Readers of ‘Condé Nast Traveler’ voted Florence the ‘Top City in Europe’ in the American magazine’s prestigious awards.
Readers voted Rome third and Venice sixth in the ‘Top 10 Cities in Europe’ category, making Italy the country with the largest number of cities cited.
The Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Awards rank the best cities, islands, cruise lines, airlines, hotels and resorts worldwide. The annual awards are among the most respected and coveted travel awards in the United States. The awards are in their 25th year and the latest award ceremony was held in New York. A record 46,476 readers participated this year. The average reader of the luxury magazine is reported to earn $163,750 a year.
Italy had a successful year at the American awards, hot on the country’s strong showing in the annual Condé Nast Traveller Readers’ Awards held in the UK by the American magazine’s sister publication ‘Condé Nast Traveller’, when British readers voted Italy ‘Favourite Country’.
La bella Italia became the first nation in Europe to earn its own list, ‘Top 40 Hotels in Italy’. ‘Condé Nast Traveler’ readers rated the top hotels in Rome, Ravello, Portofino, Amalfi, Positano, Florence, Lake Como, Milan, Sorrento, Venice, Capri and Naples to award first prize to Palazzo Avino (formerly Palazzo Sasso) in Ravello.
‘Condé Nast Traveler’ readers rated the top resorts in Italy, Greece, Ireland, Crete, Switzerland, Scotland, Croatia and Austria in the ‘Top 15 Resorts in Europe’ category. Hotel Caesar Augustus in Capri came first and Villa d’Este in Lake Como fifth. In the ‘Top 10 Islands in Europe’ Italy won three gongs: Capri came fourth, Sicily ninth, and Lipari and the Aeolian Islands 10th.
The Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice Survey began in 1988. This year’s tabulations of responses were done by Global Market Insite of Boston. The questionnaire contains lists of candidates in various categories, such as cities and hotels. Individual candidates are judged by relevant criteria for each. Those that receive a required minimum number of responses are deemed eligible for a Readers’ Choice Award. Each candidate is rated, criterion by criterion, on a five-point scale: Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. The scores represent the percentage of Excellent and Very Good ratings, and are averaged to calculate the final score published.
