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.
April — top 12 of 951 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.
Almost deserted
Amendolea: The Ghost Castle and the Lost Villages of Aspromonte
On Aspromonte's wildest slopes, Amendolea is an abandoned borgo ruled by a ruined Norman castle — a journey to Calabria's edge where nature reclaims what was once human.
Almost deserted
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.
Almost deserted
Arnad and Its DOP Lard: A Medieval Village That Smells of Rosemary
In a village with an almost-unknown Romanesque castle, they produce Arnad DOP lard, cured in wooden containers with alpine herbs according to a centuries-old recipe.
Almost deserted
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.
Almost deserted
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.
Almost deserted
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.
Almost deserted
The Walk of the Silent Villages in the Umbrian Amerino
In the Amerino, the south-western corner of Umbria, the Walk of the Silent Villages crosses woods and near-deserted hamlets. Born precisely as an escape from noisy tourism, it is a loop designed for those seeking silence, slowness and village hospitality.
Almost deserted
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.
Almost deserted
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.
Almost deserted
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.
Almost deserted