Italy’s ‘antidote To Overtourism’: Exploring Unexpected Delights In Vicenza And Beyond

A new Italian holidays app, created by locals, helps steer travellers away from tourist traps by highlighting unusual places to eat, sleep and visit

I may have nodded off in double geography once or twice, but I never thought I’d deliberately sleep in a school. However, La Scuola, in Lusiana, in the foothills of the Dolomites, is very different from an English comp. The former village school, closed in the 1960s, has been converted by Valeria Carfora and her husband, Marco, into a charming and unexpected B&B (doubles from €95).

Its bedrooms are named after school subjects – maths, geography, literature, science – and the whole place is furnished with period desks, books, abacuses and more. The breakfast room has a huge blackboard showing the Italian alphabet in curly script: under it we take our time over homemade pastries and fruit, plus cheese and yoghurt from the lush Asiago plateau.