Italy

The destination

Italy offers two of the Mediterranean's most extraordinary cruising grounds, and the wise charterer does both. The Amalfi Coast is pure theatre - pastel villages stacked impossibly above the sea, lunch in a grotto restaurant reached only by tender, evenings off Capri as the day boats leave and the island exhales. Sardinia's Costa Smeralda, a short hop west, is its glamorous counterpoint: granite sculpted by wind, water in shades of green that seem invented, and the protected islands of the La Maddalena archipelago, which rank among the finest anchorages anywhere. Together they deliver the full Italian register - food, style, drama and seclusion in equal measure. We recommend a week split between the two, or a slow fortnight if you can manage it. Nobody has ever wished they had spent less time on this coastline.