Mother Nature poured a heaping helping of beauty on Italy, then spread glorious days of sunshine on top of it. You could sit back on a terrace and admire its seas and lakes, rolling farmlands, volcanoes, and majestic mountains. But it’s even better to get up and into it for a knock-out sensorama experience.

Outside the cities, you’ll have the chance to be hiking in Italy’s golden light that poets have praised. You’ll stop and smell the lavender. Or maybe you’ll be diving into cool waters off the coast of Ponza, in a cove you discovered as you were circling around it by boat. You could be in the Dolomites, warming up with a sip of fiery grappa after an exhilarating day on the ski slopes.

Inevitably, the countryside brings with it the chance to experience Italian-style warmth and generosity. As in one May afternoon in Puglia when I was riding a bike past a cherry tree grove. I stopped to take pictures and a ninety-something-year-old farmer walked over, took two handfuls of just-picked cherries from his bucket, and put them in my bike basket.

That’s just a for instance of the sweet surprises that will likely come at you when you get into exploring Italy as an active adventurer.