In Tuscania, the frescoed Judgement of Santa Maria Maggiore
In Tuscania, off the beaten track, a medieval church preserves a cycle of fourteenth-century frescoes that almost no one comes to see.
Almost desertedDestination calendar
Month by month, the least crowded destinations to visit. Choose when you travel and we'll tell you where to go.
March — top 12 of 282 destinations
Staffarda Abbey: 12th-Century Romanesque Amid Rice Fields
A 12th-century Cistercian abbey set amid the Piedmont rice fields, Staffarda is one of Italy's best-preserved monastic complexes — and rarely visited.
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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.
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Bagni di Lucca: Where the Romantics Came to Heal in the River
Thermal springs on the Lima river in the Garfagnana, once frequented by Byron and Shelley: the grand spa is shuttered, but the wild pools in the woods remain free.
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Balestrino: The Ligurian Medieval Borgo That a Landslide Emptied in a Single Night
A Del Carretto castle and a stone village abandoned above Loano: the historic centre has been sealed shut for sixty years, intact and inaccessible.
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Barichara: the stone borgo where Colombia learned the art of slowness
Tapia pisada walls, artisan workshops, a pre-Columbian trail and silence: Barichara is Colombia's most beautiful borgo and its least crowded.
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Belmonte and the Marranos: five hundred years of clandestine faith
In this village in the Beira Interior, a Jewish community kept its faith secret for over four centuries. Today the story is visible and deeply moving.
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Cammino delle Terre Mutate: from Fabriano to L'Aquila
The Cammino delle Terre Mutate runs for roughly 250 kilometres across the earthquake-scarred lands of the central Apennines, from Fabriano to L'Aquila, through Marche, Umbria, Lazio and Abruzzo. A slow, solidarity-driven journey among the villages struck by the quakes, far from any tourist route.
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The Cammino di Santa Barbara: Hiking Through Sardinia's Mining Heartland
The Cammino di Santa Barbara winds 500km through south-western Sardinia between abandoned mines, deserted beaches and the lunar landscapes of the Sulcis-Iglesiente.
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A Walk in the Alta Murgia Among Jazzi and Dolines
In the Alta Murgia National Park, between the provinces of Bari and Barletta, you walk through a silent Mediterranean steppe, among isolated farmsteads and the unmistakable silhouette of Castel del Monte. A harsh landscape that stays off every tourist circuit.
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Castello di Avio: The Medieval Fortress with Trentino's Finest Battle Frescoes
Hidden in the greenery of the Vallagarina, Castello di Avio preserves fourteenth-century fresco cycles that no art textbook highlights enough.
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Celleno Vecchia: The Quiet Alternative to Civita di Bagnoregio
Celleno vecchia is the forgotten ghost borgo of the Viterbo hills, just kilometres from Civita di Bagnoregio — same story, no tourists. History, visit and how to get there.
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