Italy’s 7 most instagrammable spots (and where to shoot each one)

Italy doesn’t really do ordinary. From pastel villages hanging off cliffs to rainbow canals and cypress-lined lanes, it’s the one country that seems built for your camera roll. The hard part isn’t finding beauty — it’s choosing where to point the lens.

These seven are the most photogenic corners of the country: a mix of icons and rising stars — a sherbet harbour, a fairytale of cone-roofed houses, an emerald alpine lake, rainbow canals, Tuscan cypress lanes, a vertical cliff town and the pastel villages that basically invented the Italy daydream.

Here they are, ranked from a stunning shot up to the one everyone saves — ending on the view that made Italy famous on Instagram. For each: what to shoot, and why it belongs on your feed.

A quick note before you go: the famous ones get packed in summer, so shoot at golden hour and start early — and book rooms, trains and ferries ahead, when the best stays sell out fast.

7. Procida (Campania)

Procida is the island quietly stealing the show from Capri. Where its famous neighbour heaves with day-trippers, Procida stays a real fishing island of sherbet-coloured houses tumbling down to small harbours — and it costs a fraction to reach.

Wander the lanes above Marina Corricella, the postcard harbour of stacked houses and wooden boats, climb up to Terra Murata for the panoramic terrace over the bay, then drop down to the quiet pebbles of Chiaia Beach for a swim. The light is unreal at golden hour.

Best for: sherbet harbours, almost no crowds and the rising star of the Bay of Naples. · Marina Corricella · Terra Murata · Chiaia Beach

6. Alberobello (Puglia)

Alberobello looks built for a storybook — a whole town of whitewashed trulli, the round, cone-roofed dry-stone houses unique to Puglia, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

Walk the steep streets of Rione Monti, lined with over a thousand trulli, step inside the Trullo Sovrano — the only one with two floors — then escape the crowds in quieter Rione Aia Piccola, where locals still live in their trulli. Every corner is a clean, symmetrical shot.

Best for: fairytale architecture found nowhere else on earth. · Rione Monti · Trullo Sovrano · Aia Piccola

5. Lago di Braies (Dolomites)

Tucked beneath the Dolomites — a UNESCO World Heritage range since 2009 — Lago di Braies (Pragser Wildsee) is an emerald lake so still it mirrors the saw-tooth peaks above. It’s the alpine shot that fills Italian Instagram every summer.

Rent one of the wooden rowboats and pull out onto the mirror water at dawn, before the crowds, walk the easy lakeside loop through black pines, and use it as a base to push on to the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Go early — very early.

Best for: mirror-still alpine water and the most photogenic lake in the Dolomites. · Lago di Braies · Tre Cime · Cortina d’Ampezzo

4. Burano (Veneto)

A short boat ride from Venice, Burano is the fishing isle where every house is painted a different, regulation-bright colour — and the result is the happiest palette in the lagoon.

Photograph the lean of San Martino’s campanile along a canal of rainbow façades, wander the lace-work streets off Via San Mauro, and cross the Tre Archi bridge for the classic reflection shot. Come on a weekday morning for empty canals and soft light.

Best for: rainbow canals and the brightest houses in Italy. · San Mauro canal · San Martino church · Tre Archi

3. Val d’Orcia (Tuscany)

The Val d’Orcia is the Tuscan landscape that taught the world what “beautiful” looks like — rolling hills, red-dirt lanes and sentinel cypresses — protected as a UNESCO cultural landscape since 2004.

Drive (or cycle) the cypress avenue near San Quirico d’Orcia, frame the Renaissance gem of Pienza against the hills, and chase the Belvedere viewpoints at golden hour, when the fields glow gold. Spring green and autumn amber are the painter’s seasons.

Best for: the cypress lanes and rolling hills of every Tuscan daydream. · Via dei Cipressi · Pienza · Belvedere

2. Positano (Amalfi Coast)

Positano is the Amalfi Coast’s vertical showstopper — a cascade of pastel domes and bougainvillea pouring down the cliff to the Tyrrhenian, and arguably the most photographed shoreline in Italy.

Shoot the town from Spiaggia Grande at sunset, hike up the Path of the Gods for the god-tier cliff view, and frame the striped dome of Santa Maria Assunta in the foreground. Pair it with the rest of the Amalfi Coast, a UNESCO site since 1997.

Best for: the pastel cliff town that defines the Amalfi Coast. · Spiaggia Grande · Path of the Gods · Santa Maria Assunta

1. Cinque Terre (Liguria)

Cinque Terre is the shot — five pastel villages clinging to the Ligurian cliffs above the Mediterranean, and arguably the most Instagrammed corner of Italy. With the sea and Portovenere, the coastline is a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997.

Photograph Manarola’s stacked houses from the classic viewpoint at dusk, shoot Vernazza’s natural harbour and square, and walk the Sentiero Azzurro between villages for the elevated cliff frames. Pick one or two villages and shoot them at sunrise to beat the crowds.

Best for: the pastel-cliff village shot that made Italy famous on Instagram. · Manarola · Vernazza · Sentiero Azzurro

How to plan an instagrammable-Italy trip

These seven stretch from the Alps to the deep south, so don’t try to bag them all in one trip. Group them: a Ligurian-Tuscan run pairing Cinque Terre and the Val d’Orcia; a northern loop around the Dolomites and Veneto (Braies, Burano); or a southern sweep through Naples, Procida and the Amalfi Coast (Procida, Positano, Alberobello).

The icons — Cinque Terre, Positano, Burano — get packed in summer, so travel shoulder-season (May–June, September) and shoot at sunrise and golden hour. Trains and ferries link most of them; you’ll only want a car for the Val d’Orcia and the deep south.

Want to turn any of these into an interactive guide you can share, with your own map, your stops and your links beside every flight and hotel? Build it in your own travel app with Travelinfluencer.co. Build your app

Mini FAQ

When’s the best time to go?
May–June and September — warm, golden light and far fewer crowds than July–August.

How many days do I need?
Half a day to a day per spot; string two or three into a regional loop.

Do I need a car?
Rarely. Trains and ferries cover most; a car helps only for the Val d’Orcia and rural Puglia.

Are they crowded?
The famous ones (Cinque Terre, Positano, Burano) get very busy in summer — go early or off-season.

Which is best for first-timers?
Cinque Terre and Positano — the iconic Italy shots, and easy to reach.

Is it expensive?
The coastal icons are pricey in peak season; shoulder-season and the south (Procida, Alberobello) are gentler.

In short

Italy is built for the camera, and these seven — Procida, Alberobello, Lago di Braies, Burano, Val d’Orcia, Positano and Cinque Terre — are its most photogenic corners, ending on the pastel-cliff view that everyone saves.

Travel slow, shoot at golden hour, and you’ll come home with the Italy gallery everyone else was queuing for.

Start free at travelinfluencer.co/site/qoueow and turn the trip into a guide that’s yours.