In this issue, you can ride aboard the Orient-Express, visit one of Venice’s best boutique hotels, celebrate shoes at Florence’s Ferragamo Museum and nosh at a Florentine grastonomia aka deli.

This issue covers the entire holiday season in Italy, including insider tips to Christmas and New Year’s in Venice; reviews a week-long cooking school program in Tuscan; tells you how and where to see the Pope; offers an overview of olive oil; plus Marlena de Blasi’s A Thousand Days in Venice and an interview with The New York Times’ Rome bureau chief. (12 pages)

Our special report on villa rentals tells you all you need to know about the experience of renting; profiles 11 different rental agencies; offers renting advice from the experts; plus a Boston pizzeria and The Dream Interview: Raeleen Mautner on Italian Living. (12 pages)

This issue takes you to Bologna, a center of culinary delights, Florence’s lesser-known museums, and a Campania daily farm; offers a selection of Italian-related summer reading; gives you the scoop on staying in an private Sicilian home; plus the Lowdown on August in Italy and Americans discover the fun of Prosecco.

This issue explores Umbria’s traditions and towns; suggests athletic tours and events in Italy; announces an expansion of the Uffizi; plus a smoking ban on Italian Eurostar trains. (8 pages)

This issue features a springtime visit to Sardinia; a Venetian day trip to the lace-makers of Burano; a look at Sardinia as Italy’s Cork Capital; two Tuscan villas that promise relaxation; plus Alain Ducasse’s new Italian inn in Tuscany. (8 pages)

This issue takes you beyond the crowds of Amalfi to Maratea; suggests traditional and international restaurants in Rome’s Trastevere neighborhood; announces the opening of a university-level cooking academy in Parma; and gives helpful advice for touring Matera, the town used in the filming of The Passion of the Christ. (8 pages)

Our special report on Puglia gives a food lovers’ look at the region; explores Puglia’s most famous town; lists highlights you shouldn’t miss; plus how to book a room in a tower from the Middle Ages. (8 pages)

Our special report on Venice gives you Part II of Linda Burbank’s Venice tale; our listing of Venice hotels; unique Venice restaurants; plus Il Ballo del Doge,and free internet at a Convent.

Our special report on Florence suggests four new Florence hotels; explains the Academia della Crusca through the image of the pala and a fabulous Florentine meal; tells you where to find the real Room With A View; takes you to Villa La Petra in the Florentine hills; plus The Dream Interview with cookbook author Faith Willinger and where to find Florence’s best gelato.