The August crowds have left the beaches and Italian children are getting ready for school. My sister and I decide to take a road trip somewhere in Italy from our respective homes in Rome. It doesn’t take long to settle on a destination we both love – the Costiera Amalfitana – 35 miles of staggeringly beautiful coastline meandering south from Naples.
  
Having covered Italy as the correspondent for LIFE Magazine for two decades, I’ve been up and down the peninsula many times. Yes, the Italian Alps are celestial, Portofino is glorious, the Greek temples in Sicily awe-inspiring, but nowhere has consistently seduced me with its eloquent charm like the Amalfi Coast. Ville in Italia finds us a house perched on the cliff just above the coast road in Praiano, one town South of Positano.

Do you want to be in the most beautiful postcards you have ever seen from Italy? Here are our suggestions for you! Breathtaking views from allover Italy have been captured by artists, locals and tourists for years. Luxury villas in the vicinity make it possible to explore these views in-depth.

The Italians are a nation of walkers: it is estimated that there are over 200,000 Italian travelers walking along various paths around Europe. Last year, for example, 24,000 Italians hiked along the Santiago di Compostela...