Italy remains a top choice for European getaways, with Rome topping many dream vacation lists. However, the Italian countryside can be more beautiful than the big cities, and what better way to get out and about than on a classic Italian road trip?
As summer draws closer, we found a recent study of Instagram hashtags that we used to determine Italy’s 16 most Instagrammable road trips. After all, if you’re on a dream vacation and taking dreamy pictures, it doesn’t count unless you post them on social media…lol!
16 – Three-day Molise Road Trip
Molise is the second smallest region of Italy, with stunning old towns and beautiful beaches on the Adriatic. Despite all this beauty, the route only has an average of 226,672 posts per stop, which is just under 30 times less than the most popular journey. The terrain In Molise is rough, with small and twisty roads. Perhaps people are too busy paying attention to the road to take pictures.
15 – Five-days From Ancona to Ascoli Piceno
The five-day journey from Ancona to Ascoli Piceno takes you through Le Marche along the Adriatic Coast. The color palette of greens and yellows will remind you of its neighbor, Tuscany. That’s why people call Le Marche the undiscovered Tuscany. Its relative seclusion is why there’s only an average of 234,631 posts per stop.
14 – Four-days From Ortisei to Cortina d’Ampezzo
Our next journey takes you deep into the heart of the Dolomites. It’s a large region that could take weeks to explore thoroughly, but you can see the highlights in just four days. You’ll discover many Instaworthy peaks and high mountain lakes, but none more beautiful than the Tre Cime di Lavaredo or Lago di Braies. Despite all the rugged beauty, this region only averages 237,944 posts per stop.
13 – Seven-day Turin Loop
This delicious route takes you from Turin, the center of Italian chocolate production, to the highlands of the Italian Alps and the beautiful Aosta Valley. You’ll want to snap a photo of Fort Bard rising high above the aqua-blue Dora Baltea River and this historic city of Turin. Perhaps it’s the famous facades of Mt Blanc and the Matterhorn that have inspired Instagrammers to post 656,489 pictures along this route, over twice the number of the Dolomites.
12 – Ten Days in Eastern Sicily
If Italy is a boot, it’s kicking Sicily into the Mediterranean Sea. It’s a land of sun-baked beauty and ancient history. Instagram is exploding with pictures of Caltagirone’s Sicily Stairs and the ancient city of Taormina overlooking the sea. On the subject of exploding, Mount Etna is still an active volcano, with many eruptions in the last 20 years. You’ll often see it smoldering in the background of photos. No wonder this region averages 904,975 posts.
11 – Ten Days in Western Sicily
Perhaps it is a coincidence, but the next entry is also in Sicily. In honor of the town of Corleone, I’m gonna make you an offer he can’t refuse. Come and visit Western Sicily. During the summer, the sun-drenched beaches of San Vito lo Capo and San Leone are mobbed with visitors. If you want to get pure medieval, you should visit the village of Erice. It is our first region topping over a million posts, 1,299,660 to be exact.
10 – Three-Day Tour of Bologna Apennines
I might be hamming up my writing, but the Apennine hashtags are no bologna. They really bring home the bacon with the architectural allure of Rocchetta Mattei fortress, Vignola Castle, and the 13th-century village of Borgo La Scola. After all, 1,461,644 posts can’t be wrong.
9 – Naples and Southern Italy in 15-days
This trip encompasses four regions: Campania, Basilicata, Puglia, and Calabria, which are beloved for their natural beauty and culinary excellence. The Amalfi Coast could be the visual highlight of the entire trip, with the towns of Positano, Amalfi, Atrani, and Ravello clinging precariously to the mountainside. The whole trip is exquisite, with more than 1,538,231 on the ‘Gram.
8 – Week Long Puglia Loop
In Puglia, you’ll explore the “heel of Italy’s boot” and see cute coastal towns along the way. Capital Bari is a vibrant port and university town filled with photographic opportunities. Lecce is known as “Florence of the South” for its baroque architecture, but without all the overcrowding. Alberobello and the Itria Valley are known for the “Trulli” stone huts with distinctive conical roofs. The hundreds of kilometers of Mediterranean coastline average 1,626,603 posts.
7 – Sardinia in a Week
Sardinia, the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, is perfect for a road trip. Every direction you go, you’ll find beautiful beaches and bays. The beaches, breakers, and breathtaking sunsets account for the region’s 1,765,556 post count.
6 – Tuscany Tour
Tuscany is known as the Birthplace of the Renaissance, with many famous sites, such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, San Gimignano, and central Florence. You’ll want to spend a day or two exploring Florence’s history (and food), but there’s too much to see to stay in town. Your road trip will take you between stunning countryside and charming villages. There were 2,982,932 posts tallied for this region, almost double the previous count for Sardinia.
5 – Northern Italy Lake Road Trip
This region just barely beat out Tuscany, with 2,991,062 posts, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Lake Garda is the largest in the country, with many well-known photo-ops and even more hidden views. The beautiful colors of Lake Tenno make it a must-see for nature lovers, and the luxurious lakeside villas of Lake Como make every vista look like a postcard.
4 – Northwest Italy: Lombardy, Liguria, Piedmont
This route is our first entry in the 3-million post club, with 3,068,671 posts. This region is known for the villages of the Cinque Terre, but since they’re primarily a walking route, you’re better served to explore Milan, Genoa, Turin, and the outlying towns by car. You’ll see beautiful sites like Visconti Castle, San Lorenzo Cathedral, and the Sanctuary of Oropa and take enough pictures to make all your friends jealous.
3 – 10-Days Naples to Palermo
In many ways, this is a “best of” trip of our “Sardinia in a Week” and “Naples and Southern Italy.” Because you’re only hitting the highlights, it makes a data-rich target for the ‘Gram. In fact, it has a post count of 3,252,421, which is almost exactly the amount of the other two trips combined. This makes me wonder if we found a hole in the matrix, but who am I to question data?
2 – Northern Italy: Veneto and Trentino Regions
Star-crossed road-trip lovers can start this loop in Verona, but there’s too much to explore to stay there too long. This loop has 5,230,054 posts because of the diversity of scenery and sites in Veneto and Trentino. You’ll see the natural beauty of the Dolomites and Lake Garda and the architectural masterpiece of Florence.
1 – Rome to Florence (5 days)
All roads, and by extension road trips, lead to Rome. This ancient city dating back to the Roman Empire is filled with Instaworthy wonders. But one has to wonder if the 6,787,677 post count is because this trip combined two of the most popular destinations in Italy into a single journey.
In any case, if you would like a link to the data you can find it at: Amalfi coast tours- the most instagrammable italian roadtrips- data.xlsx
Additionally, we’d like to thank amalfi-coast-tours.com for compiling this data and allowing us to take a photographic tour of Italy.
