Italy is a Mediterranean country in the south of Europe. Its west coast is the Mediterranean Sea and the east coast is the Adriatic. France, Switzerland, Austria, and Slovenia form its northern border. Its highest point, in Monte Bianco, is 4748 meters. The mainland is a peninsula and Italy also includes the two large islands of Sicily and Sardinia.
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Italy. Show all posts
Venice, Italy Travel Guide ( The City of Magic )
Vibrant, vivid and vivacious, Venice, La Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic holds a mystical aura of a city of canals and palaces. Achingly beautiful, Venice holds sway as one of the most enchanting places in the world. With canals, bridges and islands,
Venice boasts of myriad magic festivals, exotic cuisine and magnificent architecture. With an area of 458 sq. km., Venice has a population of 63,000 people in central Venice. Situated in Italy, Venice follows the Central European time with its official language being Italian.An Eternal Ballad
As an eternal theater reflected in its canals, Venice dubbed as the Supreme Serenity, is magical with its inhabitants attached to its romantic atmosphere, its serene waters and its unique vivid scenes of life is memorable and mesmerizing. Bustling with energy, the tangy odour of ozone, coffee, chocolate and a tradition of famous wines, penetrates the air with the song of its history silently singing a ballad of love and war.
Venezia with its impenetrable silence, vaporettos, gondolas, dances with grace to its characteristic tradition of music, lies tranquil in its surroundings of historical statues, artistic architecture and an ancient history with myths and secrets hanging as an imaginary tapestry over an unforgettable, graceful and one of the most unique places in the world, Venezia.
A Culinary Journey to Venice, Italy
The aromas of Venice and its cuisine are exciting, exquisite and excellent with its reputation of international gastronomic delights. Its cuisine has been imported from far-off places giving way to culinary innovations that include the tasty polenta, the divine pasta e fagioli, baccala, cookies, waffles, risotto, Risi e bisi, Brodo di pesce, Fegato alla Veneziana con Cipolle and Zuppa di cozze and a host of cosmopolitan dishes.
Traveling the cosmopolitan route, Venezia has borrowed many a recipe from her neighbors and far-off exotic places, but has transformed them with spectacular verve and color. Catering to palates of a multi-faceted multitude of tourists and inhabitants alike, Venezia has added her warmth, a unique taste and a gourmet touch offering important personalities and her guests a cuisine fit for the gods.
Major Festivals of Venice, Italy
Venice with its festive air adds to its celebrations whose ambience has an eternal air of jubilation and joie de vivre. The Snail Fest, the Carnivale de Venice, the Children’s Carnival,
the famous masked Vogata, Regata delle Befana, Festa della Sensa, Sposalizio del Mar, Festa del Redentore, the Venice International Film Festival, Italy’s version of Cannes, is held annually in August at the Palazzo della Mostra del Cinema on the Lido. The Regatta Storica and Festa della Madonna della Salute procession are all accompanied by joy, laughter fireworks, masked balls and gourmet feasts. The spirit of ancient Venice comes to life with its spectacular festivals with its inhabitants dressed in costumes in an ambience raining with confetti.
A Memorable Legacy
Mesmerizing, mystical and magical, Venice as unique as its ambience displays a magnificent collection of amazing architecture. The captivating Ca’ d’ Oro, is structured in the Gothic style showcasing the Galleria Franchetti whose amazing collection of tapestries, bronzes and paintings display the style of the 15th and 16th centuries with many works by Titian. A panoramic view greets the eye from the balconies on the first and second floors overlooking the Grand Canal. Venetian depictions of St. Bartholomew as a polytych along with Tuscan art, frescoes, with works by Tintoretto, Titian, Carpaccio, Mantegna, Vivarini, Signorelli and van Eyck are displayed in profusion.
Venetian art as a brilliant vibrant collection portrays the artistic penchant of its talented artists and artisans. The Gallerie dell'Accademia illustrates Venetian art from the 14th century to the 18th century with Paolo Veneziano’s Madonna and Child with Two Donors, the Coronation of Mary and Carpaccio’s altar piece Crucifixion and Apotheosis. Famous artists such as Giovanni Bellini, Giorgione Lorenzo Lotto, Canaletto, Guardi and Pietro Longhi bring alive an array of landscapes, portraits and depictions with fine detail and extravagant style.
Venice takes you on a guided tour of Palazzo Ducale, The Doge’s palace with its Gothic architecture with pink Veronese marble and white Istrian stone facing the canals and the Piazzetta San Marco. Grand with state rooms, the palace has innumerable corridors which lead to the Bridge of Sighs leading out through the gloriously beautiful Gothic Porta della Carta. 
Going into the heart of Venice, the Ponte di Rialto leads the way into the famous fruit and vegetable market with stalls selling souvenirs for tourists. Pescaria though only 100 years old, has the tradition that goes back to the year 1300, of selling fresh fish. Venice’s oldest church, the Chiesa di San Giacomo di Rialto was founded on the same day as Venice, on 25 March 421. As divine as Venice, its architecture is regarded as a treasure trove displaying Santa Maria Gloriosa dei Frari built by the Franciscans with Bellini’s appealing sacristy altar piece and Titian’s Assumption altar painting. 
Decorated with infinite care, St Mark’s Basilica stands majestic and splendid arrayed in precious plundered treasures with an altar piece of gold, enamel and jewels with a 12th century marble pavement and a sacred thorn from the Tesoro, of a thorn from the crown worn by Christ. St Mark’s Square was called by Napoleon as the finest drawing room in Europe with its mystical aura of being covered by water during high tide. San Marco’s bell tower overlooks a scenic panorama of the canals, the bridges, the lagoon, and the islands and, in clear weather - even the Alps. The bell tower of San Giorgio Maggiore offers another perspective of Venezia equally appealing and beautiful. The Piazza San Marco also contributes a divine view of Venezia with her colorful aura and marvelous architecture. The Palazzo Ducale and San Marco can be enjoyed from Punta Dogana at the end of the Canal Grande. The Loggia de Cavalli located in San Marco’s Basilica leads to a flight of stairs to the museum and a gallery with a great view of the interior of the church, with the outer gallery with its famous pair of horses, looks into the piazza.
A Cosmic Gift
Venice with its islands of Murano, Burano and Torcello are amongst the many pieces of an intricate jigsaw puzzle thrown haphazardly over the shallow stretch of Laguna Veneta. The slim and slender Lido di Venezia lies to the east and makes its way 10 Kilometers to the south to another narrow stretch called Pellestrina, slimming down to the laid-back town of Chioggia. The lay of the land in Venice goes back inland to the industrial town of Mestre whose southern half houses Porto Marghera with its huge shipping docks.
Charming with a quaint air, Burano with its fishing and lace industries is famous for its pastel-colored houses which the fishermen found a reassuring sight as they made their way home from the sea. A stroll over the wooden bridge ends with the pleasant Mazzorbo with its open verdant spaces and a few houses. The Museo del Merletto introduces the delicate art of lace making and its history.
Fascinating with its ambience of fierce possessiveness, Murano guards its secrets of glass production. The art of glass craft was smuggled into Venice by merchants who traded with the East and was so well guarded that glass workers were forbidden to leave the city. As an exquisite industry, glass outlets are found along Fondamenta dei Vetrai and Viale Garibaldi. The Museo Vetrario is dedicated as a showcase of the history and art of glass making. The Veneto-Byzantine Basilica di SS Maria e Donato with its colonnaded apse and 12th century mosaic pavement is an architectural masterpiece of Murano glass work.
Tranquil Pellestrina near the southern most tip of the Lido, is a small island comprising of fishing villages, lace-makers and Murazzi with sea walls of Istrian stone that blocked the lagoon from the Adriatic sea rise till the tragic floods of 1966. A quiet strand of gray sand provides a haven for solitude seekers.
Mysterious with the origins of a pre-Republican Venice buried in its veins, Torcello lies north of the lagoon. Marshy and llonely, Torcello has a magical atmosphere with its main square and abandoned buildings and monuments. As home to early settlers, Torcello held the key to safety from barbaric invasions during the 5th and 6th centuries.
A Divine Grace of Venice, Italy
The history of Venice is fascinating and longer than its canals. As a center of enormous and extensive trade, Venice was a great sea power with trade relations with the Mediterranean region and the Far East, holding a supreme position till the Age of Discovery. The artists and artisans of Venice were influenced by the talent from the Orient and they infused this intricate art into their divine creations especially into their traditional chief occupations of glass-making and textile industry.
As the mists of time clear with a glimpse of Torcello, a marshy islet where the first settlers found safety from barbarians, the earliest history of Venice begins as a home at that time to about 20,00 people. Veneto as the mainland was once called in the 5th and 6th centuries AD, was a primitive settlement with refugees who built rafts with wooden poles. They used wood driven into the sub soil to build the foundations for the floating palaces. The curtain of myths surrounding the birth of Venice on 25th March 421, is still shrouded with a shadowed past. With settlers making their home on Rivo Alto, known as Rialto, the highest point of the lagoon, Venice emerged as a republic. Venice’s first doges were elected in 697, as the city evolved with the Byzantine Empire, formerly the eastern branch of the Roman Empire. Coming into prominence in 828, Venice became home to the earthly remains of St. Mark who was buried in St. Mark’s Basilica by merchants in 828, with the Basilica being consecrated in 1094.
Pope Urban II's First Crusade of 1095, and the Fourth Crusade of 1202, alternately saw Venice decked with exquisite booty with economy on the rise. The Great Council comprising of powerful and rich families commanded authority forming a government. But soon even the success of the battle of Chioggia in 1380, was decimated by the Black death in 1348, and as the Turks plundered the city taking Cyprus in 1570 and Crete in 1669, plague struck again and Venice’s new-found confidence crashed as disaster struck in the form of fire at the doge’s palace destroying valuable art and treasures. With the arrival of Napoleon in 1797, Venice fell into the hands of the Austrians. But Venice with her plucky confidence joined the band of rebels in 1848, as the movement for Italian unification was contagious with the final outcome of Venice uniting with the Kingdom of Italy in 1866.
Venice now with its new make-over, boasted of a civilized appearance with the facilities of convenience. Mussolini built a road bridge parallel to the railway bridge and business and industry thrived in ‘greater’ Venice. Though a victim of the World War II, Venice reappeared unhurt and the post war years brought a host of job opportunities as industry expanded. With problems created both by natural calamities and man, Venice stabilized herself and her beloved architecture even through the fear of the city sinking, the ‘Serenissima’ royal title has made Venice even more mystical, alluring with her essence of romance.
Parma, Italy Travel Guide
Parma, Italy - The city of delights.
The name conjures up many different things for different people, all pleasurable. For the artist, it brings to mind Corregio and Parmigianino, the musician recalls Giuseppe Verdi and Toscanini, the archaeologist thinks of rich castles, cathedrals and fortresses, for the fashion-conscious it spells style and elegance, and for the gourmand, it means cheese and ham.
Travel Guide Lecce, Italy
Lecce Italy Travel Guide - Find the best travel tip, history, tourist attractions, famous churches, travel information, and an exclusive guide to shopping, food & drink and nightlife in Lecce, Italy. This city of Lecce, Italy is a dream for people who love Baroque architecture. Another typical Italian city, this place is unique for the fact that it has a multicultural history. Many civilizations had left their mark here and this is evident by the variety of designs and styles in the architecture as well as the multitude of crafts practised here. Situated in the south-eastern cusp of Italy near Salento, the small city of Lecce is considered an abode of cultural heritage. It is a flamboyant place with a mix of all cultures like Norman, Spanish and even Byzantine. The beautiful architecture of the masons, with their mix of animals, birds, monsters and cherubs never cease to surprise tourists with their architectural extravagance and eye for detail. In fact Lecce is known as the "La Firenze delle Puglie" (The Florence of Apulia) as it contains many monuments of significance. Baroque style is detailed in every other building but is different from those in other nations. The mild golden colored highly pliable stone, called ‘Lecce stone’ is shaped by craftsmen who let their ideas run wild especially when designing the facades.
Travel Guide Naples, Italy
It was then called "Parthenope". In the 6th century it was renamed "Palepolis" (or old city) when "Neapolis" (new city) was founded next to it. It was part of the Roman Empire when its luxurious coastline was a popular holiday destination, with many people including Cicero and Virgil holidaying here.
Shopping in Naples, Italy
Night Life - Naples, Italy
The 19th century gallery, Galleria Umberto I, is the city’s social center with lots of places to shop and dine. Gran Caffé Gambrinus is Napoli’s oldest café, dating back to 1860.
Solfatara Crater - Naples, Italy
The steam, water and mud from this region were used in ancient medicines. The crater is open on all days from 9.00 am till one hour before sunset. You can take a guided tour to the crater, which should cost you 44€ (approx.)
Palazzo Reale di Capodimonte - Naples, Italy
Catacombe di San Gennaro - Naples, Italy
This catacomb is a mix of tombs, corridors and vestibules. It dates back to the 2nd century. Very different from Rome’s dark and claustrophobic catacombs, it is decorated with early Christian frescoes and mosaics. The catacomb gets its name from the general speculation that San Gennaro was buried here.
Palazzo Reale - Naples, Italy
Duomo - Naples, Italy
Chiesa San Domenico Maggiore - Naples, Italy
Built between 1289 and 1324 this massive Gothic structure was rebuilt during the Renaissance and baroque eras.
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