The stunning Amalfi coast town of Praiano is just 20 minutes from Positano, providing holidaymakers the perfect authentic Italian experience, without the throng of tourists. It can be extremely tricky to pick out towns and villages to stay in that avoid large crowds, especially in popular tourist regions like the Amalfi coast. Many spots in the reg...

Italy's coastline is synonymous with summer: a vision of Aperol Spritzes sipped under blue parasols before a glass-clear sea. As an Italian who grew up in England, every summer brought the much-anticipated, post-exam ritual of spending the August holiday (called Ferragosto) at my grandparents' seaside village. I would spend long, lazy days in and o...