Activities

Watersports

Italy has over 8500 km of coastline of beaches with some of the best on the islands of Sicily and Sardinia. Windsurfing, kite-surfing and sailing are extremely popular, it's possible to rent boats and equipment and arrange lessons at most beach and lakeside resorts.

Campania, Calabria and Sicily have excellent scuba diving and snorkeling as do the coasts of Tuscany and Liguria. There are lots of good canoeing rivers, particularly in the north of the country.

Fishing is excellent throughout Sardinian and Sicilian waters (also renowned for their healthy lobster population), while the rivers in northern Italy, Umbria and Tuscany can offer particularly scenic fishing holidays. For sea fishing, private or chartered boats can be rented.

Genoa has frequent yachting regattas, as does Santa Margherita Ligura, where a canoe and small boat regatta is held in July. Sailing is popular on Italy's five major lakes near the Alps in the north – Como, Garda, Iseo, Lugano and Maggiore.

Wintersports

The skiing infrastructure has been greatly improved in recent years, and the facilities at resorts in the Italian Alps now rival those in neighboring Austria, France and Switzerland. Ski resorts can be broadly split into four geographical areas.

To the west of Turin, in the Piedmont region, major resorts include Bardonechia, Sauze d'Oulx and Sestriere. Further north, the Aosta Valley and its main resorts, such as Cervinia, Courmayeur and La Thuile, are easily reached from France (via the Mont Blanc tunnel from Chamonix) or from Switzerland (via the St Bernard tunnel). To the east, the region across the Swiss border is fairly isolated and accessible via long, winding roads which can be treacherous in bad weather.

Driving can be equally difficult in the Dolomites, still further east, but the beautiful scenery more than makes up for it, helping to make this one of Italy's prime skiing destinations; major resorts include Cortina D'Ampezzo (Italy's most upmarket resort), Madonna di Campiglio and Selva/Sella Ronda. Skiing is also possible in Central Italy, in resorts such as Abetone (Tuscany), Campo Imperatore (Abruzzo), and in several other places in Abruzzo, down to Mount Etna in Sicily.

Horseriding

The biennial Palio bareback horse race in Siena, held on July 2 and August 16, draws thousands of spectators and has been a special event since the 14th century. One of Rome's most prestigious events is its international horse show held in May. There is also flat racing in February at the Capanelle track. Each of the three seasons lasts two months, the second starting in May and the third in September. Trotting races take place at the Villa Gloria track in February, June to November.

Hiking

There are good networks of hiking trails and huts all over Italy. Some of the most dramatic scenery is in the Dolomites and around Aosta. In the Apennines the Parco Nazionale d'Abruzzo is worth exploring and the Apuane Alps in Tuscany have good walking. The Dolomites are a climber's paradise and ice climbing is available in several of the mountain ranges.

Cycling

Cycling can be a great way to see the country although you do need to be fairly fit as so much of it is hilly. There are few traffic free cycle routes but quiet roads can be found. There are plans to create a series of national cycle routes.

The Giro d'Italia race attracts the world's top cyclists. Mountain biking is becoming increasingly popular and many of the lifts in ski resorts take bikes in the summer.

Other

There are first-class golf courses all over Italy, from Lombardy and Trentino in the north, through Tuscany and Lazio, down to Calabria and Sardinia where the golf season is very long, owing to the mild climate.

Italy's most popular spectator sport is football (the national team won the World Cup in 1934, 1938 and 1982, and hosted the 1990 event, in which they finished third).

Motor-racing is held at the Monza autodrome near Milan (Lombardy). Bocce bowling is as traditional in Italy as it is in France, especially in small villages where it is played on Sunday after High Mass.