Before leaving

In order to organize a journey in Italy, useful channels to get information are the offices of the ENIT (Italian National Agency for the Tourism) available in many foreign cities, the Institutes of Italian Culture (that deal with the spread of the Italian culture abroad), the Italian consulates or Embassies abroad.

ENIT - Italian National Agency for the Tourism
The Italian National Agency for the Tourism has the function to promote touristically Italy abroad but it is also an useful point of reference for those who live in Italy and want to know the main attractions.
The Enit has its headquarters in Rome and a net of 23 foreign centres in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America.
Through the site of the Enit it is possible to find and to contact various public tourist offices scattered in all the peninsula (http://www.enit.it/otp.asp) or the delegations of the Agency abroad (http://www.enit.it/dovesiamo.asp). Moreover you can consult a complete list of the information and tourist offices (I.A.T.) and of the Italian offices of the tourism.

For informations:

• ENIT - Headquarter
  via Marghera 2/6 - 00185 Roma - tel. +3906/49711 fax: +3906/4463379
  European international Line: +3906/40940405 - Intercontinental line: +3966/799108
  http://www.enit.it// - E-mail: sedecentrale@enit.it

Institutes of Italian Culture abroad
The Institutes of Italian Culture abroad deal with:

• Providing the documentation and the information on the Italian cultural life and the relative institutions.
• Providing the documentation and the information on the Italian cultural life and the relative institutions.
• Promoting initiatives, cultural manifestations and exhibitions.
• Supporting initiatives for the cultural development of the Italian communities abroad.
• Promoting and favouring initiatives for the spread of the Italian language abroad.

For information, consult the list of the Italian institutes of culture available on the site of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

For a list of the diplomatic representation , see the section of reference at the voice practical information.

On your arrival in Italy

In Italy in most of the urban centres are available a tourist office called APT (Company of Tourist Promotion) that in some zones changes its name in EPT (Provincial Agency for the Tourism). A lot of APT have centres in the railway stations or in the airports.
The Tourism Office supplies local tourist information and organizational support (rooms reservation).
In the main Italian cities are present information centres for the youth tourism called CTS (Student Tourist Centre) and Youth Centres you can make reference find a way out better in the Beautiful Country.

Agencies and offices of promotion and tourist information
Through the site of the Enit it is possible to find and to contact several public tourist offices scattered in all the peninsula. Moreover you can consult a complete list of the information and tourist welcome offices (I.A.T.) and of the Italian offices of the tourism.

The Youth Centres
Since 1981 beyond 1000 Youth Centres have been instituted in Italy.
The Youth Centres, scattered on all the national territory, are information services for young people, promoted by public agencies (towncouncils, Provinces, and so on).
They offer various information regarding the youth world (from the tourism to the education, to free time, to local cultural initiatives, and so on) even if, in many cases, they mainly deal with supplying guidance and aid in order to look for a job.
Besides youth centres, there are also many agencies and private associations that deal with the young people's orientation.It is possible to find the addresses at the page: http://www.comune.torino.it/infogio/cig/icr.htm.

CTS - Student and youth Tourist Centre
Italian Association for the youth and student tourism, has centres in all the Italian regions with 80 points in the main cities and other centres abroad (London, Paris, Athens and Malta).
The association joins the FIYTO and the ISIC and is recognized by the Ministry of the Environment as an enviromentalist association. It offers to young people the opportunity to travel with favourable rates; it supplies useful information on the selected destinations.
It organizes work experiences, ecological and sports holidays, school trip, didactic weeks and linguistic stays.
Registration, price reductions and facilitations:
in order to take advantage of the services offered by CTS it is necessary join the association buying a ticket (see chapter international cards). All the information on price reductions and facilitationsare on the guide distributed during the registration.

For information:

• CTS - Headquarters Rome
  via Andrea Vedalio, 6 - 00161 Roma - tel. +3906/441111 (switchboard) fax: +3906/44111400
  http://www.cts.it/ - E-mail: presidenza@cts.it

CTG - Tourist youth Centre
No profit National Association aimed to the cultural promotion, participation and civil and social solidarity. It is interested in free time and social tourism, voluntary service and environment as educational instruments for people's human and cultural growth.
It collaborates with numerous agencies and associations for the promotion of cultural exchanges among European countries and joins the BITS (Bureau International du Tourisme Social) and the F.I.Y.T.O. (Federation of International Youth Travel Organizations). It has centres in all Italy and it joins the Italian Association of Responsible Tourism, the CNV (National Centre for the Voluntary service) and the Forum of the Third Sector.
It is recognized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs as national charitable Agency and collaborates permanently with the State Department for the Tourism and with the regional and local councillorships.
Hospitality Formalities: An associative ticket is required and the cost varies according to the associate's age.

ORDINARY MEMBER:

• For young people up to 13 years the cost is of Euro 2,50
• For young people of age between 14 and 30 years the cost is of Euro 10,50
• For young people with more than 31 years the cost is of Euro 18,00
• For relatives living together with a member the cost is of Euro 10,50
• For supporting members 52,00 Euro

SUPPORTING MEMBER (prices for 2002):

• Club: Euro 6,00
• Summer House: Euro 2,50

For information on the joining formalities contact the competent regional centre.

ACTIVITY:

• Journeys for young people and families, group trip.
• Stays and holidays in booked holidays houses or in hotels.
• Members' meetings, conventions and parties with community, recreational and cultural moments.
• Nature camps, environmentalist voluntary service, care for artistic goods, visits with cultural entertainers
• Excursions, camps, trekking, language courses abroad, international youth exchanges, musical, theatre and photographic activities, publications, guides, researches, and so on.

For Information:

• CTG - Headquarters Rome
  via della Pigna, 13/a - 00186 Roma - tel. +3906/6795077 fax: +3906/6795078
  http://www.ctg.it/ - E-mail: ctg@ctg.it

Tourist Information on line on Italy

The net can be an excellent channel in order to increase and to improve the knowledges you have on the countries, the cultures, the attractions, in order to collect informative material on what you are interested in and satisfy every kind of curiosities in a fast way and without moving.
All the destinations are today within everybody's reach or almost with a simple click of the mouse.

Useful references:

• Discoveritalia http://www.discoveritalia.it/
  A really complete and always updated Tourist Guide on Italy. It offers the possibility to reserve hotel on line, provides information on history and art of the cities, on the beaches, the seas, the lakes, the mountains, the tourist operators, maps and small maps, trains and transports, and so on.
• Ilviaggio.it http://www.ilviaggio.it/
  The site gives useful advices and experiences for passionate travellers: weather forecasts, information on the trains and air flights and link to webcam active in many Italian regions.
• The Italian Tourist Web Guide http://www.itwg.com/
  A really complete and always updated Tourist Guide on Italy. It offers the possibility to reserve hotel on line, provides information on history and art of the cities, on the beaches, the seas, the lakes, the mountains, the tourist operators, maps and small maps, trains and transports, and so on.
• Touring Club Italiano http://www.touringclub.it/
  The site collects besides the references to its enormous publishing production also articles, photographic reportage and general information on local tourist destinations.
• Excite.it http://www.excite.it/viaggi/
  Complete guide on the tourism in general, supported by rich explicative articles, list of events, reservations offers, ideas, links to other sites.
• Italytourism http://www.italytourism.it/
  This site provides information on the history, the art and on how to live in Italy.
• Travel Europe http://www.traveleurope.it/
  Tourist guide regarding the existing beauties in Italy with links to agencies and Tour Operator that propose particular packages.
• Zoomata http://www.zoomata.com/
  Tourist Information and news on the daily life in the Beautiful Country.
• Ciao Ciao Italy http://www.ciaociaoitaly.com/
  Very valid travel portal , in which you can find all what you need to organize a holiday in Italy. Quite functional is the presence of a map of the peninsula that will help you to catch up easily the information you are looking for on the various destinations.
• Italia please http://www.italiaplease.it/
  The best resources on the net in order to travel in Italy informed, to reserve hotel, to visit cities, to find a restaurant, to visit a museum or to study a route with all the useful information.
• Italy in holiday http://www.italyinholiday.it/
  Italy in holiday gives you the possibility to travel and to create your holiday staying at home finding all the useful information.
• Lets http://www.lets.it/
  Through the site it is possible to have travel advices, to consult database with travel packages, or air ticket availability, to reserve flights using an internal search engine, to choose the travel fellows.
• Italyarttrips http://www.italyarttrips.com/
  The portal offers an overview on the art and the history of the main Italian cities of art.
• Italyone http://www.italyone.com/Welcome/
  
• Realitaly http://www.realitaly.com/
  
• All about Italy http://www.allaboutitaly.com/
  
• E-travels http://www.e-travels.it/vacanze.htm
  
• Hello Italy http://www.helloitalyonline.com/
  
• Primitaly http://www.primitaly.it/
  
• Italy on the web http://www.italyontheweb.org/
  
• Italy guide http://www.italyguide.com/
  
• Handy Italy tours http://www.handyitalytours.com/
  
• Actvitaly http://www.activitaly.it/link.htm
  
• Saper viaggiare http://www.saperviaggiare.it/
  
• Yeaah http://www.yeaah.com/www/touring/tourit.htm
  
• Explore http://www.explore.it/
  
• Infomondo http://www.infomondo.it/new/home.asp?lang=ita
  
• In Italy http://www.initaly.com/regions/regions.htm
  
• Italy traveller http://www.italytraveller.com/salsa/en/index.html
  
• Abc Italy http://www.abcitaly.com/descsi/turismo.html
  
• Italy-news http://www.italy-news.net/
  
• Italian web space http://italianwebspace.com/db/tempo_libero/
  

Tourist guides

An excellent tourist guide can be a good travel mate, useful in order to organize your holiday, to discover curiosities and visit places and premises of particular interest.

• Lonely Planet http://www.lonelyplanet.com/
  The site contains many useful tourist references for those who want to leave.
• Moon Travel http://www.moon.com/
  Pocket Books of the Moon Travel, travel magazine, atlases, tourist exhibitions and conferences.
• Touring Club Italiano http://www.touringclub.it/
  Site of the famous travel agency and bookcase that proposes books of indeed tourist interest on various destinations besides travel articles.
• Michelin http://www.globecorner.com/s/21.html
  List of the main tourist guides published by Michelin provided with maps and illustrations.
• Le guide di Routard http://www.routard.com/
  Excellent guides as for contents and destinations.
• Baedecker http://www.globecorner.com/s/58.html
  Baedecker guides are a main point of reference to the most interesting places for each destination.
• Rough Guide to Travel http://travel.roughguides.com/
  Updated guides on all the destinations of the world. The site offers also the possibility to avail of a flight/hotel reservation service, of a discussion forum and of a valid internal search engine for every section and type of research.
• Fodor's http://www.fodors.com/
  It offers a guide for beyond 99 destinations, an index of hotels and restaurants, a discussion forum for travellers, discounted flight rates and other tourist links.
• Edt Viaggi http://www.edt.it/viaggi/
  EDT guides (Italian edition of the Lonely Planet) offer complete and deepened news on the history, the economy, the art, the religion and the natural environment besides detailed and useful information for those who travel.