Whether you're an avid reader, hopeless romantic, or just want to get off Italy's most trodden track, Rick Steves recommends ...

How to spend the ultimate spring weekend in Verona – and avoid the tourist traps ... Our AirBnB (£219 for two nights) is near Ponte Pietra, Verona’s oldest bridge, built in 100BC.

Slurping ecstatically and strolling a short distance, I came to the Ponte Pietra, a bridge meticulously rebuilt from its original first-century material after being blown up in World War II.