|
Florence
|
Built on the site of an Etruscan settlement, 
Florence, the symbol of the Renaissance, rose to economic and cultural pre-eminence under the Medici in the 15th and 16th centuries. Its 600 years of extraordinary artistic activity can be seen above all in the 13th-century cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore), the Church of Santa Croce, the Uffizi and the Pitti Palace, the work of great masters such as Giotto, Brunelleschi, Botticelli and Michelangelo..
|
|
The Uffizi Gallery
|
The Uffizi Gallery is one of the most famous museums of paintings and sculpture in the world. Its collection of Primitive and Renaissance paintings comprises several universally acclaimed masterpieces of all time, including works by Giotto, Simone Martini, Piero della Francesca, Fra Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Botticelli, Mantegna, Correggio, Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and Caravaggio. German, Dutch and Flemish masters are also well represented with important works by Dürer, Rembrandt and Rubens.
|
|
|
The Pitti Palace
|
The Pitti Palace , which was formerly the residence of the grand-dukes of Tuscany and later of the King of Italy, now houses several important collections of paintings and sculpture, works of art, porcelain and a costume gallery, besides providing a magnificently decorated historical setting which extends to the Boboli Gardens, one of the earliest Italian gardens famous also for its fountains and grottoes.
|
|
|
Venice
|
Venice was founded in the 5th century and spread over 118 small islands, it became a major maritime power in the 10th century. The whole city is an extraordinary architectural masterpiece in which even the smallest building contains works by some of the world's greatest artists such as Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and others.
|
|
|
Accademia Gallery
|
The monumental estate of the 
Accademia Galleries is located in the prestigious centre of the Scuola Grande of Santa Maria della Carità, one of the most ancient lay fraternal orders of the city. The homonymous church of Santa Maria and the monastery of the Canonici Lateranensi, built by Andrea Palladio, are integral parts of the Accademia. A very rich collection of Venetian paintings from Veneto as well, from the Bizantine and Gothic fourteenth century to the artists of the Renaissance, Bellini, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Veronese, Tintoretto and Tiziano until Gianbattista Tiepolo and the Vedutisti of the eighteenth century, Canaletto, Guardi, Bellotto, Longhi. These artists will influence the whole history of European painting.
|
|
|
Doge's Palace
|
The Doge's Palace is a gothic palace in Venice. In Italian it is called the Palazzo Ducale di Venezia. The palace was the residence of the Doge of Venice.
If you imagine landing in Venice from the sea, as did those who came inland by ship, the first thing you see rising out of the water is the unmistakable shape of the Doge's Palace - the city's most famous building. The Palace is the most representative symbol of Venice's culture, which, together with the Basilica of San Marco at the back and the Piazzetta in the forefront, forms of the most famous sceneries in the world. For centuries the Doge's Palace had three fundamental roles: as the Doge residence, the seat of government and as the palace of justice. This was where some of the most important decisions for Venice's, and even Europe's destiny were taken.
|
|
|
St. Mark's Basilica
|
The mightiest of Venetian monuments, the one that really shows the greatness of Venice is undoubtedly the 
Basilica of San Marco. It was built over several centuries, frequently transformed and enriched with precious treasures, often from the Far East. Its architecture, a mixture of Byzantine, Roman and Venetian, is the work of artists and craftsmen coming from all over. It can be considered a real laboratory, a living organism, developing and transforming over the centuries.
|
|
|
Rome
|
Rome's history as a city spans over two and a half thousand years, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilisation. It was the centre of the Roman Empire, which dominated Europe, North Africa and the Middle East for four hundred years from the 1st Century BC till the 4th Century AD. Founded, according to legend, by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC, Rome was first the centre of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire, and it became the capital of the Christian world in the 4th century. The World Heritage site, extended in 1990 to the walls of Urban VIII, includes some of the major monuments of antiquity such as the Forums, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, the Pantheon, Trajan’s Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, as well as the religious and public buildings of papal Rome.
|
|
|
The Roman Colosseum
|
The Roman Colosseum, the Flavius amphitheatre is the biggest and most imposing in the Roman world, but is also the most famous monument in Rome and is known as the "Colosseum" or "Coliseum". Started by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavia family, it was opened by his son Titus in 80 A.D.
|
|
|
St. Peter's Basilica
|
The Centre of the Roman Catholic faith, 
St. Peter's draws pilgrims from all over the world. Few are disappointed when they enter the sumptuously decorated basilica beneath Michelangelo's vast dome. A shrine was erected on the site of St. Peter's tomb in the 2and century and the first great basilica, ordered by the Emperor Costantine, was completed around AD 349.
|
|
|
Castel St. Angelo
|
With its unmistakeable cylindrical contour and particularly scenic position along the shore of the Tiber River, 
Castel Sant'Angelo is one of the town's most famous landmarks. Its appearance today is the result of a long series of transformations that, in reality, have left no traces of the glorious Roman "Hadrianeum", the mausoleum that Emperor Hadrian built for himself and his successors.
|
|
|
Sorrento
|
Situated on a terrace overlooking the splendid Amalfi coastline, 
Sorrento is imbued with charm and echoes of the ancient past. Its position is perfect, affording a stunning panorama of the bay of Naples, but its list of attributes is replete. Parks, villas, orange, lemon and olive groves, picturesque narrow streets and resplendent weather, have ensured a steady stream of visitors to the town throughout the year and over the centuries.
|
|
|
Pompeii
|
Herculaneum may have been better preserved, but to see an entire ancient city come to life, the only place on earth you can go is this magic time capsule, left to us by the good graces of Mount Vesuvius. 
Pompeii is no mere ruin. Walking down the old Roman high street you can peek into the shops, read the graffiti on the walls, then wander off down the back streets to explore the homes of the inhabitants and appraise their taste in painting - they won't mind a bit if you do.
|
|
|
Sicily
|
Sicily is a delightfully verdant island facing the Mediterranean Sea, characterised by its varied landscape, beautiful scenery and multiethnic inhabitants. The famous coastline of the island varies from sandy beaches and gulfs opening onto peaceful crystal clear bays, to steep cliffs, and crags. The Island was the jewel in the crown of the Mediterranean Sea and the ancient world, holding the monopoly on trade as well as culture and beauty.
|
|
|
Tower of Pisa
|
Leaning Tower of Pisa. This very famous work is of Romanesque style, and as already stated dates back to the year 1174. Cylindrical in shape it is supplied whit six open galleries. This is the monument that, among the others of the "Piazza dei Miracoli", stirs the imagination of everybody, from the old to the young. The construction of this imposing mass was started in the year 1174 by Bonanno Pisano. When the tower had reached its third storey the works ceased because it had started sinking into the ground. The tower remained thus for 90 years. It was completed by Giovanni di Simone, Tommano Simone (son of Andreo Pisano), crowned the tower with the belfry at half of 14th century.
|
|
|
Juliet's balcony
|
Juliet's House is a building dating back to the 12th century, which was owned for a long period by the Dal Cappello family, whose coat-of-arms is carved into the keystone of the courtyard's inner archway. Identification of the name Cappello with that of Capuleti gave rise to the popular belief that this was the home of Juliet, mythical heroine of the Shakespeare play.
|
|
|
Cinque Terre
|
Cinque Terre is a rugged portion of coast on the Italian Riviera. It is in the Liguria region of Italy, to the west of the city of La Spezia. "The Five Lands" comprises five villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore. The main attraction of the Cinque Terre is the landscape. Mediterranean herbs and trees grow spontaneously from the top of the hills down to the water level. Well embedded in this magnificent natural scenery, one can admire the intense human activity of the ancestors, when the wine terraces were built.
|
|
|
Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II
|
The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II is a covered double arcade formed of two glass-vaulted arcades at right angles intersecting in an octagon, it was originally designed in 1861 and built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877. The street is covered over by an arching glass and cast iron roof, a popular design for nineteenth-century arcades, such as the Burlington Arcade, London, which was the prototype for larger glazed shopping arcades. More than 130 years after its inauguration, the four-story arcade includes elegant shops selling most things from haute couture to books, as well as restaurants, cafés and bars.
|
|
|
Money 
