Bath, the Georgian City Where England Made Itself Elegant

Roman baths, flawless Georgian architecture and the Somerset countryside at arm's reach. England at its most beautiful, without London's chaos.

Jul 5, 2026

York, Yorkshire, United Kingdom

City corners

Instead of London: York, the Medieval City Where the Vikings Left Their Mark

Roman walls, the largest Gothic cathedral in northern Europe and the Shambles — the medieval street that inspired Diagon Alley. York is English history, alive.

Jul 5, 2026

Lucca, Tuscany, Italy

City corners

Beyond Florence: Lucca, the City Inside the Walls Where Everyone Rides a Bicycle

Four kilometres of Renaissance ramparts turned into a park, a hundred churches, and a Roman amphitheatre reborn as a piazza. Tuscany at a human pace.

Jul 5, 2026

Porto, Portugal

City corners

Beyond Lisbon: Porto, the City That Named Both a Country and a Wine

Azulejos on every wall, the Douro meeting the Atlantic, and centuries-old port wine cellars. The northern rival that Lisbon can't overshadow.

Jul 5, 2026

Gairo, Ogliastra, Sardinia, Italy

Italian villages

Gairo Vecchio: The Red Ghost Borgo Hidden in the Mountains of Ogliastra

A village of red houses abandoned in the 1950s after floods, wedged into a gorge in Sardinia's Ogliastra: the island's most photographed ruin.

Jul 5, 2026

Vagli Sotto, Garfagnana, Tuscany, Italy

Italian villages

Fabbriche di Careggine: The Medieval Village That Resurfaces When the Lake Drops

A medieval village submerged beneath the artificial Lago di Vagli in Garfagnana: it re-emerges at each draining, the last one awaited for decades.

Jul 5, 2026

Apice, Campania, Italy

Italian villages

Apice Vecchia: the Ghost Town Frozen by the 1962 Earthquake

In Irpinia, a village abandoned after the 1962 earthquake: furnished houses, rusted shop signs, and a clock stopped on the day that stopped everything.

Jul 5, 2026

Delft, South Holland, Netherlands

City corners

Instead of Amsterdam: Delft, the Blue Pottery City Where Vermeer Painted the Light

Silent canals, the Nieuwe Kerk and workshops where blue porcelain is still hand-painted. The real Netherlands, fifteen minutes from The Hague.

Jul 5, 2026