Greg and I can scarcely believe it’s coming up to six months since we began our great Italian adventure. We’ve certainly seen and done a lot in that time. Despite that – or perhaps because of it – we’re also very aware that we’ve barely scratched the surface of this always wonderful, occasionally slightly crazy, country.

We haven’t yet found a place we didn’t like, but for varying reasons, some towns and cities have really stayed with us. So in the spirit of celebrating questa dolce vita, we’ve put together a list of our favourite locations to date. Here, in no particular order, are our top ‘six for six’ Italian locations:

Rome. We’re in the Eternal City right now, so let’s start here. For us, Rome is all about the history. We’re sure there must be things to see and do in this city that don’t involve some kind of archaeological site or historical monument, we just haven’t found them yet. And it’s likely to be a while before we start looking. To lay your hand on a column hewn by other hands 1500 years ago, or to walk streets where others have walked for a thousand years, it’s simply remarkable. And that kind of tangible history is everywhere here. As a friend said to us today, to really know Rome, a lifetime isn’t enough.

Mantua. There’s more beauty packed into this one city than anywhere else we’ve seen, and we don’t mean the lovely artificial lakes that surround Mantua. No, this city is all about the astonishing legacy of the powerful Gonzaga family who ruled Mantua from the 14th to the 18th centuries. In those 400 years the Gonzagas built elegant palaces and commissioned or collected some of the most important art of the Renaissance and Baroque periods. What remains of that collection is still on display in the Duchal Palace and Palazzo Te. Is it, even today, an ostentatious display of wealth and power? Absolutely. Is it also the most concentrated assembly of breathtaking beauty we’ve ever seen? Without a doubt.

The Castentino Valley. A couple of hours’ drive east of Florence, at the foot of the Apennine Mountains, where the headwaters of the Arno River gather and begin their journey to the coast. Autumn. Amazing. We really enjoyed our few days tootling around this beautiful valley. We discovered Medieval villages, had a couple of delicious meals and met some lovely people. All the while surrounded by that spectacular autumn foliage.

Bologna. We still think of Bologna as our ‘home’ city; it’s where our adventure began. There’s so much to like about this city, but the one thing that people kept telling us when we lived there is that Bologna’s region, Emilia-Romagna, is the food capital of the country. We certainly enjoyed some wonderful meals there: Sunday lunch at Trattoria di Via Sera; the braised rabbit at Trattoria dai Birichini; byo lunch at the city’s (or maybe the country’s) oldest pub, Osteria del Sole; dinner at Osteria dei Grifoni; picnics in the parks in the hills surrounding the city; genuine Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese and 25-year-old Modena DOP balsamic vinegar; proscuitto di Parma and melt-in-the-mouth mortadella on warm tigelle; tortellini in brodo, lasagne bolognese and tagliatelle al ragù. And all washed down with a sparkling Lambrusco or a lively Pignoletto. Really, thinking about all this deliciousness makes us want to race back to Bologna immediately. While almost every Italian region has its own typical food and wine, for us it really has been a case of “you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone” when it comes to Bologna. Luckily we’re heading ‘home’ again for an extended period later in the year.

Florence. There’s not a lot that hasn’t already been said about Florence. We were especially fortunate on this trip to be staying in the Oltrarno neighbourhood, just across the river from the centre of the city. Florence’s artizans have lived and worked in Oltrarno for centuries, and even today you find the silversmiths, paper-makers, milliners and tailors still at work there. Then, of course, there are the treasures that fill the city’s galleries, museums, palaces and chapels. It’s a bit like Rome, really; you could spend a lifetime standing and looking and still there’d be more to admire. Having said that, though, there is only one ‘David’ and one city where you can see Michelangelo’s masterpiece, and that alone is enough to keep us coming back.

Ortisei. We had so many wonderful experiences in the Val Gardena, it’s right up there on our list of top six locations. First and foremost, it’s where we spent our first white Christmas and that’s one of our fondest memories of the trip so far. But really everything about our time in Ortisei is truly memorable: gathering in the little piazza to drink ‘spritz caldo‘ and listen to the carol singers across the way; being utterly transported by the beauty of ‘Stille Nacht‘ at the end of midnight mass on Christmas Eve; strolling arm in arm along a snowy path under a brilliant blue sky; enjoying a wonderful Christmas dinner at a fabulous restaurant; trying to make a snowman and failing miserably; wandering through the Christmas markets as the snow begins to fall; and cheering with the best of them when the home team scores a come-back goal in the local ice hockey play-off. As they say, priceless.

So that’s our top six locations to date. It’s been an extraordinary six months for us. And the even better news is that there’s so much more to discover.