If you don't know about blue flag beaches, they're the cleanest in Europe and Rimini boasts one that stretches for 20kms. Birthplace of Federico Fellini, Rimini is Europe's largest seaside resort. With it comes the good and the bad, the tasteful and the down right brash.

It has a large commercial club culture – amounting to around 150 clubs at the last count, but thankfully it also has a fine old town. The Tempio Malatestiano built by Alberti and the fourteenth century Palazzo del Podesta at its heart. If you get bored of the sea or the relentless thud of euro-trash pop there's plenty of lovely Italian towns and even an independent state nearby. Ferrara, Ravenna with its glorious Byzantine mosaics and churches are close by, as is San Marino, the independent state perched on a nearby mountain.

Further afield is Bologna, a city the Italians like to keep to themselves (and judging by the fine restaurants it's understandable,) and to the south, the dramatic scenery of the Marche is home to some historic towns. Clubs or culture? You decide.