Best Places to Visit in February
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Tuscany
Bypass the summer crowds with a winter visit to Tuscany. Start out by spending a few days in Florence: book supper at the Massimo Bottura-run restaurant inside Gucci’s trippy flagship in the city center, Gucci Garden, and explore the Uffizi and Accademia galleries virtually tourist-free. Then head to the coastal, Belle Epoque-era town of Viareggio, a little over 50 miles west of Florence, to celebrate Carnival. While a major celebration in all of Italy, the Tuscan approach to Carnival is different from Venice’s iconic masked balls. Famous for building some of the world’s superyachts, Viareggio has staged a Carnival parade for almost 150 years. Enormous, papier-mâché floats commandeer the resort town’s coastline for three days this February, and then two more days before Fat Tuesday. Think of the floats as a mashup of Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and Saturday Night Live: the custom-built creations, towering up to 70 feet above the crowds, are bitingly satirical, and the rest of Italy watches to see what current events will be targeted most mercilessly. Finish off the trip with a stay at the new Como Castello del Nero, a converted 12th-century estate that’s been repurposed by the ultra-luxe Singaporean hotel chain.
Don't worry—it's not all about Valentine's Day.
Originally Appeared on Condé Nast Traveler
