Located just east of the Roman Forum, the massive stone amphitheater known as the Colosseum was commissioned around A.D. 70-72 by Emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty as a gift to the Roman people. In A.D. 80, Vespasian’s son Titus opened the Colosseum officially known as the Flavian Amphitheater–with 100 days of games, including gladiatorial combats and wild animal fights.
After four centuries of active use, the magnificent arena fell into neglect, and up until the 18th century it was used as a source of building materials. Though two-thirds of the original Colosseum has been destroyed over time, the amphitheater remains a popular tourist destination, as well as an iconic symbol of Rome and its long, tumultuous history.
Origins of the Colosseum
Even after the decadent Roman emperor Nero took his own life in A.D. 68, his misrule and excesses fueled a series of civil wars. No fewer than four emperors took the throne in the tumultuous year after Nero’s death; the fourth, Vespasian, would end up ruling for 10 years (A.D. 69-79). T
Flavian emperors, as Vespasian and his sons Titus (79-81) and Domitian (81-96) were known, attempted to tone down the excesses of the Roman court, restore Senate authority and promote public welfare.
Around 70-72, Vespasian returned to the Roman people the lush land near the center of the city, where Nero had built an enormous palace for himself after a great fire ripped through Rome in A.D. 64.
On the site of that Golden Palace, he decreed, would be built a new amphitheater where the public could enjoy gladiatorial combats and other forms of entertainment.
Did you know? Archaeologists believe that the Colosseum contained both drinking fountains and latrines.
After nearly a decade of construction–a relatively quick time period for a project of such a grand scale–Titus officially dedicated the Colosseum in A.D. 80 with a festival including 100 days of games. A
well-loved ruler, Titus had earned his people’s devotion with his handling of recovery efforts after the infamous eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, which destroyed the towns of Herculaneum and Pompeii.
The final stages of construction of the Colosseum were completed under the reign of Titus’ brother and successor, Domitian.
The Colosseum: A Grand Amphitheater
Measuring some 620 by 513 feet (190 by 155 meters), the Colosseum was the largest amphitheater in the Roman world. Unlike many earlier amphitheaters, which had been dug into hillsides to provide adequate support, the Colosseum was a freestanding structure made of stone and concrete.
The distinctive exterior had three stories of arched entrances a total of around 80–supported by semi-circular columns. Each story contained columns of a different order (or style): At the bottom were columns of the relatively simple Doric order, followed by Ionic and topped by the ornate Corinthian order.
Located just near the main entrance to the Colosseum was the Arch of Constantine, built in A.D. 315 in honor of Constantine I’s victory over Maxentius at Pons Milvius.
Inside, the Colosseum had seating for more than 50,000 spectators, who may have been arranged according to social ranking but were most likely packed into the space like sardines in a can (judging by evidence from the seating at other Roman amphitheaters).
Awnings were unfurled from the top story in order to protect the audience from the hot Roman sun as they watched gladiatorial combats, hunts, wild animal fights and larger combats such as mock naval engagements (for which the arena was flooded with water) put on at great expense.
The vast majority of the combatants who fought in front of Colosseum audiences in AncientRome were men (though there were some female gladiators). Gladiators were generally slaves, condemned criminals or prisoners of war.
The Colosseum saw some four centuries of active use, until the struggles of the Western Roman Empire and the gradual change in public tastes put an end to gladiatorial combats and other large public entertainments by the 6th century A.D. E
by that time, the arena had suffered damaged due to natural phenomena such as lightning and earthquakes. In the centuries to come, the Colosseum was abandoned completely, and used as a quarry for numerous building projects, including the cathedrals of St. Peter and St. John Lateran, the Palazzo Venezia and defense fortifications along the Tiber River.
Beginning in the 18th century, however, various popes sought to conserve the arena as a sacred Christian site, though it is in fact uncertain whether early Christian martyrs met their fate in the Colosseum, as has been speculated.
By the 20th century, a combination of weather, natural disasters, neglect and vandalism had destroyed nearly two-thirds of the original Colosseum, including all of the arena’s marble seats and its decorative elements.
Restoration efforts began in the 1990s, and have proceeded over the years, as the Colosseum continues to be a leading attraction for tourists from all over the world.
The Leaning Tower of Pisa may be the world’s greatest spot for a tourist photo, but there’s a lot more to this centuries-old icon than lighthearted images of your friends and family “holding up” the tower. Here’s everything you need to know about Italy’s most beloved architectural accident.
Construction on a campanile, or bell tower, to accompany the public cathedral in the Italian riverside city of Pisa broke ground in August 1173. By 1178, workers had made it to the third story of the structure, which was already tilting slightly to the north. Military conflicts with other Italian states would soon halt progress on the tower, which would not resume until 1272. This time, construction only remained underway for 12 years before another war again stopped the work. A final wave of construction picked up again in the early 14th century, concluding with the installation of a bell chamber in 1372.
2. THE TOWER LEANS BECAUSE OF ILL-CONCEIVED DESIGN PLANS.
While some architectural follies are the product of unforeseeable bouts of bad luck, the Leaning Tower of Pisa’s signature tilt could have been avoided with better planning. A shallow foundation and the soft ground of Pisa composed of sand, clay, and deposits from the Tuscan rivers Arno and Serchio were too unstable to support the building even in the early stages of its construction. Amazingly, the builders noticed this error early in the two-century construction project after the addition of a second story to the tower, the ground began to give, prompting that infamous slant.
3. AT ONE POINT, THE TOWER’S LEAN SWITCHED DIRECTIONS.
When construction resumed in 1272, the additional developments did not exactly help the tower’s posture. The stacking of additional stories atop the existing three jostled the building’s center of gravity, causing a reversal in the direction of its tilt. As the tower accrued its fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh stories, the once northward-leaning structure began to tip further and further south.
4. THE LEAN KEPT GETTING PROGRESSIVELY WORSE.
As time passed, the ground only further weakened beneath the tower’s heft. An early 0.2-degree tilt increased gradually over the subsequent centuries, maxing out at 5.5 degrees or with the top 15 feet south of the bottom by 1990. Over the next decade, a team of engineers leveled the soil beneath the tower and introduced anchoring mechanisms in an effort to rectify the landmark’s nearly catastrophic lean. The project allotted the tower a more secure stance, but it did not prevent continued tipping. By 2008, however, a second go at balancing the foundational soil halted the tower’s continued slouching for the first time ever.
5. THE ENGINEER WHO OVERSAW THIS RECLAMATION PROJECT WASN’T ALWAYS AN EXPERT IN THE FIELD.
wasn’t exactly a prime candidate for a project like solidifying the Leaning Tower of Pisa on paper. Burland admits that soil mechanics, the area of engineering that played a pivotal role in the stabilizing of the tower, was his worst subject during his undergraduate studies at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He ultimately overcame his aversion to this subject to become a professor at Imperial College London (and saved the Leaning Tower of Pisa from complete collapse, of course).
6. THE TOWER COULD STILL RESUME TILTING.
Barring additional efforts to prevent future leaning, the tower is predicted to remain stable only for the next 200 years. If everything else remains constant, the ground should begin giving way again in the early 23rd century, allowing for the tilt to slowly resume.
7. THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA IS JUST ONE OF SEVERAL LEANING TOWERS IN PISA.
A number of other Pisani structures suffer foundational instability thanks to the river city’s soft grounds. Among these are San Nicola, a 12th century church located about half a mile south of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and San Michele degli Scalzi, an 11th century church about two miles east of the pair. While San Nicola, whose base is rooted beneath the earth, leans only mildly, San Michele degli Scalzi boasts a substantial 5-degree tilt.
8. OTHER TOWERS HAVE CHALLENGED ITS FAMED LEAN.
No building on Earth is more famous for its diagonal posture than the Leaning Tower of Pisa, but several others have challenged its superlative slant. In 2009, the Leaning Tower of Surhuusen, a German steeple erected between the 14th and 15th centuries, officially “out-leaned” its Pisani rival—Guinness record keepers calculated that the Surhuusen tower’s tilt extended a full 1.2 degrees further than that of Pisa’s, which had been modified from its pre-1990s peak of 5.5 degrees to a less-drastic 3.97 degrees. Another German tower, the town of Bad Frankenhausen’s 14th century church Oberkirche, and the shorter of the Two Towers of Bologna have also bested the Pisa tower with 4.8-degree and 4-degree leans, respectively.
9. MUSSOLINI TRIED TO FIX THE TOWER. HE ONLY MADE IT WORSE.
In 1934, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini declared the crooked attraction was a pockmark on his nation’s reputation and allocated resources for straightening the building. Mussolini’s men drilled hundreds of holes into the tower’s foundation and pumped in tons of grout in a misguided effort to rectify its tilt. Instead, the heavy cement caused the base of the tower to sink deeper into the soil, resulting in an even more severe lean.
10. THE TOWER WAS A MILITARY BASE DURING WORLD WAR II.
Even though the tower’s distinctive silhouette would seem to make it an easy target, the German army felt it was a prime lookout point during World War II because the tall tower provided optimal surveillance over the surrounding flat terrain.
11. AMERICAN TROOPS DECIDED NOT TO DESTROY THE TOWER.
The German use of the tower nearly succeeded where gravity has failed in bringing the tower down. When the advancing U.S. Army was charged with demolishing all enemy buildings and resources in 1944, soldiers were too spellbound by the iconic tower’s aesthetic charms to call in artillery to bring it down. As detailed by veteran Leon Weckstein in a 2000 interview with The Guardian, the American troops braving the terrains of Axis-occupied Pisa were so entranced by the sight of the Leaning Tower that they couldn’t call for the volley of fire. Weckstein recalls preparing to attack the Nazi base before ultimately retreating and leaving the beautiful tower intact.
12. GALILEO MAY NOT HAVE DROPPED A CANNONBALL FROM THE TOP.
Among Renaissance physicist Galileo Galilei’s most famous achievements was the discovery that gravity’s effect on an object is the same regardless of its mass. This epiphany is said to have hit Galileo atop the Leaning Tower of Pisa, from where he allegedly dropped a cannonball and a musket ball in 1589. The scientist’s biography, penned by disciple Vincenzo Viviani, remains the sole official assertion that such an experiment took place.
Modern scholars like Paolo Palmieri and James Robert Brown argue that the Leaning Tower of Pisa test existed only as a thought experiment of Galileo’sdevised perhaps at a much later chapter in his life and was never carried out but was inflated by Viviani to buff the grandeur of Galileo’s discovery.
13. A ROCK DOME IN ANTARCTICA IS NAMED AFTER THE TOWER.
Despite having been discovered by the French Antarctic Expedition, a particularly hefty rock dome in the seventh continent’s Geologie Archipelago is named for Italy’s prized tower. The 27-meter-long formation, first documented on Rostand Island in 1951, goes by the nickname of “Tour de Pise” thanks to its resemblance to the building.
The Tower of Pisa, more popularly known as the Leaning Tower of Pisa, is the freestanding bell tower for the cathedral of Pisa, Italy. It is considered one of the most remarkable architectural structures from medieval Europe and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy.
It is one of four buildings that encompass Pisa’s cathedral complex known as Campo dei Mircacoli (Field of Miracles), along with a baptistery, cemetery and the cathedral itself. Unusually for cathedrals of the period, the tower (or campanile) is some distance from the main building.
The construction of the tower began in 1173 and upon its completion around two centuries later, it was one of the tallest bell towers in Europe. Over the last 800 years there have been many attempts to correct the structural lean of the tower caused by unstable soil and foundation settlement. Extensive work was done at the end of the 20th century to stabilise the tower, and its lean was reduced to less than four-degrees, with it currently being more than 5 m (17 ft) off perpendicular.
The decision to build the tower was made with the intention of showcasing the city of Pisa as both powerful and influential. It was designed as a circular bell tower made of white marble in the medieval Romanesque style.
The architect who initially designed the tower remains a mystery, although the first construction phase is attributed to either Bonanno Pisano or Gherado di Gherado. The second phase of the construction was overseen by Giovanni Pisano and Giovanni di Simone. Tommaso Pisano managed the tower’s completion in 1399.
The tower has 8 storeys, including the chamber for the bells, and reached an original height of 60 m. The bottom storey consists of 15 marble arches, while the next six storeys each consist of 30, and the top bell chamber consists of 16. Two spiral staircases run up the inside of the tower. One consists of 294 steps while the other required two additional steps to compensate for the lean.
The lean only became apparent once construction of the third storey had been completed in 1178, as the shifting soil of clay, fine sand and shells began to destablise the foundations. A series of wars interrupted the construction for nearly a century which enabled the soil to consolidate and avoided the inevitable collapse had the tower been completed on schedule.
When construction was resumed, the architects tried to accommodate the lean by designing the additional storeys shorter on the uphill side but this failed to have any impact, instead the weight caused further sinkage. As the centuries went by it became clear that the tower was actually slowly falling over at a rate of 1-2 mm a year.
Post-construction
By the early 20th century, it became clear that the tower was inherently unstable and needed remedial work to try and prevent further leaning. The tower’s seven bells, which had been installed over the previous four centuries, were silenced, as it was thought that their movement while ringing could worsen the lean.
Many ideas were suggested for how to straighten the tower, including one which was to take it apart stone-by-stone and rebuild it somewhere else.
During the 1920s, the foundations were injected with cement grouting which helped to stabilise the tower in the short term, although it was clear that a more substantial solution would be needed in the future.
During the Second World War, the Allies came to believe that the tower was being used by the Nazis as an observation point. An artillery strike on the tower came close to being ordered by a US sergeant, but upon seeing the structure’s beauty he chose not to.
In 1983, the tower was apparently ‘straightened’ by a disaffected Superman in the film ‘Superman 3’.
In 1987, the cathedral site was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Despite this, Superman’s best efforts, and the tower’s popularity as a tourist attraction, there were growing concerns about its future.
Preventing collapse of the tower
Structural analysis showed the tower to be severely stressed at the level where the cross-section suddenly reduces. In 1989, work began to strengthen the structure and apply lead weights to the high side of the foundation. Following this, a series of ground anchors were installed around the north side of the tower to replace the lead weights.
These were, however, temporary measures and in 1990 the tower was officially closed as a team of engineers began a major straightening project. The lean was decreased by 44 cm to 4.1 m (13.5 ft) as a result of siphoning soil from beneath the foundations.
However, there was cause for alarm in 1995 when the tower leant 2.5 mm in one night. Engineers decided that instead of trying to work on the structure itself, they would seek solutions for the soil. They proposed an idea that had been raised in the 1960s, which was to extract soil from the high side of the tower, a technique which had been used to correct large differential settlement of a Mexican cathedral.
The trials proved successful and work commenced on boring 12 holes beneath the structure, extracting a total of around 37 m3 of soil. As the operation progressed, the lead weights were gradually removed and the tower responded as hoped, with the north edge settling 13 mm and the south side rising by 1.5 mm.
Work was completed and the structure reopened to tourists in May 2001. Without further excavation, the tower continued to straighten until a sensory analysis in 2008 found that the settlement had come to a stop with a total improvement of 48 cm (19 in.). Engineers have made a confident assessment that the tower will remain in a stable condition for at least the next 200 years.
Few places rank as high on travelers’ bucket lists as Italy. Whatever your taste in travel, you’ll satisfy it in this country that is at once exotic and familiar. History, art, food, music, architecture, culture, sacred sites, charming villages, and stunning scenery are all around, and in an atmosphere that only the most confirmed curmudgeon could fail to enjoy. Plan your trip with our list of the best places to visit in Italy.
1. Rome
The Colosseum
Both for its history as the capital of much of Europe and for its present day role as one of Europe’s most vibrant cities, for most tourists traveling to Italy, Rome heads the list of places to visit. Relics of its ancient glories the Colosseum, the Forum, the Pantheon, the Appian Way, and the Palatine Hill vie with the vast riches of the Vatican as the top attractions.
But between the important sights like the Sistine Chapel and Michelangelo’s Pieta, take time to enjoy the city itself. Relax in the Borghese gardens; eat gelato on the Spanish Steps; explore the narrow streets of Trastevere; window-shop on the Via Veneto; and toss a coin in Trevi Fountain, so you can return again and again. It will take several trips to see it all.
2. Florence
Florence
The showcase of the Italian Renaissance, Florence can at times seem like one giant art museum. The Duomo, the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore, is a landmark of world architecture, topped by its gravity-defying massive dome. Together with its marble-inlaid bell tower by Giotto and its octagonal Baptistery with its incomparable bronze doors by Ghiberti, this is one of the world’s finest ensembles of Renaissance art.
Half a dozen art museums brim with paintings and sculpture, while more masterpieces decorate its churches. Before you overdose on art in the Uffizi Gallery and Pitti Palace, stroll through the Boboli Gardens and explore the artisans’ studios and workshops of the Oltrarno, or shop for leather in Santa Croce.
3. Venice
Venice
Who could fail to love a city whose streets are made of water, whose buses are boats, and where the songs of gondoliers linger in the air? It is a magic city, and its major attraction to tourists is the city itself. The hub of the city is the broad Piazza San Marco, St. Mark’s Square, surrounded by several of its top tourist attractions. The great Basilica of St. Mark stands beside the Doge’s Palace, and overlooking both is the tall Campanile.
Gondolas congregate at the end of the plaza in the Grand Canal, and in the other direction, a gate under the clock tower leads into a warren of narrow, winding passageways, where you’re sure to get lost on the way to Rialto Bridge. But getting lost is one of the greatest pleasures of Venice, where a postcard scene awaits around each corner.
4. Tuscan Hill Towns
Tuscan Hill Towns
The undulating landscape of Tuscany is crowned by stone towns whose foundations go back to the Etruscans. Each sits atop a hill, and many still have the castles and towers that once defended their commanding positions.
It’s difficult to choose one above the others, as each has its own architecture, art, character, and story to tell. Fairly bristling with towers and enclosed in walls that are largely intact, San Gimignano looks much as it did in the Middle Ages, when it was an important stop on the pilgrims’ route to Rome. Volterra was an important Etruscan center before the Romans came and still has remains of both civilizations today. The tourist attractions of Arezzo are the legacy of the many artists, architects, and poets who lived there.
Like Volterra, walled Cortona was an Etruscan settlement and later a Roman one, but adds reminders of its Florentine past as well. Cortona is one of Italy’s oldest towns. The proximity of these hill towns to the cities of Florence, Siena, Pisa, and Luca fills Tuscany with a concentration of many of the best places to visit in Italy.
5. Milan
Milan Cathedral
Although Milan is a major entry point for tourists because of its airport, it’s often overlooked as a destination of its own. That’s a shame, because Milan has one of the highest concentration of artistic and architectural attractions in all Italy, and for those interested in design and fashion (not to mention shopping), it’s a must. Milan has been the home and work place for luminaries in all these fields: Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Verdi, Enrico Caruso, Toscanini, and designer Giorgio Armani.
Il Duomo, Milan’s massive cathedral, is among the world’s most magnificent churches, and finest example of the Flamboyant Gothic style. La Scala is the world’s most prestigious opera house, Da Vinci’s The Last Supper fills the wall at a monastery, and throughout the city are museums and palaces filled with some of the world’s finest art. And no fashionista can resist a stroll through the famed Quadrilatero.
6. Lake Como
Lake Como
Italy’s most beautiful lake, Como has been the favorite summer retreat of the rich and famous since ancient Romans fled Milan’s summer heat to cool off in villas along its steep shores. Later villas decorate its tightly clustered towns, especially pretty Bellagio, artfully set on a point where the three narrow arms of the lake meet.
A microclimate makes Como’s western shore temperate even in winter, so the white peaks of the Alps just to the north can be viewed between palm trees and camellias. Don’t overlook the town of Como, on the southern shore, well worth a stop before boarding a steamer to explore the lake.
Just to the west of Lake Como is Lake Maggiore, with its own attractions; to the east is Lake Garda, a summer playground filled with water sports and other things to do.
7. Amalfi Coast and Capri
Amalfi Coast
The high, precipitous Amalfi Peninsula juts sharply into the Mediterranean just south of Naples, forming the southern rim of Naples Bay. It’s hard to imagine a more beautiful or unlikely setting for the towns that spill down its steep slopes. Streets in most are stairways, and houses seem glued to the cliffs behind them. Flowers bloom everywhere, and below the towns are beaches caught in coves of emerald water.
The Amalfi Drive, along the southern coast, is one of the world’s great scenic routes. Off the end of the peninsula, and easy to reach by regular ferries, is the fabled island of Capri, with its Blue Grotto sea cave, lavish villas, and lush gardens. Sorrento, on the northern coast of the Amalfi Peninsula is a good base, an easy day trip from all the things to see and do in the region.
8. The Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre
The five towns that cling to the steep, rocky Mediterranean coast north of La Spezia were almost impossible to reach by land until the railway connected them by tunneling through the headlands that separate them. Today, the trail along the cliffs that locals once used to travel from town to town is one of Italy’s great hikes; the shortest and widest of its sections, between Manarola and Riomaggiore is known as the Via dell’Amore.
Riomaggiore and Vernazza, with their narrow streets dropping down to tiny rock-bound harbors are the most filled with character, and despite its recent popularity with tourists, the Cinque Terre remains one of Italy’s most appealing attractions.
9. Pisa and Lucca
Pisa
These two nearby towns are worth visiting while you’re in Tuscany, the first for the exceptional Campo dei Miracoli complex and the other for its endearing charms. The Leaning Tower of Pisa, actually the campanile for the adjacent cathedral, is a well-known Italian icon, and forms the centerpiece of a UNESCO World Heritage site that also includes the cathedral, baptistery, and Campo Santo.
The highlight of the impressive baptistery is Nicola Pisano’s intricately carved free-standing pulpit, a masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture. Nearby, Lucca is one of Italy’s most charming towns to explore and enjoy, surrounded by wide walls whose top is a tree-lined park. Inside are beautiful Romanesque and Tuscan Gothic churches, tower houses (one of which you can climb to the top), and a Roman arena that has been “fossilized” into an oval piazza.
10. Verona
Verona
The compact historic center of this former Roman stronghold is embraced by a deep curve in the Adige River. Dominating its heart is the remarkable well-preserved first-century Roman arena, scene of the world-renowned summer opera festival. Several Roman arches are mixed among the medieval and Renaissance buildings, many of which show Verona’s long history as part of the Venetian empire.
Alongside the river stands the large Castelvecchio, a castle built in the 14th century, guarding a brick arched bridge, Ponte Scaligero. For all its rich treasury of architecture and art, Verona’s biggest claim to tourist fame is based on pure fiction. It was the setting for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, and over the past century, locals have obliged by creating homes, a balcony, and even a tomb for the fictional characters.
11. Pompeii and Herculaneum
Pompeii
In AD 79, Mt. Vesuvius erupted violently and suddenly, engulfing the thriving Roman city of Pompeii and encasing it for more than a millennium in six meters of ash and pumice-stone. The city remained frozen in time until excavations that began in the 18th century uncovered more than half of its buildings and public spaces.
The same eruption also engulfed the city of Herculaneum, but this time in molten lava, not ash. So instead of raining down and crushing buildings with its weight, the lava flowed in and filled the city from the ground up, supporting walls and ceilings as it rose, and preserving them in place. Also preserved in this airtight seal were organic materials, such as wood, textiles, and food, giving a more complete picture of life in the first century.
12. Siena
Siena
At its height in the 13th and 14th centuries, Siena rivaled Florence for its arts and culture, and it still has a wealth of art and architectural treasures. The highlight is the magnificent Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, whose inlaid marble facade and striped bell tower stand dramatically among Siena’s mostly red brick buildings. The cathedral interior is a museum of works by great artists and sculptors, including Donatello, Giovanni Pisano, Bernini, and Lorenzo Ghiberti.
But art treasures are not its only attractions. The winding medieval streets and broad plazas are inviting places to wander. Twice each summer, the gigantic, sloping main square is the scene of a chaotic horse race known as the Palio.
13. Naples
View over Naples
As the canals characterize Venice, and the Renaissance is the essence of Florence, in Naples, it’s the sheer exuberance that will hold you spellbound. It’s a boisterous place, its narrow streets filled with color, noise, and life. You’ll find plenty to see and do and experience here, in its treasure-filled churches, its magnificent palaces lavished in the riches of European royalty, and its premier archaeological museum displaying the finds from nearby Pompeii.
Join locals and stroll by the waterfront to savor views of Mt. Vesuvius across the bay, hop a ferry to the island of Capri or magical Sorrento, shop in the glass-domed Galleria Umberto I, and by all means, sample the pizza Neapolitans claim to have invented it.
14. Sicily
Valley of Temples
The island of Sicily has earned seven places on the UNESCO World Heritage Site list, three for its ancient sites, two for natural wonders, and two for architectural treasures. Some of the finest remaining examples of ancient structures are in Sicily: at Selinunte is one of the largest Greek temples; in Agrigento, at the Valley of Temples, is one of the three most perfect Greek temples anywhere; and the 3,500 square meters of mosaics at Villa Romana del Casale in Enna decorate one of the best-preserved villas in the entire Roman Empire. Sicily’s landscapes match its world-class attractions.
15. Turin
Turin
One of the great industrial cities of the north, Turin, unlike Milan, is relatively small and compact, its highlights easy to explore on foot. There is a grandeur to its architecture and its formal layout, designed by the Savoys to show that they were as regal as any of Europe’s royal families and could surround themselves with splendor that rivaled Paris.
Its arcaded squares and avenues and royal palaces right in the center set the tone, but that is not all of Turin’s charm. A small medieval quarter, Roman sites, and entire neighborhoods of Art Nouveau lend variety, and a riverside park with a complete faux-medieval village prove that Turin doesn’t take itself too seriously. Don’t miss the extraordinary Museum of Cinema in a skyscraper that was once a synagogue. Turin’s contrasts will charm you as will its coffee houses and grand cafés.
16. Sardinia
Cala Domestica Beach, Sardinia
This enigmatic Mediterranean island seems worlds apart from Italy, and is itself a land of stark contrasts. Best known for its glamorous Costa Smeralda, the jet-set paradise of luxury enclaves set against the emerald waters of the northeast coast, Sardinia has a lot more to offer the adventurous tourist, or even the sun-loving beach seeker. The entire south is ringed with mile after mile of white-sand beaches, and the rugged interior is prime territory for hikers and climbers.
It’s a place for travelers who want to explore remote mountain villages, where old traditions not only survive but are a way of life. But the most enigmatic and fascinating attractions are the hundreds of mysterious round stone towers, known as Nuraghe, which dot the entire island and make Sardinia high on the list of unique places to visit in Italy. Prehistoric sites are everywhere and include these towers, sacred wells, “giants tombs,” and other ancient structures. Entire Phoenician and Roman cities wait to be explored.
17. Ravenna
Ravenna
This ancient city on the Adriatic is truly unique in Italy. Unlike any other, Ravenna’s artistic origins are almost entirely Byzantine, and here you’ll find Western Europe’s finest collection of Byzantine mosaics, all in nearly pristine condition. In the sixth century, Ravenna was the seat of the king Theodoric the Great, who was raised in Constantinople, and it became a center for mosaic artistry that reached its zenith here.
Seven buildings decorated with some of the finest examples of mosaic art are included in a UNESCO World Heritage Site. See all of them, but above all don’t miss the early 5th-century Neonian Baptistery; the impressive interior of San Vitale; and the jewel-like Mausoleum of Galla Placidia, which UNESCO calls “one of the most artistically perfect” and best preserved of all mosaic monuments.
learngram.wordpress.com 