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Italy’s hotspots are flooded with tourists. These hidden spots offer an escape without the crowds

Do you want to visit Italy, but are put off by the idea of ​​tourist crowds pouring through Rome, Florence and Venice in high season?

Can’t afford the ever-increasing prices of hotspots like Capri or Tuscany?

Don’t worry. Italy has much more to offer than the places usually featured on itineraries. If you explore a little further, there are countless extraordinary places where tourists are a rare attraction.

It may take some extra effort to reach them, but these secret places where traditions and ancient lifestyles survive offer a chance to experience the authentic soul of Italy.

Here are some of the best:

Posta Fibreno Lake (Lazio)

To get here, you have to get lost in the remote area of ​​Ciociaria, a wild terrain once known for banditry. It straddles the regions of Lazio and Campania, just south of Rome.

Posta Fibreno is a small, isolated hamlet in the province of Frosinone, which seems magically frozen in time. Surrounded by fields of grazing sheep, it consists of just a few farms, a bar and a fish tavern.

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The main highlight is the dreamy lake dotted with water lilies, a beautiful setting that seems imported from a much more exotic area than this lost corner of Italy. Old vines dangle their branches in the sparkling green water as friendly geese and swans float by.

There are paddle boats and dinghies to rent to explore the lake, and soft grass to lie down on for a picnic by the water. It’s a great place to mingle with the locals, relax and walk along the lake shores.

San Candido (Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol)

The first thing that greets visitors to this mountain village that straddles Italy’s border with Austria is the sweet smell of warm strudel and orange punch, sold on the stalls of an open-air market selling cured meats and wool-lined clogs.

Located in Trentino Alto Adige (or Sud Tiröl for German speakers, who call the village Innichen), San Candido hardly feels like Italy, which is made worse by the fact that almost no one here speaks Italian.

This skiing paradise was once part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire until it was annexed by dictator Benito Mussolini, but the locals are still proud of their German heritage.

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Narrow cobbled streets connect pastel-colored houses with frescoes and painted images of giants, warriors, forest monsters, snow queens and dwarfs who, according to local lore, sprayed the peaks of the surrounding Dolomites with pink crystals.

Millennia ago, the site of San Candido was once submerged in a tropical ocean, and the ski slopes are a former coral reef. The local museum displays dinosaur fossils unearthed from the nearby glaciers.

Calcata (Lazio)

The medieval village of Calcata sits above dramatic cliffs. – Cristina_Annibali_Krinaphoto/iStockphoto/Getty Images

There has been a settlement in what is now one of the best kept secrets of the Lazio region since prehistoric times. Modern Romans know Calcata and escape their city for detox day trips when it all gets a bit too much.

The landscape is enchanting. This small hamlet is perched precariously above an abyss. First-time visitors might think it is about to slide off the rust-colored cliffs it sits on, plunging into a deep gorge of forests.

Below lies a pristine river where pagan tribes once practiced human sacrifice.

A narrow path leads to a stone arch entrance. Here, ancient cave dwellings carved into the rock are barely distinguishable from naturally formed features.

The hamlet, where a hippie community has flourished over the years, is a car-free labyrinth of moss-covered cobblestone alleys, tunnels and wall openings that overlook the dense jungle-like gorge.

Mount Circeo (Lazio)

Located along the coast between Rome and Naples, Cicero rises into the sky and extends into the Tyrrhenian Sea.

The alluring peak has been worshiped as a sacred promontory since the beginning of time. It is said that our cave-dwelling ancestors performed human sacrifices here and even performed cannibalistic acts. A few skulls have been unearthed in the sea caves.

Don’t let that deter you. Mount Circeo is a protected nature reserve where you can enjoy hiking, canoeing and snorkeling.

It is surrounded by pristine beaches and lakes, as well as meadows tended by grazing buffalo, watermelon fields and kiwi plantations.

The ancient Romans loved to come here to detox in lavish villas and thermal baths. It is said that in Homer’s classic poem ‘The Odyssey’ the sorceress Circe bewitched Odysseus and turned his men into pigs. Locals claim that the mountain is shaped like a sleeping woman. Today, locals still like to joke that the dense forest here is inhabited by dozens of wild boars.

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Pentedattilo (Calabria)

Italy is littered with some 20,000 ghost towns, but Pentedattilo is probably one of the most fascinating.

Located in deep rural Calabria (the toe of the Italian boot), it can easily be explored on foot. It rises on the slopes of the rocky Mount Calvario and is shaped like a gigantic hand with five thick fingers pointing towards the sky (Pentedattilo means “five fingers” in Greek).

Once home to a vibrant community, the village was hit by a series of earthquakes. In the 1970s the village was completely abandoned as locals fled in search of a better life, leaving behind their old stone dwellings.

Many families simply moved further down the hill, where a new town was built. That means that unlike most other Italian ghost towns, Pentedattilo is not completely dead. Recently there has been a revival led by local youth groups and the opening of artisan boutiques and a small tavern. A series of arts festivals also help bring the place back from the grave in the summer.

A handful of die-hard residents, mainly artists and yoga enthusiasts – and many cats too – now live in the abandoned neighborhood.

Sirolo (Marche)

Sirolo offers a cheaper, but equally elegant alternative to Capri. - eddygaleotti/iStock Editorial/Getty Images

Sirolo offers a cheaper, but equally elegant alternative to Capri. – eddygaleotti/iStock Editorial/Getty Images

Known as the ‘pearl of the Adriatic’, this elegant little coastal town is a great and cheaper alternative to the eye-wateringly expensive island of Capri – plus it boasts a few faraglioni (sea stacks), just like Capri.

Built on top of the pristine Conero Sea Mountains in the lesser-known Marche region of east-central Italy, it is an ideal, tranquil holiday spot for beach lovers looking to get away from sweaty sunbathers and screaming children.

Sirolo has a glorious past. The medieval quarter, completely car-free, is a maze of circular narrow alleys connecting aristocratic palazzos to an overhanging castle, tower and walled walkway.

The small central square is considered one of the most romantic spots in the entire Conero Riviera and offers spectacular panoramic sunsets.

Bee Because of Sorelle (the “two sisters”), a beautiful pebble beach is enclosed by the two sea stacks and can only be reached by sea using canoes or with the help of local fishermen.

Gravina (Apulia)

Italy’s southern city of Matera, which starred in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion of the Christ’, has gained fame in recent years for its incredible cityscape of cave dwellings excavated from steep cliffs.

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Nearby Gravina is a hundred times more fascinating. Locals know that the key adrenaline action scenes in the latest James Bond film were shot here, and not in Matera, where the film is said to have been set.

Located in Puglia, Gravina is carved into the sides of a huge gorge, with dwellings made from layers of caves and cracks formed over millennia by the erosion of prehistoric limestone.

Cavemen once inhabited these caves, which have now been turned into homes.

Gravina’s old quarter is a labyrinth of rock churches and shrines. The most breathtaking highlight is the Madonna della Stella pedestrian bridge, a centuries-old curved structure 90 meters long and 37 meters high. This is where James Bond jumps off a bridge in the movie ‘No Time to Die’.

The bridge offers great views of the city and the gorge below. An unusual must-see La Gnostrea narrow circular spiral alley with no exit where locals hang out at night.

Underground treasures can be discovered on guided tours through a network of tunnels, cavities, ancient granaries, olive presses, cellars and wells.

Gravina organizes one of the oldest events in Europe: the Saint George’s Fair held every April since 1294, with musical performances and gastronomic products.

Tenno (Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol)

Visitors who flock to northern Italy’s vast Lake Garda often miss this hidden beauty spot, far from the noisy destinations favored by VIPs.

Silence reigns in Tenno.

Built in the Middle Ages, Tenno’s overhanging castle offers spectacular views of Garda and the surrounding Alps from a rarely seen perspective.

The village is set in a cluster of stone houses and narrow cobbled alleys, built at the foot of the majestic castle. A must-see is the nearby, lesser-known Lake Tenno, known for its turquoise-purple waters.

A long staircase leads down to the grassy banks of the lake, ideal for a quick refreshing dip in summer or a winter picnic.

From here it is a 20 minute walk to the hamlet of Canale di Tenno, listed as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy.

Being here is like stepping back in time. The locals call it ‘a gateway to the past’. The fairytale, dreamy atmosphere is enhanced by painted old stone houses with balconies overlooking the alleys.

At Christmas there is a craft market, while history buffs can enjoy it in the summer Rustico Medioevo festival, where medieval life is re-enacted.

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