Travel

Milan

2011-11-24T03:45:00.000-08:00

Milan (Italian: Milano [miˈlaːno]) is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza (created in 2004 splitting the northern part from the province of Milan itself), is one of Europe's largest with an estimated population of over 4 million spread over 1,980 km2 (764.48 sq mi), with a consequent population density of more than 2,000 inhabitants/km². The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper following the great economic boom of the 1950s–60s and massive commuting flows suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of the city proper and its agglomeration, creating a metropolitan area of 7.4 million population expanded all over the central section of Lombardy region. It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density.

Ruins of the Emperor's palace in Milan. Here Constantine I and Licinius issued the Edict of Milan.

The city was founded by the Insubres, a Celtic people. Milan was later captured by the Romans in 222 BC, and later was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire from 286 until 402 AD. Milan became one of the most prosperous Italian cities during the High Middle Ages, playing a primary role in the Lombard League. Later Milan became the capital city of the Duchy of Milan, being ruled by the Visconti, the Sforza, the Spanish and the Austrians. In 1796, Milan was conquered by the French troops of Napoleon I, who made it the capital of the puppet state of the Kingdom of Italy in 1805. Later Milan became the capital city of the Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia, which was part of the Austrian Empire. In 1859 the city was unified with the Kingdom of Sardinia, which later became the Kingdom of Italy. During the Romantic period, Milan was a major cultural centre in Europe, attracting several artists, composers and important literary figures. Later, during World War II, the city was badly affected by Allied bombings, and after German occupation in 1943, Milan became the main hub of the Italian resistance. Despite this, Milan saw a post-war economic growth, attracting thousands of immigrants from Southern Italy and abroad.

The Biscione: the coat of arms of the House of Visconti, from the Archbishops' palace in Piazza Duomo

Over the years, Milan has had an increase in the number of international inhabitants, and 15.2% of Milan's population is foreign born. The city remains one of Europe's main transportation and industrial hubs, and Milan is the EU's 10th most important centre for business and finance (2009) with its economy being the world's 26th richest by purchasing power. Milan ranks highly in both national and international rankings in terms of GDP per capita, average income rates, cost of living, and quality of life. Its economic environment has made it, according to several studies, the world's 20th and Europe's 10th top business and financial centre, having been highly successful in terms of city branding.

Milan City Hall.

Milan is recognised as a world fashion and design capital, and it has thus been ranked by GaWC as an Alpha world city in 2010, as well as the 42nd most important global city. An important centre of the international arts and musical scene, the city holds several renowned institutions, theatres and museums, as well as important monuments, including a UNESCO World Heritage Site (Santa Maria delle Grazie); the metropolis also hosts several important events and fairs, including Milan Fashion Week and the Milan Furniture Fair, the largest of its kind in the world, and will host the 2015 Universal Exposition. The city is also home to two renowned football teams, A.C. Milan and F.C. Internazionale Milano. Euromonitor International ranked Milan as the world's 63rd most visited city in 2009, with 1.894 million arrivals.

Inhabitants of Milan are referred to as "Milanese" (Italian: Milanesi or informally Meneghini or Ambrosiani). Milan, for its pivotal economic role and its fervent political and cultural activity that often anticipates national trends, it is often nicknamed as the "moral capital of Italy".

A view of the Piazza del Duomo, the city's main and most central square, surrounded by several palaces and important buildings, such as Milan Cathedral, the Vittorio Emanuele II Gallery and the Royal Palace of Milan.

Climate

Milan has a Humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification Cfa), continental, - although with some continental characteristics - similar to much of Northern Italy's inland plains, where hot, humid and very sultry summers and cold, wet winters prevail.

The Gothic façade of the Milan Cathedral

Average temperatures in city center are 3 °C (37 °F) in January with −2 °C (28 °F) for the minimum and 25 °C (77 °F) in July with average maximum of 30 °C (86 °F). Snowfalls are relatively common during winter but with few days with snow. The historic average of Milan's area is of 21 centimetres (8 in) during the period between 1950 and 2007, with a record of 70 centimetres (28 in) during the snowfall of January 1985. Humidity is quite high during the whole year and annual precipitation averages about 1,000 millimetres (39 in). The ventilation is poor throughout the year and this increases the rate of pollution.

The Castello Sforzesco, ancient residence of the House of Sforza.

In the stereotypical image, the city is often shrouded in the heavy fog characteristic of cold seasons in the Po Basin, although the removal of rice paddies from the southern neighborhoods, the urban heat island effect and the reduction of pollution from factories have reduced this phenomenon in recent years, at least in the city centre, although pollution is still very high. Wind is generally absent. In spring, though, gale-force windstorms can happen, generated either by Tramontana blowing from the Alps or by Bora-like winds from northeast.

Church of Santa Maria delle Grazie.

Main sights

Architecture

There are few remains of the ancient Roman colony that later became a capital of the Western Roman Empire. During the second half of the 4th century, Saint Ambrose, as bishop of Milan, had a strong influence on the layout of the city, redesigning the centre (although the cathedral and baptistery built at this time are now lost) and building the great basilicas at the city gates: Sant'Ambrogio, San Nazaro in Brolo, San Simpliciano and Sant'Eustorgio, which still stand, refurbished over the centuries, as some of the finest and most important churches in Milan. The largest and most important example of Gothic architecture in Italy, the Milan Cathedral, is the fourth largest cathedral in the world after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, the Cathedral of Seville and a new cathedral in the Ivory Coast. Built between 1386 and 1577, it hosts the world's largest collection of marble statues with the widely visible golden Madonna statue on top of the spire, nicknamed by the people of Milan as Madunina (the little Madonna), that became one of the symbols of the city.

The Chiaravalle Abbey, founded in 1135

In the second half of the fifteenth century, when the Sforza ruled the city, the old Visconti fortress was enlarged and embellished to became the Castello Sforzesco: the seat of an elegant Renaissance court surrounded by a walled hunting park stocked with game captured around the Seprio and Lake Como. Notable architects involved in the project included the Florentine Filarete, who was commissioned to build the high central entrance tower, and the military specialist Bartolomeo Gadio.[54] The political alliance between Francesco Sforza and the Florence of Cosimo de' Medici bore architectural fruit, as Milanese building came under the influence of Brunelleschian models of Renaissance architecture. The first notable buildings to show this Tuscan influence were a palazzo built to house the Medici Bank (of which only the main entrance survives) and the centrally planned Portinari Chapel, attached to Sant’Eustorgio and built for the first manager of the bank's Milan branch. Filarete, while in Milan, was responsible for the great public hospital known as the Ospedale Maggiore, and also for an influential Treatise on Architecture, which included a plan for a star-shaped ideal city called Sforzinda in honour of Francesco Sforza and passionately argued for the centrally planned form.

The Peace Arch, erected in 1807 by Napoleon in Neoclassical style.

Leonardo da Vinci, who was in Milan from around 1482 until the fall of the city to the French in 1499, was commissioned in 1487 to design a tiburio, or crossing tower for the cathedral, although he was not chosen to build it. However, the enthusiasm he shared with Filarete for the centrally-planned building gave rise in this period to numerous architectural drawings [pictured], which were influential in the work of Donato Bramante and others. Bramante's work in the city, which included Santa Maria presso San Satiro (a reconstruction of a small 9th-century church), the beautiful luminous tribune of Santa Maria delle Grazie and three cloisters for Sant'Ambrogio, drew also on his studies of the Early Christian architecture of Milan such as the Basilica of San Lorenzo.

Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II: interior view

The Counter-Reformation was also the period of Spanish domination and was marked by two powerful figures: Saint Charles Borromeo and his cousin, Cardinal Federico Borromeo. Not only did they impose themselves as moral guides to the people of Milan, but they also gave a great impulse to culture, with the creation of the Biblioteca Ambrosiana, in a building designed by Francesco Maria Ricchino, and the nearby Pinacoteca Ambrosiana. Many notable churches and Baroque mansions were built in the city during this period by the architects, Pellegrino Tibaldi, Galeazzo Alessi and Ricchino himself.

The iconic Velasca Tower, built in 1958

Empress Maria Theresa of Austria was responsible for the significant renovations carried out in Milan during the 18th century. She instigated profound social and civil reforms, as well as the construction of many of the buildings that still today constitute the pride of the city, like the Teatro alla Scala, inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and today one of the world's most famous opera houses. The annexed Museo Teatrale alla Scala contains a collection of paintings, drafts, statues, costumes, and other documents regarding opera and La Scala's history. La Scala also hosts the Ballet School of the Teatro alla Scala. The Austrian sovereign also promoted culture in Milan through projects such as converting the ancient Jesuit College, in the district of Brera, into a scientific and cultural centre with a Library, an astronomic observatory and the botanical gardens, in which the Art Gallery and the Academy of Fine Arts are today placed side by side. Milan was also widely affected by the Neoclassical movement in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, transforming its architectural style.

Milano Centrale railway station.

Napoleon Bonaparte's rule of the city in the early 19th century produced several fine Neoclassical edifices and palaces. Many of these are located in the Corso Venezia district, including the Villa Reale, or often called the Villa del Belgiojoso (not related to the Palazzo Begiojoso). It is situated on Via Palestro and near to the Giardini Pubblici and it was constructed by Leopoldo Pollak in 1790. It housed the Bonaparte family, mainly Josephine Bonaparte, but also several others, such as Count Joseph Radetzky von Radetz and Eugène de Beauharnais. It is often regarded as one of the best types of Neoclassical architecture in Milan and Lombardy and is surrounded by an English landscape garden. Today, it hosts the Galleria d'Arte Contemporanea (English: Gallery of Contemporary Art) and it is lavishly decorated inside with ornate classical columns, vast halls, marble statues and crystal chandeliers. The Palazzo Belgiojoso was also a grand Napoleonic residence and one of the finest examples of Milanese Neoclassical architecture.

The Parco delle Basiliche, near the Basilica of San Lorenzo. Opened in 1934, it is one of the city's major parks, and it has an area of 40,700 square metres

Another major example of Neoclassical architecture in the city includes the Palazzo Tarsis, built by Luigi Clerichetti for the Count Paolo Tarsis in 1834, which has an ornate façade. There are also several other important Neoclassical monuments in the city include the Arco della Pace or the Arch of Peace, sometimes called the Arco Sempione (Sempione Arch) and is situated in Piazza Sempione right at the end of the Parco Sempione. It is often compared to a miniature version of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. The work on the arch began in 1806 under Napoleon I and it was designed by Luigi Cagnola. Just like with the Arc de Triomphe, Napoleon's 1826 defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, halted the construction of the monumental arch, but Emperor Franz Josef (Francis Joseph) I of Austria ordered it to be completed, also as an honour to the Vienna Congress and peace treaty of 1815. It was completed by Francesco Peverelli on 10 September 1838. Another noted Neoclassical building in the city is the Palazzo del Governo, constructed in 1817 by Piero Gilardoni.

Milan Stock Exchange, Italy's main.

In the second half of the 19th century, Milan assumed the status of main industrial city of the peninsula and drew inspiration from other European capitals, center of those technological innovations that constituted the symbol of the second industrial revolution and, consequently, of the great social change that had been put in motion. The great Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II, a covered passage that connects Piazza del Duomo, Milan to the square opposite of La Scala, was built by Giuseppe Mengoni between 1865 and 1877 to celebrate Vittorio Emanuele II, the first king of united Italy. The passage is covered over by an arching glass and cast iron roof, a popular design for 19th-century arcades, such as the Burlington Arcade, London, which was the prototype for larger glazed shopping arcades, beginning with the Saint-Hubert Gallery in Brussels and the Passazh in St Petersburg. Another late 19th century eclectic monument in the city is the Cimitero Monumentale (literally, "Monumental Cemetery or graveyard"), which is found in the Stazione district of the city and was built in a Neo-Romanesque style by several architects from 1863 to 1866.

Armour of Sigismondo Malatesta, ca. 1460-65.

The tumultuous period of the 20th century also brought several innovations in architecture. Art Nouveau, also known as Liberty in Italy, started to develop in the city during the early part of the century; alongside other major Italian cities, most notably Palermo and Turin, the style became highly popular at the start of the century, and it produced several notable buildings in the city. Art Nouveau developed its own, individual style known as "Liberty Milanese" (Milanese Art Nouveau), which, in many aspects, was similar to the style of the Vienna Secession. Possibly one of the most notable Art Nouveau edfices in Milan is the Palazzo Castiglioni in Corso Venezia, which was built by architect Giuseppe Sommaruga between 1901 and 1904. Other noted Art Nouveau-style buildings in the city include the Hotel Corso or the Berri-Meregalli house, the latter which was built in a traditional Milanese Art Nouveau style combined with elements of neo-Romanesque and Gothic revial architecture, and is regarded as one of the last types of Art Nouveau architecture in the city.[68] In 1906, with the Universal Exposition, which was held in Milan, the city was able to exhibit its Art Nouveau works, and it was considered the official style of the exposition. Nonetheless, as the century progressed, other styles started to be explored, including neo-Romanesque, eclectic and Gothic revival architecture, and Art Nouveau started falling out of fashion by c. 1913, when the official season was closed by Sommaragua. A new, more eclectic, form of architecture can be seen in buildings such as the Castello Cova, built the 1910s in a distinctly neo-medieval style, evoking the architectural trends of the past. A later form of Art Nouveau, as well as Art Deco, started to arise, especially as one can see in the city's Central Station (Stazione Centrale), which blended such styles with Fascist architecture. The post–World War II period of reconstruction saw rapid economic growth that was accompanied by an increase in the population and the founding of new districts, but also for the strong drive for architectural renewal, has produced some of the milestones in the city's architectural history including Gio Ponti's Pirelli Tower (1956–60), the Velasca Tower (1956–58), the creation of new residential districts and, in recent years, the construction of the new exhibition centre in Rho and the urban renewal of once industrial areas, that have been transformed into modern residential districts and services.

Monument to Alessandro Manzoni in Milan.

Parks and gardens

Despite the fact that Milan has a very small amount of green space in comparison to other cities of the same size, the city does boast a wide variety of parks and gardens. The first public parks were established 1857 and 1862, and were designed by Giuseppe Balzaretto. They were situated in a "green park district", found in the areas of Piazzale Oberdan (Porta Venezia), Corso Venezia, Via Palestro and Via Manin. Most of them were landscaped in a Neoclassical style and represented traditional English gardens, often full of botanic richness. Since 1990 Milan is surrounded by the regional Parco Agricolo Sud Milano that wraps the southern half of the city, connecting Ticino Park in the west and Adda Park in the east. The Park was instituted in order to safeguard and enhance the old agricultural landscape and activities, woodlands and natural reserves, with an overall size of 47,000 hectares.

The St. Ambrose Basilica, one of the city's most important and oldest churches.

The most important parks in Milan are the set of adjacent parks in the western area of the city forming Parco Agricolo Sud Milano (Parco delle Cave, 131 hectares; Boscoincittà, 110 hectares; and Trenno Park, 59 hectares, whose total area amounts to about 300 hectares), Sempione Park, Parco Forlanini, Giardini Pubblici, Giardino della Villa Comunale, Giardini della Guastalla and Lambro Park. Sempione Park is a large public park, situated between the Castello Sforzesco and the Peace Arch, near Piazza Sempione. It was built by Emilio Alemagna, and contains a Napoleonic Arena, the Milan City Aquarium, a tower, an art exhibition centre, some ponds and a library. Then there is Parco Forlani, which, with a size of 235 hectares is the largest park in Milan, and contains a hill and a pond. Giardini Pubblici is among Milan's oldest remaining public parks, founded on 29 November 1783, and completed around 1790. It is landscaped in English style, containing a pond, a Natural History Museum of Milan and the Neoclassical Villa Reale. Giardini della Guastalla is also one of the oldest gardens in Milan, and consists mainly of a decorated fish pond.

The Politecnico di Milano main building

Milan also hosts three important botanical gardens: the Milan University Experimental Botanical Garden (a small botanical garden operated by the Istituto di Scienze Botaniche), the Brera Botanical Garden (another botanical garden, founded in 1774 by Fulgenzio Witman, an abbot under the orders of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, and restored in 1998 after several years of abandonment) and the Cascina Rosa Botanical Garden. On January 23, 2003, a Garden of the Righteous was established in Monte Stella to commemorate those who opposed genocides and crimes against humankind. It hosts trees dedicated to Moshe Bejski, Andrei Sakharov, the founders of the Gardens of the Righteous in Yerevan and Pietro Kuciukian, and others. The decision to commemorate a "Righteous" person in this Garden is made every year by a commission of high-profile characters.

The central building of University of Milan, built in the Renaissance as the city hospital: the Ospedale Maggiore.

Transportation

Milan is one of Italy's most important railway hubs for local, national and international routes. Five major railway stations in Milan, among which the Milan Central station, are among Italy's busiest. Since the end of 2009, two High speed train lines link Milan to Rome, Naples and Turin considerably shortening travel times with other major cities in Italy. The Azienda Trasporti Milanesi (ATM) operates within the metropolitan area, managing a public transport network consisting of an underground rapid transit network and tram, trolley-bus and bus lines. Overall the network covers nearly 1,400 km (870 mi) reaching 86 municipalities. Besides public transport, ATM manages the interchange parking lots and other transportation services including bike sharing and car sharing systems.

The Catholic University of the Sacred Heart courtyard.

Milan Metro is the rapid transit system serving the city, with 3 lines and a total length of more than 80 km (50 mi). Two additional lines are currently under construction. The Suburban Railway Service Lines comprises 10 lines and connects the metropolitan area with the city centre through the Milan Passerby underground railway. The city tram network consists of approximately 160 kilometres (99 mi) of track and 17 lines. Bus lines cover over 1,070 km (665 mi). Milan is also served taxi service operated by private companies and licensed by the City council of Milan. The city is also a key node for the national road network, being served by all the major highways of Northern Italy.

The internal court of Brera Academy.

Milan is served by three international airports. The Malpensa International Airport, the second busiest in Italy (about 19 million passengers in 2010), is 45 km (28 mi) from central Milan and connected to the city by the "Malpensa Express" railway service. The Linate Airport, which lies within the city limits, is mainly used for domestic and short-haul international flights, and served over 9 million passengers in 2010. The airport of Orio al Serio, near the city of Bergamo, serves the low-cost traffic of Milan (8 million passengers in 2010).

Milan Malpensa international airport.

Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

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The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is the largest church in Rome dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary

The Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Major (Italian: Basilica Papale di Santa Maria Maggiore, Latin: Basilica Sanctae Mariae Maioris), known also by other names, is the largest Roman Catholic Marian church in Rome, Italy. There are other churches in Rome dedicated to Mary, such as Santa Maria in Trastevere, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, but the greater size of the Basilica of Saint Mary Major justifies the adjective by which it is distinguished from the other 25.

Piazza dell'Esquilino with the apse area of Santa Maria Maggiore

According to the 1929 Lateran Treaty, the basilica, located in Italian territory, is owned by the Holy See and enjoys extraterritorial status similar to that of foreign embassies. The building is patrolled internally by police agents of Vatican City State, not by Italian police.

Interior of the basilica

Borghese Chapel and Salus Populi Romani

The column in the Piazza Santa Maria Maggiore celebrates the famous icon of the Virgin Mary now enshrined in the Borghese Chapel of the Basilica. It is known as Salus Populi Romani, or Health of the Roman People or Salvation of the Roman People, due to a miracle in which the icon helped keep plague from the city. The icon is at least a thousand years old, and according to a tradition was painted from life by St Luke the Evangelist using the wooden table of the Holy Family in Nazareth.

Reliquary of the Holy Crib

The Salus Populi Romani has been a favourite of several popes and acted as a key Mariological symbol. Roman-born Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli) celebrated his first Holy Mass there on 1 April 1899. In 1953, the icon was carried through Rome to initiate the first Marian year in Church history. In 1954, the icon was crowned by Pope Pius XII as he introduced a new Marian feast Queenship of Mary. Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI all honoured the Salus Populi Romani with personal visits and liturgical celebrations.

Altar of Sistine Chapel and Oratory of the Nativity

Papal basilica

As a papal basilica, Santa Maria Maggiore is often used by the pope. Most notably, the pope presides over the annual Feast of the Assumption of Mary, celebrated on 15 August each year at the basilica. The canopied high altar is used by the pope alone — except for a few priests including the archpriest.

The Borghese Chapel

The pope gives charge of the basilica to an archpriest, usually an archbishop, who has been made cardinal. Formerly, the archpriest was the titular Latin Patriarch of Antioch, a title abolished in 1964. Since 21 November 2011, the current archpriest is Santos Abril y Castelló.

In addition to the archpriest and his assistant priests, a chapter of canons is resident. Redemptorist and Dominican priests serve the church, hearing confessions, celebrating the Eucharist and other sacraments such as baptism and matrimony.

The King of Spain, currently Juan Carlos I, is ex officio the "first honorary canon" of the basilica.

Colosseum

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The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.

Interior of the Colosseum

Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started in 72 AD under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus, with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96). The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia).

Today, the Colosseum is a background to the busy metropolis that is modern Rome

Capable of seating 50,000 spectators, the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine.

The exterior of the Colosseum, showing the partially intact outer wall (left) and the mostly intact inner wall (right)

Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.

Original façade of the Colosseum

Name

The Colosseum's original Latin name was Amphitheatrum Flavium, often anglicized as Flavian Amphitheater. The building was constructed by emperors of the Flavian dynasty, hence its original name, after the reign of Emperor Nero. This name is still used in modern English, but generally the structure is better known as the Colosseum. In antiquity, Romans may have referred to the Colosseum by the unofficial name Amphitheatrum Caesareum; this name could have been strictly poetic as it was not exclusive to the Colosseum; Vespasian and Titus, builders of the Colosseum, also constructed an amphitheater of the same name in Puteoli (modern Pozzuoli).

Entrance LII of the Colosseum, with Roman numerals still visible

The name Colosseum has long been believed to be derived from a colossal statue of Nero nearby (the statue of Nero was named after the Colossus of Rhodes). This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Helios (Sol) or Apollo, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. Nero's head was also replaced several times with the heads of succeeding emperors. Despite its pagan links, the statue remained standing well into the medieval era and was credited with magical powers. It came to be seen as an iconic symbol of the permanence of Rome.

The Colosseum arena, showing the hypogeum

In the 8th century, a famous epigram attributed to the Venerable Bede celebrated the symbolic significance of the statue in a prophecy that is variously quoted: Quamdiu stat Colisæus, stat et Roma; quando cadet colisæus, cadet et Roma; quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus ("as long as the Colossus stands, so shall Rome; when the Colossus falls, Rome shall fall; when Rome falls, so falls the world").This is often mistranslated to refer to the Colosseum rather than the Colossus (as in, for instance, Byron's poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage). However, at the time that the Pseudo-Bede wrote, the masculine noun coliseus was applied to the statue rather than to what was still known as the Flavian amphitheatre.

Detail of the hypogeum

The Colossus did eventually fall, possibly being pulled down to reuse its bronze. By the year 1000 the name "Colosseum" had been coined to refer to the amphitheatre. The statue itself was largely forgotten and only its base survives, situated between the Colosseum and the nearby Temple of Venus and Roma.

The Colosseum – a view from the Oppian Hill

The name further evolved to Coliseum during the Middle Ages. In Italy, the amphitheatre is still known as il Colosseo, and other Romance languages have come to use similar forms such as le Colisée (French), el Coliseo (Spanish) and o Coliseu (Portuguese).

A panorama of the interior of the Colosseum in 2011.

Plants on the inner walls of the Colosseum

Capitoline Hill

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The Capitoline Hill ( /ˈkæpɨtəlaɪn/ or /kəˈpɪtɵlaɪn/; Latin: Collis Capitōlīnus), between the Forum and the Campus Martius, is one of the seven hills of Rome. It was the citadel (equivalent of the ancient Greek acropolis) of the earliest Romans. By the 16th century, Capitolinus had become Capitolino in Italian, with the alternative Campidoglio stemming from Capitolium. The English word capitol derives from Capitoline. The Capitoline contains few ancient ground-level ruins, as they are almost entirely covered up by Medieval and Renaissance palaces (now housing the Capitoline Museums) that surround a piazza, a significant urban plan designed by Michelangelo.

The Capitoline Hill cordonata (centre of picture) leading from Via del Teatro di Marcello to Piazza del Campidoglio.

View from the Piazza del Campidoglio

Replica of the equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius.

Piazza del Campidoglio, on the top of Capitoline Hill, with the façade of Palazzo Senatorio

A close up of the cordonata on the Capitoline Hill. The steps on the left lead to the church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli

Castel Sant'Angelo

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Castel Sant'Angelo from the bridge. The top statue depicts the angel from whom the building derives its name.

The Mausoleum of Hadrian, usually known as the Castel Sant'Angelo, is a towering cylindrical building in Parco Adriano, Rome, Italy. It was initially commissioned by the Roman Emperor Hadrian as a mausoleum for himself and his family. The building was later used by the popes as a fortress and castle, and is now a museum.

The view from Castel Sant'Angelo towards Vatican City

Hadrian's tomb

The tomb of the Roman emperor Hadrian, also called Hadrian's mole, was erected on the right bank of the Tiber, between 135 AD and 139 AD. Originally the mausoleum was a decorated cylinder, with a garden top and golden quadriga. Hadrian's ashes were placed here a year after his death in Baiae in 138 AD, together with those of his wife Sabina, and his first adopted son, Lucius Aelius, who also died in 138 AD. Following this, the remains of succeeding emperors were also placed here, the last recorded deposition being Caracalla in 217 AD. The urns containing these ashes were probably placed in what is now known as the Treasury room deep within the building. Hadrian also built the Pons Aelius facing straight onto the mausoleum – it still provides a scenic approach from the center of Rome and the right bank of the Tiber, and is renowned for the Baroque additions of statues of angels holding aloft elements of the Passion of Christ.

The original angel by Raffaello da Montelupo.

Destruction

Much of the tomb contents and decorations have been lost since the building's conversion to a military fortress in 401 and its subsequent inclusion in the Aurelian Walls by Flavius Augustus Honorius. The urns and ashes were scattered by Visigoth looters during Alaric's sacking of Rome in 410, and the original decorative bronze and stone statuary were thrown down upon the attacking Goths when they besieged Rome in 537, as recounted by Procopius. An unusual survivor, however, is the capstone of a funerary urn (probably that of Hadrian), which made its way to Saint Peter's Basilica and was incorporated into a massive Renaissance baptistery. The use of spolia from the tomb in the post-Roman period was noted in the 16th century - Giorgio Vasari writes:

...in order to build churches for the use of the Christians, not only were the most honoured temples of the idols [pagan Roman gods] destroyed, but in order to ennoble and decorate Saint Peter's with more ornaments than it then possessed, they took away the stone columns from the tomb of Hadrian, now the castle of Sant'Angelo, as well as many other things which we now see in ruins.

Legend holds that the Archangel Michael appeared atop the mausoleum, sheathing his sword as a sign of the end of the plague of 590, thus lending the castle its present name.

Museum

Decommissioned in 1901, the castle is now a museum, the Museo Nazionale di Castel Sant'Angelo.

Ponte Sant'Angelo which leads to the Castel Sant'Angelo.

Popular culture

The Castel Sant'Angelo appeared in Dan Brown's 2000 novel Angels & Demons. The location was the secret lair for the Hassassin and was seen as the last existing church of the Illuminati. The book also emphasized the Passetto di Borgo as a secret way of getting from the Vatican to the castle. It also appears in the 2009 motion picture, Angels & Demons, as one of the locations where a clue that leads to the papal assassin.

The castle appeared in the film Roman Holiday in a scene taking place on barges on the river below.

Verschaffelt's replacement.

In Puccini's opera, Tosca, the Castel is where Cavaradossi is held prisoner. After murdering Scarpia in his private room at the Palazzo Farnese, Floria Tosca goes to the Castel Sant'Angelo, safe conducts in hand, where her lover, Mario Cavaradossi is to be executed. She has been led to believe it will be a mock execution and is horrified to find her lover dead. Rather than be arrested by Scarpia's henchmen, she throws herself from the rooftop.

The castle is one of the settings of Endymion and The Rise of Endymion, books in the Hyperion Cantos by author Dan Simmons. In the novels it has been relocated, along with large parts of the Vatican to the fictional planet Pacem. It serves as a prison and site of the torture of several protagonists in the novels, which include a resurgent version of the Catholic Church being the major power in human society.

In 1980, the American punk rock band The Ramones played a concert outside the castle and also the hard rock band Kiss played an outside show at the Castel.

In the Trinity Blood novels, a castle called San Angelo is the seat of power for the Catholic Church, though it is not known whether this is the same castle as the one in real life.

The Castel appears in the 2009 video game Assassin's Creed II and also more prominently in the game's 2010 sequel, Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. In both games it is used as the official residence of Pope Alexander VI and his children, Cesare and Lucrezia Borgia. The Castel is protected by the Papal Guard as well as many Roman guard. During Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood, the Castel is infiltrated by the main character, Ezio Auditore, in an attempt to rescue Caterina Sforza and again later when trying to recover one of the "Pieces of Eden". It appears again in the Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood downloadable content, The Da Vinci Disappearance, when Ezio must infiltrate the Castel to steal two paintings by Leonardo da Vinci. Also in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood you can gain a trophy for jumping from the top of the Castel Sant'Angelo with a parachute.

The design of the McKinley National Memorial in Canton, Ohio, which is the final resting place of US President William McKinley and his family, was based upon the Tomb of Hadrian according to its architect, Harold Van Buren Magonigle.

Trevi Fountain

2011-11-23T00:16:00.000-08:00

The Trevi Fountain

The Trevi Fountain is a fountain in the Trevi rione in Rome, Italy. Standing 26 metres (85.3 feet) high and 20 metres (65.6 feet) wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city and one of the most famous fountains in the world.

Trevi Fountain at night

Pre-1629 history of the aqueduct and the fountain site

The fountain at the junction of three roads (tre vie) marks the terminal point of the "modern" Acqua Vergine, the revived Aqua Virgo, one of the ancient aqueducts that supplied water to ancient Rome. In 19 BC, supposedly with the help of a virgin, Roman technicians located a source of pure water some 13 km (8.1 mi) from the city. (This scene is presented on the present fountain's façade.) However, the eventual indirect route of the aqueduct made its length some 22 km (14 mi). This Aqua Virgo led the water into the Baths of Agrippa. It served Rome for more than four hundred years. The coup de grâce for the urban life of late classical Rome came when the Goth besiegers in 537/38 broke the aqueducts. Medieval Romans were reduced to drawing water from polluted wells and the Tiber River, which was also used as a sewer.

Panorama of the Trevi Fountain

The Roman custom of building a handsome fountain at the endpoint of an aqueduct that brought water to Rome was revived in the 15th century, with the Renaissance. In 1453, Pope Nicholas V finished mending the Acqua Vergine aqueduct and built a simple basin, designed by the humanist architect Leon Battista Alberti, to herald the water's arrival.

Panorama of the Trevi Fountain at night

Commission, construction and design

In 1629 Pope Urban VIII, finding the earlier fountain insufficiently dramatic, asked Gian Lorenzo Bernini to sketch possible renovations, but when the Pope died, the project was abandoned. Though Bernini's project was torn down for Salvi's fountain, there are many Bernini touches in the fountain as it was built. An early, striking and influential model by Pietro da Cortona, preserved in the Albertina, Vienna, also exists, as do various early 18th century sketches, most unsigned, as well as a project attributed to Nicola Michetti one attributed to Ferdinando Fuga and a French design by Edme Bouchardon.

The asso di coppe

Competitions had become the rage during the Baroque era to design buildings, fountains, and even the Spanish Steps. In 1730 Pope Clement XII organized a contest in which Nicola Salvi initially lost to Alessandro Galilei – but due to the outcry in Rome over the fact that a Florentine won, Salvi was awarded the commission anyway. Work began in 1732, and the fountain was completed in 1762, long after Clement's death, when Pietro Bracci's Oceanus (god of all water) was set in the central niche.

The fountain filled with coins, from another perspective

Salvi died in 1751, with his work half-finished, but before he went he made sure a stubborn barber's unsightly sign would not spoil the ensemble, hiding it behind a sculpted vase, called by Romans the asso di coppe, the "Ace of Cups".

The Trevi Fountain was finished in 1762 by Giuseppe Pannini, who substituted the present allegories for planned sculptures of Agrippa and "Trivia", the Roman virgin.

Fontana di Trevi by night

Restoration

The fountain was refurbished in 1998; the stonework was scrubbed and the fountain provided with recirculating pumps.

Iconography

The backdrop for the fountain is the Palazzo Poli, given a new facade with a giant order of Corinthian pilasters that link the two main stories. Taming of the waters is the theme of the gigantic scheme that tumbles forward, mixing water and rockwork, and filling the small square. Tritons guide Oceanus' shell chariot, taming hippocamps.

In the centre a robustly-modelled triumphal arch is superimposed on the palazzo façade. The centre niche or exedra framing Oceanus has free-standing columns for maximal light and shade. In the niches flanking Oceanus, Abundance spills water from her urn and Salubrity holds a cup from which a snake drinks. Above, bas reliefs illustrate the Roman origin of the aqueducts.

The tritons and horses provide symmetrical balance, with the maximum contrast in their mood and poses (by 1730, rococo was already in full bloom in France and Germany).

Coin throwing

A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. This was the theme of 1954's Three Coins in the Fountain and the Academy Award winning song by that name which introduced the picture.

An estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the fountain each day. The money has been used to subsidize a supermarket for Rome's needy. However, there are regular attempts to steal coins from the fountain.

In popular culture

The Trevi fountain is featured in Respighi's symphonic pictures Fontane di Roma, and was the setting for an iconic scene in Federico Fellini's film La dolce vita starring Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni. The fountain was turned off and draped in black in honor of Mastroianni after the actor's death in 1996. The fountain is used for some scenes in the 1953 film Roman Holiday, starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck. Part of the fountain is replicated at the Italy Pavilion at Epcot in Walt Disney World, USA. The fountain itself is also a stage in Tekken Tag Tournament 2.

Piazza del Popolo

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Piazza del Popolo is a large urban square in Rome. The name in modern Italian literally means "People's Square", but historically it derives from the poplars (populus in Latin, pioppo in Italian) after which the church of Santa Maria del Popolo, in the northeast corner of the piazza, takes its name.

The piazza lies inside the northern gate in the Aurelian Walls, once the Porta Flaminia of ancient Rome, and now called the Porta del Popolo. This was the starting point of the Via Flaminia, the road to Ariminum (modern day Rimini) and the most important route to the north. At the same time, before the age of railroads, it was the traveller's first view of Rome upon arrival. For centuries, the Piazza del Popolo was a place for public executions, the last of which took place in 1826.

The Piazza del Popolo, looking west from the Pincio.

Valadier's design

The layout of the piazza today was designed in neoclassical style between 1811 and 1822 by the architect Giuseppe Valadier, He removed a modest fountain by Giacomo Della Porta, erected in 1572, and demolished some insignificant buildings and haphazard high screening walls to form two semicircles, reminiscent of Bernini's plan for St. Peter's Square, replacing the original cramped trapezoidal square centred on the Via Flaminia.

Valadier's Piazza del Popolo, however, incorporated the verdure of trees as an essential element; he conceived his space in a third dimension, expressed in the building of the viale that leads up to the balustraded overlook from the Pincio (above, right).

An Egyptian obelisk of Ramesses II from Heliopolis stands in the centre of the Piazza

An Egyptian obelisk of Sety I (later erected by Rameses II) from Heliopolis stands in the centre of the Piazza. Three sides of the obelisk were carved during the reign of Sety I and the fourth side, under Rameses II. The obelisk, known as the obelisco Flaminio or the Popolo Obelisk, is the second oldest and one of the tallest obelisks in Rome (some 24 m high, or 36 m including its plinth). The obelisk was brought to Rome in 10 BC by order of Augustus and originally set up in the Circus Maximus. It was re-erected here in the piazza by the architect-engineer Domenico Fontana in 1589 as part of the urban plan of Sixtus V. The piazza also formerly contained a central fountain, which was moved to the Piazza Nicosia in 1818, when fountains, in the form of Egyptian-style lions, were added around the base of the obelisk.

The entrance of the Tridente from Piazza del Popolo, defined by the "twin" churches of Santa Maria in Montesanto (left, built 1662-75) and Santa Maria dei Miracoli (right, built 1675-79). The Via del Corso exits between the two churches.

Looking from the north (illustration, right), three streets branch out from the piazza into the city, forming the so-called "trident" (il Tridente): the Via del Corso in the centre; the Via del Babuino to the left (opened in 1525 as the Via Paolina) and the Via di Ripetta (opened by Leo X in 1518 as the Via Leonina) to the right. The twin churches (the chiese gemelle) of Santa Maria dei Miracoli (1681) and Santa Maria in Montesanto (1679), begun by Carlo Rainaldi and completed by Bernini and Carlo Fontana, define the junctions of the roads. Close scrutiny of the twin churches reveals that they are not mere copies of one another, as they would have been in a Neoclassical project, but vary in their details, offering variety within their symmetrical balance in Baroque fashion.

One side of the Fontana dell'Obelisco.

The central street, now known as the Via del Corso, was the ancient Via Lata and to the north it links with the ancient Roman road, the Via Flaminia,beyond the city gate and southwards, to the Piazza Venezia (formerly the Piazza San Marco), the Capitol and the forum. The Via di Ripetta leads past the Mausoleum of Augustus to the River Tiber, where the Baroque riverside landing called the Porto di Ripetta was located until it was destroyed in the late nineteenth century. The Via del Babuino ("Baboon"), linking to Piazza di Spagna, takes its name from a grotesque sculpture of Silenus that gained the popular name of "the Baboon".

Fontana del Nettuno.

To the north of the piazza stands the Porta del Popolo, beyond which lies the Piazzale Flaminio and the start of the Via Flaminia. The gateway was reworked to give its current appearance by Bernini for Pope Alexander VII in 1655, to welcome Queen Christina of Sweden to Rome following her conversion to Roman Catholicism and her abdication. Opposite Santa Maria del Popolo stands a Carabinieri station, with a dome reflecting that of the church.

Steps lead from the Piazza del Popolo to the Pincio to the east.

In his urbanistic project, Valadier constructed the matching palazzi that provide a frame for the scenography of the twin churches and hold down two corners of his composition. He positioned a third palazzo to face these and matched a low structure screening the flank of Santa Maria del Popolo, with its fine Early Renaissance façade, together holding down the two northern corners. Valadier outlined this newly-defined oval forecourt to the city of Rome with identical sweeps of wall, forming curving exedra-like spaces. Behind the western one, a screen of trees masks the unassorted fronts of buildings beyond.

Fountains

The aqueduct carrying the Acqua Vergine Nuovo was completed in the 1820s, and its water provided the opportunity for fountains and their basins that offered the usual public water supply for the rioneor urban district. Ever since the Renaissance such terminal fountains also provided an occasion for the grand terminal water show called in Rome a mostra or a show. "What makes a fountain a mostra is not essentially its size or splendor, but its specific designation as the fountain that is a public memorial to the whole achievement of the aqueduct." Valadier had planned fountains in the upper tier of the Pincio slope, but these were not carried out, in part for lack of water.

Fountains by Giovanni Ceccarini (1822–23), with matching compositions of a central figure flanked by two attendant figures, stand on each side of the piazza to the east and west, flanked by neoclassical statues of The Seasons (1828). The Fontana del Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) stands on the west side, Neptune with his trident is accompanied by two dolphins. Rome between the Tiber and the Aniene on the east side, against the steep slope of the Pincio, represents the terminal mostra of the aqueduct. Dea Roma armed with lance and helmet, and in front is the she-wolf feeding Romulus and Remus.

At the center of the piazza is the Fontana dell' Obelisco: a group of four mini fountains, each comprising a lion on a stepped plinth, surround the obelisk.

Urbanisation in three dimensions

Valadier's masterstroke was in linking the piazza with the heights of the Pincio, the Pincian Hill of ancient Rome, which overlooked the space from the east. He swept away informally terraced gardens that belonged to the Augustinian monastery connected with Santa Maria del Popolo. In its place he created a carriage drive that doubled back upon itself and pedestrian steps leading up beside a waterfall to the Pincio park, where a balustraded lookout, supported by a triple-arched nymphaeum is backed by a wide gravelled opening set on axis with the piazza below; formally-planted bosquets of trees flank the open space. The planted Pinco in turn provides a link to the Villa Borghese gardens.

Until quite recently, the Piazza del Popolo was choked with traffic in a sea of car parking. Today, it is a pedestrian zone.

Fontana della Barcaccia

2011-11-22T23:00:00.000-08:00

Fontana della Barcaccia, seen from the North of the Piazza di Spagna.

Fontana della Barcaccia (English: "Fountain of the Old Boat") is a Baroque fresh-water fountain in Rome, Italy in the Piazza di Spagna, just below the Spanish Steps. It is so named because it is in the shape of a half-sunken ship with water overflowing its bows.

The fountain was commissioned by Pope Urban VIII and was completed in 1627 by Pietro Bernini and his son Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

Fontana della Barcaccia, seen from the top of the Spanish Steps.

The shape was chosen because, prior to the river walls being built, the Tiber often flooded and in 1598 there was a particularly bad flooding and the Piazza di Spagna was flooded up to a meter. Once the water withdrew, a boat was left behind in the square.

The English poet John Keats could hear the sound of the fountain's water flowing soothingly from his deathbed. He said it reminded him of lines from the 17th-century play Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding (1611) and was the source for his epitaph

Rome

2011-11-22T22:52:00.000-08:00

Rome (English pronunciation: /ˈroʊm/; Italian: Roma pronounced [ˈroːma] ( listen); Latin: Rōma) is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi). The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.

Set of Gangs of New York in Cinecittà studios, Rome

Rome's history spans two and a half thousand years. It was the capital city of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, which was the dominant power in Western Europe and the lands bordering the Mediterranean for over seven hundred years from the 1st century BC until the 7th century AD. Since the 1st century AD Rome has been the seat of the Papacy and, after the end of Byzantine domination, in the 8th century it became the capital of the Papal States, which lasted until 1870. In 1871 Rome became the capital of the Kingdom of Italy, and in 1946 that of the Italian Republic.

The Trevi Fountain, one of the most famous in the world. After the Middle Ages, Rome was ruled by popes such as Alexander VI and Leo X, who transformed the city into one of the major centers of the Italian Renaissance, along with Florence. The current version of St Peter's Basilica was built and the Sistine Chapel was painted by Michelangelo. Famous artists and architects, such as Bramante, Bernini and Raphael resided for some time in Rome, contributing to its Renaissance and Baroque architecture.

Panoramic view of Piazza del Campidoglio, with the Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius. Rome has been ranked by GaWC in 2010 as a beta+ world city, as well as the 28th most important global city. In 2007, Rome was the 11th-most-visited city in the world, 3rd most visited in the European Union, and the most popular tourist attraction in Italy.[5] The city is one of Europe's and the world's most successful city "brands", both in terms of reputation and assets. Its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Monuments and museums such as the Vatican Museums and the Colosseum are amongst the world's 50 most visited tourist destinations (the Vatican Museums receiving 4.2 million tourists and the Colosseum receiving 4 million tourists every year). Rome hosted the 1960 Summer Olympics and is currently bidding to host the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Capitoline Wolf suckles the infant twins Romulus and Remus.

Climate

Rome enjoys a Mediterranean climate (Köppen climate classification: Csa), typical of the Mediterranean coasts of Italy. Spring and autumn are mild to warm, and the Romans ottobrate ("beautiful October days") are known as being sunny and warm. By August, the maximum diurnal temperature often exceeds 30 °C (86 °F). Traditionally, many businesses were accustomed to closing during August, while Romans visited holiday resorts. In more recent years, however, in response to growing tourism and changing work habits, the city has been staying open for the whole summer. The average high temperature in January is about 12.9 °C (55.2 °F), but in hot periods it can be higher, while subzero lows are not uncommon. Snowfalls can occur in December, January and February. Within the last four decades they have been rare in Rome: the most recent snowfall with accumulation was in February 2010, the first since 1986 (in some peripheral areas since 1991); between 1986 and 2010 snow fell four times, without significant traces on the ground.

Palazzo Senatorio, Rome City Hall

Generally – summer's season lasts about 6 months, from May to October. Two months (April and November) are transitional, sometimes there are temperature above 20 °C (68 °F). December, January, February and March are the coldest months, with average temperatures (of these four months) over 13.1 °C (55.6 °F) near the city centre (13.9 °C (57.0 °F) near sea) during the day and 3.7 °C (38.7 °F) near the city centre (4.7 °C (40.5 °F) near sea) at night. The average relative humidity is 74.8%, varying from 72% in July to 77% in November and December.

The Tempietto (San Pietro in Montorio), which is an excellent example of Italian Renaissance architecture

Transportation

Rome is at the centre of the radial network of roads that roughly follow the lines of the ancient Roman roads that began at the Capitoline Hill and connected Rome with its empire. Today Rome is circled, at a distance of about 10 km (6 mi), by the ring-road (the Grande Raccordo Anulare or GRA).

St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

Due to its location in the centre of the Italian peninsula, Rome is a principal railway node for central Italy. Rome's main train station, Termini, is one of the biggest train stations in Europe and the most heavily used in Italy, with around 400 thousand travellers passing through every day. The second-largest station in the city, Roma Tiburtina, is currently being redeveloped as a high-speed rail terminus.

Basilica of St. John Lateran, Rome's Cathedral.

Rome is served by three airports. The intercontinental Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport is Italy's chief airport and is commonly known as "Fiumicino Airport", as it is located within the nearby Comune of Fiumicino, south-west of Rome. The older Rome Ciampino Airport is a joint civilian and military airport. It is commonly referred to as "Ciampino Airport", as it is located beside Ciampino, south-east of Rome. A third airport, the Roma-Urbe Airport, is a small, low-traffic airport located about 6 km north of the city centre, which handles most helicopter and private flights.

The Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore is one of the largest churches in the city.

The city suffers from traffic problems largely due to this radial street pattern, making it difficult for Romans to move easily from the vicinity of one of the radial roads to another without going into the historic centre or using the ring-road. These problems are not helped by the limited size of Rome's metro system when compared to other cities of similar size. In addition, Rome has only 21 taxis for every 10,000 inhabitants, far below other major European cities. Chronic congestion caused by cars during the 1970s and 1980s led to restrictions being placed on vehicle access to the inner city-centre during the hours of daylight. Areas where these restriction apply are known as Limited Traffic Zones (Zona a Traffico Limitato (ZTL) in Italian). More recently, heavy night-time traffic in Trastevere and San Lorenzo has led to the creation of night-time ZTLs in those districts, and there are also plans to create another night-time ZTL in Testaccio.

The Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine.

A 2-line metro system called the Metropolitana operates in Rome. Construction on the first branch started in the 1930s. The line had been planned to quickly connect the main train station with the newly planned E42 area in the southern suburbs, where the 1942 World Fair was supposed to be held. The event never took place because of war. The area was later partly redesigned and renamed EUR (Esposizione Universale di Roma: Rome Universal Exhibition) in the 1950s to serve as a modern business district. The line was finally opened in 1955, and it is now part of the B Line.

The Pantheon.

The A line opened in 1980 from Ottaviano to Anagnina stations, later extended in stages (1999–2000) to Battistini. In the 1990s, an extension of the B line was opened from Termini to Rebibbia. This underground network is generally reliable (although it may become very congested at peak times and during events, especially the A line) as it is relatively short. As of 2005, its total length is 38 km (24 mi).

Castel Sant'Angelo.

The two existing lines, A and B, intersect at Roma Termini station. A new branch of the B line (B1) is under construction with an estimated cost of €500 million. It is scheduled to open in 2012. B1 will connect to line B at Piazza Bologna and will have four stations over a distance of 3.9 km (2 mi). A third line, line C, is under construction with an estimated cost of €3 billion and will have 30 stations over a distance of 25.5 km (16 mi). It will partly replace the existing Rail Road line, Termini-Pantano. It will feature full automated, driverless trains.[98] The first section is due to open in 2011 and the final sections in 2015, but archaeological findings often delay underground construction work. A fourth line, D line, is also planned. It will have 22 stations over a distance of 20 km (12 mi). The first section is projected to open in 2015 and the final sections before 2035.

The Basilica of San Paolo fuori le Mura

Above-ground public transport in Rome is made up of a bus, tram and urban train network (FR lines). The bus and tram network is run by Trambus S.p.A. under the auspices of Atac S.p.A. (which originally stood for the Municipal Bus and Tramways Company, Azienda Tramvie e Autobus del Comune in Italian). The bus network has in excess of 350 bus lines and over 8 thousand bus stops, whereas the more-limited tram system has 39 km of track and 192 stops. There is also one trolleybus line, opened in 2005, and additional trolleybus lines are planned.

Piazza del Popolo.

Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II.

Palazzo della Farnesina, seat of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The Villa Borghese gardens.

Fontana della Barcaccia in Piazza di Spagna.

The 39.7 m tall. Column of Marcus Aurelius

Bridge of Angels which leads to Castel Sant'Angelo.

La Sapienza University in Rome is Europe's largest, with 140,000 students

Renzo Piano's Parco della Musica Auditorium

Column dedicated to Paris in 1956 near the Baths of Diocletian

Lucca

2011-11-21T23:24:00.000-08:00

Piazza Anfiteatro and the Basilica di San Frediano.

Lucca (help·info) is a city and comune in Tuscany, central Italy, situated on the river Serchio in a fertile plain near the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Lucca. Among other reasons, it is famous for its intact Renaissance-era city walls.

Panorama of Lucca from the Torre Guinigi

Main sights

The walls around the old town remained intact as the city expanded and modernized, unusual for cities in the region. As the walls lost their military importance, they became a pedestrian promenade which encircled the old town, although they were used for a number of years in the 20th century for racing cars. They are still fully intact today; each of the four principal sides is lined with a different tree species.

The Academy of Sciences (1584) is the most famous of several academies and libraries.

Palazzo Pfanner, garden view.

The Casa di Puccini will re-open to the public on 14 September 2011. At the nearby town of Torre del Lago, there is a Puccini opera festival every year in July/August. Puccini had a house there as well.

There are many richly built medieval basilica-form churches in Lucca with rich arcaded façades and campaniles, a few as old as the 8th century.

l Piazza dell'Anfiteatro

l Piazzale Verdi

l Piazza Napoleone

l Piazza San Michele

l Duomo di San Martino (St Martin's Cathedral)

l The Ducal Palace, built on the location of Castruccio Castracani's fortress. The original project was begun by Bartolomeo Ammannati in 1577–1582, and continued by Filippo Juvarra in the 18th century.

Duomo di San Martino (the Cathedral).

l The ancient Roman amphitheatre

l Church of San Michele in Foro

l Romanesque church of San Giusto.

l Basilica di San Frediano

l Torre delle ore ("The Clock Tower")

l Casa and Torre Guinigi - The Guinigi Tower with oak trees on top

l Museo Nazionale Guinigi

l Museo e Pinacoteca Nazionale

l Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca, a botanical garden dating from 1820

l Palazzo Pfanner

Autumn in Lucca.

l Villa Garzoni, noted for its water gardens.

l Church of San Giorgio in the locality of Brancoli, built in the late 12th century. It has a nave and two aisles with a single apse, and a bell tower in Lombard-Romanesque style ranked amongst the most beautiful in northern Italy. The interior houses a massive ambo (1194) with four columns mounted on notable sculptures of lions. Also having notable medieval decoration is the octagonal baptismal fount. The altar is supported by six small columns with human figures

l Church of San Michele, at Antraccoli. Founded in 777, it was enlarged in the 12th century and modified again in the 16th century with the introduction of a portico.

A close up of the front façade of the San Michele in Foro.

l Passeggiata delle Mura Urbane, a street all over the city on the bastions. It passes from these balconies: Santa Croce, San Frediano, San Martino, San Pietro/Battisti, San Salvatore, La Libertà/Cairoli, San Regolo, San Colombano, Santa Maria, San Paolino/Catalani, and San Donato; also pass over these gates: Porta San Donato, Porta Santa Maria, Porta San Jocopo, Porta Elisa, Porta San Pietro, and Porta Sant'Anna.

l Church of Santa Giulia, of Lombard origins, but remade in the 13th century.

l The fortified city is surrounded by the streets of: Piazzale Boccherini, Viale Lazzaro Papi, Viale Carlo Del Prete, Piazzale Martiri della Libertà, Via Batoni, Viale Agostino Marti, Viale G. Marconi (vide Guglielmo Marconi), Piazza Don A. Mei, Viale Pacini (vide Pacini), Viale Giusti, Piazza Curtatone, Piazzale Ricasoli, Viale Ricasoli, Piazza Risorgimento (vide Risorgimento) and Viale Giosuè Carducci (vide Giosuè Carducci).

The Passeggiata delle Mura.

Culture

Lucca is the birthplace of composers Giacomo Puccini (La Bohème and Madama Butterfly), Nicalao Dorati, Francesco Geminiani, Gioseffo Guami, Luigi Boccherini, and Alfredo Catalani. It is also the birthplace of Bruno Menconi and artist Benedetto Brandimarte.

Church of San Michele of Antraccoli

Museums

l National Museum of Villa Guinigi

l Museum of Villa Mansi

l Museo della Cattedrale

l Lu.C.C.A. Lucca Center of Contemporary Art

l Orto Botanico Comunale di Lucca

Lucca, Piazza Anfiteatro

Festivals

Lucca annually hosts the Lucca Summer Festival. The 2006 edition saw Eric Clapton, Placebo, Massive Attack, Roger Waters, Tracy Chapman and Santana play live in the Piazza Napoleone.

Lucca hosts the annual Lucca Comics and Games festival, Italy's largest festival for comics and related subjects.

Film and television

Mauro Bolognini's 1958 film Giovani mariti with Sylva Koscina is set and was filmed in Lucca.

Lucca was featured on Top Gear during a Hot Hatch comparison in Episode 2 of Season 17. The city's narrow and one-way street layout played a large role in the segment.

Grosseto

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Aerial view of Grosseto

Grosseto (help·info) is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies 14 km from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain, on the Ombrone river.

It is the most populous city in Maremma, with 82,284 inhabitants. The comune of Grosseto includes the frazioni of Marina di Grosseto, the largest, Roselle, Principina a Mare, Principina Terra, Montepescali, Braccagni, Istia d'Ombrone, Batignano, Alberese and Rispescia.

The Cathedral of Grosseto.

Main sights

The Medicean WallsThe walls were begun by Francesco I de Medici in 1574, replacing those from the 12th-14th centuries, as part of his policy of making Grosseto a stronghold to protect his southern border. The design was by Baldassarre Lanci, and the construction took 19 years, being completed under Grand Duke Ferdinand I. Until 1757 the exterior was surrounded by a ditch with an earthen moat. There were two main gates: Porta Nuova on the North and Porta Reale (now Porta Vecchia) on the South.

The walls are now used as a public park and walking area.

Church of San Francesco

Religious architecture

The Romanesque cathedral, the main monument of the city, is named for its patron St. Lawrence, and was begun at the end of the 13th century, by architect Sozzo Rustichini of Siena. Erected over the earlier church of Santa Maria Assunta, it was only finished in the 15th century (mainly due to the continuing struggles against Siena).

Bell Tower of the Church of San Pietro

The façade of alternate layers of white and black marble is Romanesque in style, but is almost entirely the result of 16th century and 1816–1855 restorations: it retains decorative parts of the originary buildings, including Evangelists' symbols. The layout consists of a Latin cross, with transept and apse. The interior has a nave with two aisles, separated by cruciform pilasters. The main artworks are a wondrously carved baptismal font from 1470–1474 and the Madonna delle Grazie by Matteo di Giovanni (1470).

The campanile (bell tower) was finished in 1402, and restored in 1911

Palazzo Aldobrandeschi.

Churches in the city centre

l Church of San Francesco. Situated in the omonym square, it was built in the Middle Ages, and it was an important Benedectine convent, before moving to the Franciscans. The complex has undergone several restorations in later times: the bell was rebuilt in the first half of twentieth century. Very characteristic is the wooden tabernacle that stands on the front and inside there are works of art from various historical periods. At the center of the cloister stands the characteristic Pozzo della Bufala (Well of the Buffalo) in travertine; another well is located in the square outside the church.

l Convent of Clarisse. Located on strada Vinzaglio, the convent is annexed to the Church of Bigi. The convent of Clarisse and the church of Bigi are now desecrated. The entire complex is characterized by the probable medieval origins, which was followed by a series of restorations in Baroque style in the seventeenth century. Today the convent hosts the Museolab Città di Grosseto and the university.

Palazzo del Monte dei Paschi.

l Church of San Pietro. The oldest religious building in Grosseto, it was built along the stretch of the Via Aurelia that crossed the center and was originally a plebeian and stational church along the old consular road.

l Church of Misericordia (20th century). It belonged to various religious orders during the following centuries, before moving on brotherhood in the early decades of the nineteenth century. In the past, there were several well-preserved works of art currently on display in the section on Sacred Art of the Museum of Archeology and Art of Maremma.

Palazzo Tognetti.

Churches outside the city walls

l Church of San Giovanni, built in the 12th century in the vicinity of the ancient salt mines in the Prile Lake.

l Basilica of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an imposing religious building built in a modern and functional style during the 20th century, it is located along via della Pace.

l Church of Medaglia Miracolosa, built in the early 20th century behind the Palazzo delle Poste in a neo-Romanesque style. It has a bell tower.

l Church of San Giuseppe, located in the western part of the urban area, it was built in the thirties of last century in neo-Romanesque style, divided into three naves. The capitals are adorned with very fine and decorative features.

Villino Panichi.

l Church of San Giuseppe Benedetto Cottolengo, built on the eastern end of the urban area around the middle of last century, the style is neo-Romanesque, it is flanked by a bell tower and preceded by steps and a porch.

l Church of Maria Santissima Addolorata, built in the 1970s in the neighbourhood of Gorarella.

l Church of Santissimo Crocifisso, a modern church situated in an area called Cittadella dello Studente.

l Church of Santa Lucia, a modern church situated in the neighbourhood of Barbanella.

l Church of Mother Teresa, built in the 2000s and consacrated in 2006, it is situated in an area called Cittadella, on the northern part of the urban area.

Palace of Post and Telegraphs.

Abbeys

l Abbey of San Rabano, at the southern end of the town of Grosseto in the heart of the Natural Park of Maremma. It was built in the Middle Ages as a Benedictine monastery, passed after the Order of the Knights of Jerusalem and it was finally abandoned in the 16th century.

l Abbey of San Pancrazio al Fango, situated between Grosseto and Castiglione della Pescaia, in the heart of Nature Reserve Diaccia Botrona, not far from the Fattoria della Badiola. The church, which is in the form of ruins, was built in the Middle Ages on a slight hill overlooking the surrounding wetlands, once occupied by Prile Lake near a building from Roman times.

Teatro degli Industri.

Culture

Literature

Andrea da Grosseto was born in Grosseto in the first half of 1200. He is very important in Italian literature, because he is considered the first writer in the Italian language. Andrea da Grosseto translated from Latin the Moral Treaties of Albertano of Brescia, in 1268. His texts were written in the Italian language, without too many redundancies and constructions, words and typical ways of speech of the vernacular and the dialect. The writer intended to not utilise his own Grossetan dialect, but to use a general "Italian national language". In fact he twice refers to the vernacular which he uses defining it italico (Italic). So Andrea da Grosseto was the first to intend to use vernacular as a national unifying language from the North to the South of the entire Peninsula.

Cinema

Grosseto and Maremma have been settings for numerous works of fiction and movies, including the novels and associated films, such as The Easy Life (1962) with Vittorio Gassman; La vita agra (1964), from the omonym novel by Luciano Bianciardi, with Ugo Tognazzi; An Ideal Place To Kill (1969) directed by Umberto Lenzi; In viaggio con papà (1982), with Alberto Sordi; Nothing Left to Do But Cry (1984), with Massimo Troisi and Roberto Benigni; It's Happening Tomorrow (1988); Viola bacia tutti (1997) with Asia Argento; The Talented Mr. Ripley with Matt Damon and Jude Law; Emma sono io (2002); Roberto Benigni's Pinocchio; Manuale d'amore 3 (2011) with Robert De Niro and Monica Bellucci; Swiss movie Summer Games, and some Leonardo Pieraccioni's movies. Famous Italian actress Elsa Martinelli and actor Luigi Pistilli were both born in Grosseto. Actress Laura Morante was born in Santa Fiora, and director Umberto Lenzi in Massa Marittima, both in the province of Grosseto.

Cuisine

Schiaccia alla pala (oven-baked bread with oil) and Schiaccia con cipolle e acciughe (oven-baked bread with onions and European anchovy) are typical breads of the city of Grosseto. Acquacotta is typical of Mount Amiata: it is a poor soup, and the main ingredients are artichokes, broccoli, cabbage, beans, borage, pisciacane (dandelion) and similar vegetables. The Maremmana cattle is one of the two breeds used in the preparation of the florentine steak.

Transportation

Trains

The city is crossed by the railway Pisa-Livorno-Roma connecting Genoa to the capital and it is the point of arrival and departure of the branch line single track Grosseto-Monte Antico-Siena, where it continues north to Empoli, Florence, and east to Chiusi.

Here is the list of railway stations in the city of Grosseto:

l Grosseto Station, situated along the railway Pisa-Livorno-Roma, it is the terminus of Monte Antico-Siena-Grosseto. It is the main railway station of the city, which serves the city center and the urban area.

l Montepescali Station, located at the northern limits of the municipality, at the point of bifurcation between the Pisa-Livorno-Roma railway line and Siena-Monte Antico Grosseto.

l Alberese Station, located along the railway Pisa-Livorno-Roma to the southern limits of the municipal area.

l Rispescia Station, now disused, situated near the village of Rispescia and was a place of occasional stop for regional trains.

Buses

Local bus service in Grosseto is managed by Rama Mobilità. Intercity buses depart from the main bus station in Piazza Marconi. There are also several run bus services going from the city to Florence, Siena and other cities in Tuscany.

Port

The city has a modern tourist dock opened in 2004 in the seaside resort of Marina di Grosseto, at the mouth of the Canal St. Rocco. For passenger traffic in the medium range, the port reference is Porto Santo Stefano (40 km), with ferry only for the island of Giglio and Giannutri.

Airport

Grosseto and the Maremma are served by the Baccarini Airport, located midway between the capital and Marina di Grosseto. The infrastructure is a military airport which is also used as a commercial airport by civilian charter flights and private aircraft.

With regard to domestic and international flights, the airports of reference are the Airport of Florence, Pisa and Fiumicino. All three airports are located about 150 km from the capital of the Maremma.

Siena

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Siena (Italian pronunciation: [ˈsjɛːna]; in English also spelled Sienna, the historic exonym) is a city in Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the province of Siena.

The historic centre of Siena has been declared by UNESCO a World Heritage Site. It is one of the nation's most visited tourist attractions, with over 163,000 international arrivals in 2008. Siena is famous for its cuisine, art, museums, medieval cityscape and the Palio, a horse race held twice yearly.

Piazza del Campo.

Main sights

Siena's cathedral (Duomo), begun in the 12th century, is one of the great examples of Italian Romanesque-Gothic architecture. Its main façade was completed in 1380. It is unusual for a cathedral in that its axis runs north-south. This is because it was originally intended to be the largest cathedral in the world, with a north-south transept and an east-west nave, as is usual. After the completion of the transept and the building of the east wall (which still exists and may be climbed by the public via an internal staircase) the money ran out and the rest of the cathedral was abandoned.

Façade of the Palazzo Pubblico (town hall) during the Palio days.

Inside is the famous Gothic octagonal pulpit by Nicola Pisano (1266–1268) supported on lions, and the labyrinth inlaid in the flooring, traversed by penitents on their knees. Within the Sacristy are some perfectly preserved renaissance frescos by Domenico Ghirlandaio, and, beneath the Duomo, in the baptistry is the baptismal font with bas-reliefs by Donatello, Lorenzo Ghiberti, Jacopo della Quercia and other 15th century sculptors. The Museo dell'Opera del Duomo contains Duccio's famous Maestà (1308–1311) and various other works by Sienese masters. More Sienese paintings are to be found in the Pinacoteca, e.g. 13th century works by Diotisalvi di Speme.

The historic centre dominated by the Duomo.

The shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, the town square, which houses the Palazzo Pubblico and the Torre del Mangia, is another architectural treasure, and is famous for hosting the Palio horse race. The Palazzo Pubblico, itself a great work of architecture, houses yet another important art museum. Included within the museum is Ambrogio Lorenzetti's series of frescos on the good government and the results of good and bad government and also some of the finest frescoes of Simone Martini and Pietro Lorenzetti.

The Cathedral of Siena.

On the Piazza Salimbeni is the Palazzo Salimbeni, a notable building and also the medieval headquarters of Monte dei Paschi di Siena, one of the oldest banks in continuous existence and a major player in the Sienese economy.

Housed in the notable Gothic Palazzo Chigi on Via di Città is the Accademia Musicale Chigiana, Siena's conservatory of music.

Piazza Salimbeni.

Other churches in the city include:

l Basilica dell'Osservanza

l Santa Maria dei Servi

l San Domenico

l San Francesco

l Santo Spirito

l San Martino

l Sanctuary of Santa Caterina, incorporating the old house of St. Catherine of Siena. It houses the miraculous Crucifix (late 12th century) from which the saint received her stigmata, and a 15th century statue of St. Catherine.

The city's gardens include the Orto Botanico dell'Università di Siena, a botanical garden maintained by the University of Siena.

The Medicean Fortress houses the Enoteca Italiana and the Siena Jazz School, with courses and concerts all the year long and a major festival during the International Siena Jazz Masterclasses. Over two weeks more than 30 concerts and jam sessions are held in the two major town squares, on the terrace in front of the Enoteca, in the gardens of the Contrade clubs, and in numerous historical towns and villages of the Siena province. Siena is also home of Sessione Senese per la Musica e l'Arte (SSMA), a summer music program for musicians, is a fun/learning musical summer experience.

Church of San Domenico

In the neighbourhood are numerous patrician villa, numerous of which attributed to Baldassarre Peruzzi:

l Villa Chigi

l Castle of Belcaro

l Villa Celsa

l Villa Cetinale

l Villa Volte Alte

View from the Campanile

Transport

The nearest international airports to Siena are Peretola Airport in Florence and Galileo Galilei International Airport in Pisa.

Siena can be reached by train from both Pisa and Florence, changing at Empoli. Siena railway station is located at the bottom of a long hill outside the city walls, and travellers with luggage should look for a taxi or bus (from the stop opposite the station).

Buses leave from Piazza Gramsci, located within the city walls. Buses are available directly to and from Florence, a one hour trip, as well as from Rome (three hours), Milan (four and a half hours), and from various other towns in Tuscany and beyond.

Madonna and Child with saints polyptych by Duccio di Buoninsegna (1311–1318).

By road, Siena is linked to Florence by a "superstrada" (the Raccordo Autostradale RA03 – Siena-Firenze), a form of toll free autostrada, albeit with narrower lanes, with a less well maintained surface and sharper bends. The superstrada to Florence is indicated on some road signs with the letters SI-FI, recalling the pre-1994 license-plate designations. A continuation of the same four lane road to the south east is under construction and will when completed facilitate the drive towards Perugia and Rome. However, drivers should be aware that almost no traffic is permitted within the city centre. Several large car parks are located immediately outside the city walls. The "La Fortezza" car park is closest to the centre, and is free of charge. Commercial traffic is permitted within the city only during the morning hours, while in the afternoon pedestrians dominate.

Pisa

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Pisa ( /ˈpiːsə/; Italian pronunciation: [ˈpiːsa]) is a city in Tuscany, Central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the River Arno on the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for its leaning tower (the bell tower of the city's cathedral), the city of over 88,332 residents (around 200,000 with the metropolitan area) contains more than 20 other historic churches, several palaces and various bridges across the River Arno.

Old half of Pisa (view from Leaning Tower)

The city is also home of the University of Pisa, which has a history going back to the 12th century and also has the mythic Napoleonic Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa and Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies as the best Superior Graduate Schools in Italy.

Main sights

While the Leaning Tower is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza del Duomo, also known, since 20th century, as Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), to the north of the old town center. The Piazza del Duomo also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Camposanto Monumentale (the monumental cemetery).

Historical walls

Other interesting sights include:

l Knights' Square (Piazza dei Cavalieri), where the Palazzo della Carovana, with its impressive façade designed by Giorgio Vasari may be seen.

l In the same place is the church of Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, also by Vasari. It had originally a single nave; two more were added in the 17th century. It houses a bust by Donatello, and paintings by Vasari, Jacopo Ligozzi, Alessandro Fei, and Jacopo Chimenti da Empoli. It also contains spoils from the many naval battles between the Cavalieri (Knights of St. Stephan) and the Turks between the 16–18th century, including the Turkish battle pennant hoisted from Ali Pacha's flagship at the 1571 Battle of Lepanto.

l Also close to the square is the small church of St. Sixtus. It was formally consecrated in 1133, but previously used as a seat of the most important notarial deeds of the town, also hosting the Council of Elders. It is today one of the best preserved early Romanesque buildings in town.

View of the Piazza dei Miracoli (Cathedral Square)

l The church of St. Francis, designed by Giovanni di Simone, built after 1276. In 1343 new chapels were added and the church was elevated. It has a single nave and a notable belfry, as well as a 15th‑century cloister. It houses works by Jacopo da Empoli, Taddeo Gaddi and Santi di Tito. In the Gherardesca Chapel are buried Ugolino della Gherardesca and his sons.

l Church of San Frediano, built by 1061, has a basilica interior with three aisles, with a crucifix from the 12th century. 16th century paintings were added during a restoration, including works by Ventura Salimbeni, Domenico Passignano, Aurelio Lomi, and Rutilio Manetti.

l Church of San Nicola, built by 1097, was enlarged between 1297 and 1313 by the Augustinians, perhaps by the design of Giovanni Pisano. The octagonal belfry is from the second half of the 13th century. The paintings include the Madonna with Child by Francesco Traini (14th century) and St. Nicholas Saving Pisa from the Plague (15th century). Noteworthy are also the wood sculptures by Giovanni and Nino Pisano, and the Annunciation by Francesco di Valdambrino.

The Monumental Camposanto Monumentale in the Piazza del Duomo

l The small church of Santa Maria della Spina, attributed to Lupo di Francesco (1230), is another excellent Gothic building.

l The church of San Paolo a Ripa d'Arno, founded around 952 and enlarged in the mid-12th century along lines similar to those of the Cathedral. It is annexed to the Romanesque Chapel of St. Agatha, with an unusual pyramidal cusp or peak.

l The Borgo Stretto, a neighborhood where one can stroll beneath medieval arcades and the Lungarno, the avenues along the river Arno. It includes the Gothic-Romanesque church of San Michele in Borgo (990). Remarkably, there are at least two other leaning towers in the city, one at the southern end of central Via Santa Maria, the other halfway through the Piagge riverside promenade.

l The Medici Palace, once a possession of the Appiano family, who ruled Pisa in 1392–1398. In 1400 the Medici acquired it, and Lorenzo de' Medici sojourned here.

Façade of Santa Maria della Spina

l The Orto botanico di Pisa is Europe's oldest university botanical garden.

l The Palazzo Reale ("Royal Palace"), once of the Caetani patrician family. Here Galileo Galilei showed to Grand Duke of Tuscany the planets he had discovered with his telescope. The edifice was erected in 1559 by Baccio Bandinelli for Cosimo I de Medici, and was later enlarged including other palaces.

l Palazzo Gambacorti, a Gothic building of the 14th century, is now the town hall. The interior shows frescoes boasting Pisa's sea victories.

l Palazzo Agostini, a Gothic building also known as Palazzo dell'Ussero, with its 15th century façade and remains of the ancient city walls dating back to before 1155. The name of the building comes from the coffee rooms of Caffè dell’Ussero, historic meeting place founded on 1 September 1775.

St. Francis' church

l The mural Tuttomondo, the last public work of Keith Haring, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio, painted in June 1989.

l Pisa boasts several museums:

l Museo dell'Opera del Duomo: exhibiting among others the original sculptures of Nicola Pisano and Giovanni Pisano and the treasures of the cathedral.

l Museo delle Sinopie: showing the sinopias from the camposanto, the monumental cemetery. These are red ocher underdrawings for frescoes, made with reddish, greenish or brownish earth colour with water.

l Museo Nazionale di S. Matteo: exhibiting sculptures and painting from 12th century–15th century, among them the masterworks of Giovanni and Andrea Pisano, the Master of San Martino, Simone Martini, Nino Pisano and Masaccio.

Palazzo della Carovana or dei Cavalieri

l Museo Nazionale di Palazzo Reale: exhibiting the belongings of the families that lived in the palace: paintings, statues, armors, etc.

l Museo Nazionale degli Strumenti per il Calcolo: exhibiting a collection of instruments used in science, between whose a pneumatic machine of Van Musschenbroek and a compass probably belonged to Galileo Galilei.

l Museo di storia naturale e del territorio dell'Università di Pisa, located in the Certosa di Calci, outside the city. It houses one of the largest cetacean skeletons collection in Europe.

l Pisa hosts the University of Pisa, especially renowned in the fields of Physics, Mathematics, Engineering and Computer Science, the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna and the Scuola Normale Superiore, the Italian academic élite institutions, mostly for research and the education of graduate students.

Construction of a new leaning tower of glass and steel 57 meters tall, containing offices and apartments was scheduled to start in summer 2004 and take 4 years. It was designed by Dante Oscar Benini and raised criticism.

Cittadella

Transport

Airport

Pisa is home to the Galileo Galilei Airport. The centre can be reached in 10 minutes by city bus — the bus line L.A.M. Rossa (Linea ad Alta Mobilità) connects the airport, the central railway station and Piazza dei Miracoli. Otherwise the centre can be reached in 5 minutes by train from Pisa Airport's railway station.

Buses

Local bus service in Pisa is managed by Compagnia Pisana Trasporti (CPT). Intercity buses depart from the main bus station in Piazza Sant'Antonio. There are also several privately run bus services going from the airport to Florence, Siena and other cities in Tuscany.

Trains

The city is served by three railway stations: Pisa Centrale, Pisa Aeroporto and Pisa San Rossore.

Pisa Centrale is the main railway station and is located along the Tyrrhenic railway line. It connects Pisa directly with several other important Italian cities such as Rome, Genoa, Turin, Naples, Livorno, Grosseto and Florence.

Pisa Aeroporto connects the airport to the central railway station, as well as Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station in the city of Florence. It is located next to the Galileo Galilei International Airport.

Pisa San Rossore links the city with Lucca (25 minutes from Pisa) and Pistoia and is also reachable from Pisa Centrale. It is a minor railway station located near the Leaning Tower zone.

Cars

Pisa has two exits on the A11 Genoa-Livorno road, Pisa Nord and Pisa Centro-aeroporto.

Pisa Centro leads visitors to the city centre.

Cultural events

l Capodanno pisano (25 March)

l Gioco del Ponte (folklore)

l Luminara di San Ranieri (16 June)

l Regate delle Antiche Repubbliche Marinare

l Premio Nazionale Letterario Pisa

l Pisa Book Festival

l Metarock

l Internet Festival

l Nessiáh (Jewish Cultural Festival, November)

Arezzo

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Piazza Grande; from left - S. Maria della Pieve, the old Tribunal Palace and the Lay Fraternity.

Arezzo is a city and comune in Central Italy, capital of the province of the same name, located in Tuscany. Arezzo is about 80 km southeast of Florence, at an elevation of 296 m above sea level. In 2011 the population was about 100,000.

Roman piece of pottery from Arezzo, Latium, found at Arikamedu in India (1st century CE), an evidence of the role of the city in Roman trade with India through Persia during the Augustan period. Musée Guimet

Main sights

Piazza GrandeThe Piazza Grande is the most noteworthy medieval square in the city, opening behind the 13th century Romanesque apse of Santa Maria della Pieve. Once the main marketplace of the city, it is currently the site of the Giostra del Saracino ("Joust of the Saracen"). It has a sloping pavement in red brick with limestone geometrical lines. Aside from the apse of the church, other landmarks of the square include:

Piazza Grande.

l The Palace of the Lay Fraternity (Fraternita dei Laici): 14th-15th century palazzo, with a Gothic ground floor and a quattrocento second floor by Bernardo Rossellino.

l The Vasari Loggia along the north side, a flat Mannerist façade designed by Giorgio Vasari.

l Episcopal Palace, seat of the bishops, rebuilt in the mid-13th century. The interior has frescoes by Salvi Castellucci, Teofilo Torri, and Pietro Benvenuti. In front of the Palace is the Monument to Grand Duke Ferdinando I de' Medici (1595), by Pietro Francavilla, following a design of Giambologna.

l Palazzo Cofani-Brizzolari, with the Torre Faggiolana.

l Remains of the Communal Palace and the Palazzo del Popolo can also be seen.

City wall.

Churches

l Romanesque church of Santa Maria della Pieve. Its most striking feature is the massive, square-planned bell tower with double orders of mullioned windows. The church was built in the 12th century over a pre-existing Palaeo-Christian edifice, and renovated a century later with the addition of the characteristic façade made of loggias with small arches surmounted by all different-styled columns. Also from the same century is the lunette with the Virgin between Two Angels and the sculptures of the months (1216) over the main portal. the interior has a nave and two aisles, with a transept also added in the 13th century. In the following century chapels, niches and frescoes were added, including the polyptych of Virgin with Child and Saints by Pietro Lorenzetti (1320). In the crypt is a relic bust of St. Donatus (1346). From the same epoch is the hexagonal baptismal font, with panels of the Histories of St. John the Baptist, by Giovanni d'Agostino. The Pieve was again renovated by Giorgio Vasari in 1560.

l the Gothic Cathedral of Saint Donatus (13th-early 16th centuries). The façade remained unfinished, and was added in the 20th century. The interior has a nave and aisles divided by massive pilasters. The left aisle has a fresco by Piero della Francesca portraying the Madeleine. Noteworthy are also the medieval stained glass, the Tarlati Chapel (1334) and the Gothic tomb of Pope Gregory X.

The Vasari Loggia on Piazza Grande

l Basilica of San Francesco (13th-14th centuries), in Tuscan-Gothic style. Of the projectd façade cover in sculpted stone only the lower band was completed. The interior has a single nave: the main attraction is the History of the True Cross fresco (1453–1464) cycle by Piero della Francesca in the Bacci Chapel. Under the church is another Basilica with a nave and two aisles (Basilica inferiore), today used for art exhibitions.

l Basilica of San Domenico (founded in 1275 and completed in the early 14th century). The interior has a single nave with a Crucifix by Cimabue, a masterwork of 13th century Italian art. Other artworks include a Sts. Philip and James the Younger and St. Catherine by Spinello Aretino and other 14th century painting and sculpture decorations.

Cathedral of Arezzo.

l church of San Michele, with a modern façade. Traces of the original Romanesque edifice and the Gothic restoration can be seen in the interior.

l Santa Maria in Gradi is a medieval church from the 11th or the 12th century, but was rebuilt in the late 16th century by Bartolomeo Ammannati. The interior has a single nave with stone altars (17th century) and a Madonna of Misericordia, terracotta by Andrea della Robbia.

l Church of St. Augustine, founded in 1257, modified in the late 15th and the late 18h centuries. The façade and the interior decoration are largely from Baroque times. The square plan bell tower is from the 15th century.

l Badia di SS. Flora e Lucilla (12th century). Built by Benedictine monks in the 12th century, it was totally restored in the 16th century under the direction of Giorgio Vasari. The octagonal bell tower is from 1650. The interior, in Mannerist style, has an illusionistic canvas depicting a false dome by Andrea Pozzo (1702). There are also a St. Lawrence fresco by Bartolomeo della Gatta (1476) and a Crucifix by Segna di Buonaventura (1319).

The Communal Palace in Arezzo.

l San Lorenzo, one of the most ancient of the city, having been built before the year 1000, most likely in Palaeo-Christian times. Rebuilt in the 13th century and restored in 1538, it was totally rebuilt in 1705. The apse exterior is in Romanesque style.

l Santa Maria delle Grazie, a late Gothic sanctuary with a Renaissance portal by Benedetto da Maiano (1490). It has also a marble high altar by Andrea della Robbia including a pre-existing fresco by Parri di Spinello (1428–1431). The sanctuary was built over a font dedicated to Apollo, which was destroyed by San Bernardino of Siena in 1428, building an oratory in its place. The church was erected in 1435–1444 and has a chapel entitled to St. Bernardino.

l Santa Maria a Gradi (1591), a monastery existing already in 1043. It has a Baroque interior, but with an altar by a collaborator of Andrea della Robbia.

l Church of Santissima Trinità. Built in 1348, it was totalle renovated in 1723–1748 in Baroque style. It houses a 14th century Crucifix, a banner painted by Giorgio Vasari in 1572, a painting of Noli me tangere by Alessandro Allori (1584) and other artworks.

Church of San Domenico.

l Santa Maria Maddalena, built in 1561 over a pre-14th century structure. It houses a Madonna with Child (Madonna of the Rose) by Spinello Aretino, visible in the high altar (c. 1525) designed by Guillaume de Marcillat. It is now private property.

l Pieve di San Paolo, in San Paolo, erected as Palaeo-Christian baptismal church, rebuilt in the 8th-9th centuries and then rebuilt in Romanesque style in the 13th century. The bell tower is from the 14th-15th centuries. The entire church was again renovated after the 1796 earthquake. It has kept 15th-century frescoes by Lorentino d'Andrea and a cyborium. The transept entrance has granite columns with marble capitals from the 5th century AD.

l Pieve di Sant'Eugenia al Bagnoro, in Bagnoro. Documented from 1012, it was one of the most important pievi of the diocese during the Middle Ages. The presbytery area is from the 12th century, while the rest is from the 11th century. The bell tower, partially ruined, stands on one of the three apses.

l Pieve di San Donnino a Maiano, at Palazzo del Pero (6th-9th centuries). Documented from 1064, it replaced a Palaeo-Christian baptismal church. The fronal part was rebuilt in the 14th century. The apse has 15th century frescoes and a wooden Madonna with Child from the same age.

Santa Maria della Pieve.

Others

l Roman amphitheatre and museum.

l Palazzo dei Priori, erected in 1333, has been the seat of the city's magistratures until today. The edifice was numerous times restored and renovated; the interior has a court from the 16th century, a stone statue portraying a Madonna with Child (1339), frescoes, busts of illustrious Aretines, two paintings by Giorgio Vasari. The square tower is from 1337.

l Medici Fortress (Fortezza Medicea), designed by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and completed in 1538–1560. It was partly dismantled by the French in the early 19th century.

l Palazzo Camaiani-Albergotti (14th century, renovated in the 16th century), with the Torre della Bigazza.

l Palazzo Bruni-Ciocchi, Renaissance edifice attributed to Bernardo Rossellino. It is seat of the State Museum of Medieval and Modern Art.

Cimabue's Crucifix in the church of San Domenico, 1265/1268.

l Palazzo Pretorio, which was seat of the People's Captain until 1290. The façade has coat of armas of the captains, podestà and commissaries of the city from 14th to 18th century. Only one of the two original towers remains.

l House of Petrarch (Casa del Petrarca).

l Casa Vasari (in Via XX Settembre) an older house rebuilt in 1547 by Giorgio Vasari and frescoed by him; now open as a museum, it also contains 16th-century archives. The main rooms were decorated by Vasari in an illusionist manner. the drawing room, where Vasare painted the life journey of an artist, with the artistic virtues protected by the gods of antiquite represented as heavenly bodies, is remarkable.

l Ivan Bruschi House and Museum (Casa-Museo "Ivan Bruschi").

l Gaio Cilnio Mecenate Archeological Museum.

l Civic Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art.

l UnoAErre Jewelry Museum

Amphitheatre.

Festivals

l Arezzo is home to an annual international competition of choral singing Concorso Polifónico Guido d'Arezzo (International Guido d'Arezzo Polyphonic Contest)

l Arezzo is home to an annual medieval festival called the Saracen Joust (Giostra del Saracino). In this, "knights" on horseback representing different areas of the town charge at a wooden target attached to a carving of a Saracen king and score points according to accuracy. Virtually all the town's people dress-up in medieval costume and enthusiastically cheer on the competitors.

l From 1986 to 2006 Arezzo was also home to an annual popular music and culture festival, each July, called Arezzo Wave. Publicly funded, it attracts bands of high repute and attendees from all over Europe and North America. It also features literary and film expositions. In 2007 it was replaced by PLAY Arezzo Art Festival, still about rock music. Some artist invited in 2007 and 2008 are: Negrita,Peter Gabriel, Lou Reed, Joan Baez, Ben Harper, Goran Bregovic, Carmen Consoli, Max Gazzè, Peter Brook.

In popular culture

l Arezzo has a starring role in Roberto Benigni's film Life Is Beautiful (La vita è bella, 1997). It is the place in which the main characters live before they are shipped off to a Nazi concentration camp.

l Arretium was used in the PC game Rome: Total War as the Capital of the Roman Faction of Julii.

l Dylan and Cole Sprouse were born here in 1992.

Montecatini, Tuscany, Italy

2011-11-17T06:24:00.000-08:00

Montecatini Terme is an Italian district of 21,095 inhabitants within the province of Pistoia in Tuscany. The most important center in Valdinievole. The town is located at the eastern end of Piana di Lucca and has a strong vocation for tourism, as well as industrial and commercial industries based around the spa, which in turn has increased the interest for hotel accommodation in the region.

History

The presence of humans in the area of Montecatini Terme is very old. Probably since Paleolithic times, the region was inhabited by nomadic hunters, but it has been thoroughly recorded only from the Mesolithic period, especially in the hills of the Valdinievole of which Montecatini is the major center.

In the early part of the 14th century, the borders of Valdinievole faced a new power: Florence. The Florentines had been the dominating power of the place over, Siena and Arezzo, but while Florence was about to realize its plans for domination in the north-west region the revolt of the Ghibellines in the early 1300 was able to slow down this process. The leader of that revolt was Uguccione of Faggiola, who in 1312 became imperial vicar and master of Pisa and Lucca. This directly threatened Florence which meant that war was inevitable given that this outcome would forge the future of the whole region of Tuscany.

The decisive year was 1315, when Uguccione of Faggiola attempted to lay siege to Montecatini, considered a strategic stronghold, but thanks to its excellent location and to the allies of Florence, the attempted siege failed. On August 29 under the walls of Montecatini, the decisive battle was played out. The Guelfi army were taken by surprise by the Ghibellines and by Uguccione of Faggiola with thousands of casualties and prisoners.

The following year Uguccione of Faggiola was forced to flee and Castruccio Castracani of Antelminelli took his place. The latter became first lord of Lucca, and then Pisa and was able to extend his power in Tuscany more and more. In 1323 Castruccio Castracani attempted to seize one of the strongholds of Florence, Fucecchio, but was wounded and forced to retreat, and so began a slow but sure recovery of Florentine power, and its return to dominate the town of Montecatini.

In 1530 at the foot of Montecatini, baths were constructed and adapted to contain the already known Spa waters, which had assumed the name "Medici" and "of blackbirds".

Montecatini saw war again, and was in the center of the dispute, which began in 1554. The players were Cosimo I de' Medici and Pietro Strozzi who were representatives of Florence with a Hispanic alliance with Siena as well as a French alliance. On June 21 of that year, Montecatini was occupied by Siena. Montecatini was actually not opposed to this occupation, because Cornelio Bentivoglio declared himself as a liberator.

Montecatini, the once impregnable fortress fell into poor repair caused by the centuries of battles and general lack of maintenance. So when the Medici and their troops went on the offensive, Montecatini fell under the Medici who plundered mercilessly, even taking away doors and windows. Cosimo not happy and full of resentment for Montecatini, ordered to "destroy the foundations", and so day after day, eight hundred soldiers destroyed the walls, towers and houses, leaving only one hundred and sixty houses, three convents, the palace of the Podestà and the Palace of Justice standing after this onslaught.

The area had remained a health hazard due to the stagnant water (of Padule of Fucecchio). Local entrepreneurs were flanked by those from abroad, and under the pressure of the Grand Duke Leopold, built channels for the disposal of water and the land was reclaimed, Baths were constructed to facilitate the use of the popular hot springs: Tettuccio 1779, Bagno Regio 1773 and the Terme Leopoldine 1775.

The following centuries passed quietly until the early 20th century, specifically 1905, when what was once a small village at the foot of the hill of Montecatini became "City of Bagni di Montecatini". This name, however, had no luck, and was changed later to the present name of, "Montecatini Terme.

During the same period at the turn of the 20th century the tourist experience was diversified and improved. The hotels had grown in number and quality, it was also noted the necessity to combine health, fun, relaxation and sport. It soon became home to fashionable restaurants, theaters, nightclubs, and a casino. Celebrities began to frequent the city. In fact, between the end of the 1800's and the early decades of the 1900's was easy to meet, in the tree-lined avenues, parks or at the bars of the city, people like Giuseppe Verdi, Pietro Mascagni Ruggero Leoncavallo Trilussa Beniamino Gigli or Luigi Pirandello.

With these celebrities Montecatini became a true meeting point of international renown: here discussions of politics, business closures were agreed and its reputation grew to the point that, in 1926 an attendance of 75,000 non residents was recorded in the city, a remarkable figure for that time.

The reputation of the town was recognized with the visit from the leader of government, Benito Mussolini, May 16, 1930, with Lando Ferretti.

During World War II, Don Julius Facibeni and l'Opera della Divina Provvidenza Madonnina del Grappa di Firenze ran an orphanage in Montecatini at the Villa Forini Lippi. In it, as in the case of the others in Tuscany, many Jewish children found shelter, among them the brothers Cesare and Vittorio Sacerdoti. Facibeni received the honor of the righteous among nations by Yad Vashem of Jerusalem.

Montecatini Terme is one of the most popular destinations in Italy for thermal spa tourism.

The local specialty, waffles Montecatini, made with egg and sugar, is much sought after as a dessert.

Personalities linked to Montecatini Terme

l Raoul Bellandi, founder of Montecatini Sporting Club and, later, chairman and honorary president.

l Giovanni Battista Berghinz, military and partisan, gold medal to the valor military

l Romulus Diecidue, teacher, politician, parliamentary.

l Peter Grocco, doctor.

l Sirio Maccioni, restaurateur of international fame.

l Natalino Mucci, painter.

l Tiziano Panconi, art historian.

l Dino Scalabrino, doctor, founder of the Art in intitolatagli.

l Ugolino da Montecatini, doctor and scientist.

l Alessandro Bicchierai, doctor and scientist.

l Galileo Chini, painter (acquired citizen)

l Andrea Niccolai, American Italian.

l Luca Cardelli, computer scientist.

Val d'Orcia, Tuscany, Italy

2011-11-17T05:57:00.000-08:00

The Val d’Orcia, or Valdorcia, is a region of Tuscany, central Italy, which extends from the hills south of Siena to Monte Amiata. It is characterised by gentle, carefully cultivated hills occasionally broken by gullies and by picturesque towns and villages such as Pienza (rebuilt as an “ideal town” in the 15th century under the patronage of Pope Pius II), Radicofani (home to the notorious brigand-hero Ghino di Tacco) and Montalcino (the Brunello di Montalcino is counted among the most prestigious of Italian wines). It is a landscape which has become familiar through its depiction in works of art from the Renaissance painting to the modern photograph.

In 2004 the Val d’Orcia was added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites under these criteria:

l Criterion (iv): The Val d’Orcia is an exceptional reflection of the way the landscape was re-written in Renaissance times to reflect the ideals of good governance and to create an aesthetically pleasing pictures.

l Criterion (vi): The landscape of the Val d’Orcia was celebrated by painters from the Scuola Senese, which flourished during the Renaissance. Images of the Val d’Orcia, and particularly depictions of landscapes where people are depicted as living in harmony with nature, have come to be seen as icons of the Renaissance and have profoundly influenced the development of landscape thinking.

Elba, Tuscany, Italy

2011-11-17T05:35:00.000-08:00

West coast of Elba

Elba (Italian: isola d'Elba, pronounced [ˈiːzola ˈdelba]; Latin: Ilva) is a Mediterranean island in Tuscany, Italy, 20 kilometres (12 mi) from the coastal town of Piombino. The largest island of the Tuscan Archipelago, Elba is also part of the National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago and the third largest island in Italy after Sicily and Sardinia. It is located in the Tyrrhenian Sea, about 50 kilometres (30 mi) east of the French island of Corsica.

The island is divided into eight municipalities, of which Portoferraio is the main one, the others; Campo nell'Elba, Capoliveri, Marciana, Marciana Marina, Porto Azzurro, Rio Marina, and Rio nell'Elba, are part of the province of Livorno, with a total of about 30,000 inhabitants, which increases considerably during the summer.

Climate

The climate of the Island is predominantly Mediterranean, except for Mount Capanne, where winters tend to be moderately cold. Precipitation is concentrated in autumn and comprises a normal rainfall.

Transportation

The island is connected to the mainland via the three ferry companies, Toremar, Moby Lines and Blunavy, all offering routes between Piombino and Portoferraio, the capital located in the north, Cavo, Rio Marina and Porto Azzurro, on the east coast of the island.

There is an airport on the island, Marina di Campo Airport. It is served by Intersky, with flights to Friedrichshafen, Munich and Zürich, and ElbaFly by internal flights.

Piazza del Campo, Tuscany, Italy

2011-11-17T05:15:00.000-08:00

Piazza del Campo is the principal public space of the historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is one of Europe's greatest medieval squares. It is renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity. The Palazzo Pubblico and its Torre del Mangia, as well as various palazzi signorili surround the shell-shaped piazza. At the northwest edge is the Fonte Gaia.

The twice-a-year horse-race, Palio di Siena, is held around the edges of the piazza.

History

The open site was a marketplace established before the thirteenth century on a sloping site near the meeting point of the three hillside communities that coalesced to form Siena: the Castellare, the San Martino and the Camollia. Siena may have had earlier Etruscan settlements, but it was not a considerable Roman settlement, and the campo does not lie on the site of a Roman forum, as is sometimes suggested. It was paved in 1349 in fishbone-patterned red brick with ten lines of travertine, which divide the piazza into nine sections, radiating from the mouth of the gavinone (the central water drain) in front of the Palazzo Pubblico. The number of divisions are held to be symbolic of the rule of The Nine (Noveschi) who laid out the campo and governed Siena at the height of its mediaeval splendour between 1292-1355. It was and remains the focal point of public life in the City. From the piazza, eleven narrow shaded streets radiate into the city.

Siena's Piazza del Campo

The palazzi signorili that line the square, housing the families of the Sansedoni, the Piccolomini and the Saracini etc, have unified rooflines, in contrast to earlier tower houses — emblems of communal strife — such as may still be seen not far from Siena at San Gimignano. In the statutes of Siena, civic and architectural decorum was ordered :"...it responds to the beauty of the city of Siena and to the satisfaction of almost all people of the same city that any edifices that are to be made anew anywhere along the public thoroughfares...proceed in line with the existent buildings and one building not stand out beyond another, but they shall be disposed and arranged equally so as to be of the greatest beauty for the city."

Gores of brick paving viewed from the Torre del Mangia

The unity of these Late Gothic houses is effected in part by the uniformity of the bricks of which their walls are built: brick-making was a monopoly of the commune, which saw to it that standards were maintained. (Ingersoll)

At the foot of the Palazzo Pubblico's wall is the late Gothic Chapel of the Virgin built as an ex voto by the Sienese, after the terrible Black Death of 1348 had ended.

Fonte Gaia

The Fonte Gaia ("Fountain of Joy") was built in 1419 as an endpoint of the system of conduits bringing water to the city's centre, replacing an earlier fountain completed about 1342 when the water conduits were completed. Under the direction of the Committee of Nine, many miles of tunnels were constructed to bring water in aqueducts to fountains and thence to drain to the surrounding fields. The present fountain, a center of attraction for the many tourists, is in the shape of a rectangular basin that is adorned on three sides with many bas-reliefs with the Madonna surrounded by the Classical and the Christian Virtues, emblematic of Good Government under the patronage of the Madonna. The white marble Fonte Gaia was originally designed and built by Jacopo della Quercia, whose bas-reliefs from the basin's sides are conserved in the Ospedale di St. Maria della Scala in Piazza Duomo. The former sculptures were replaced in 1866 by free copies by Tito Sarrocchi, who omitted Jacopo della Quercia's two nude statues of Rhea Silvia and Acca Larentia, which the nineteenth-century city fathers found too pagan or too nude. When they were set up in 1419, Jacopo della Quercia's nude figures were the first two female nudes, who were neither Eve nor a repentant saint, to stand in a public place since Antiquity.

Prato, Tuscany, Italy

2011-11-17T04:51:00.000-08:00

The Cathedral of Prato

Prato is a city and comune in Tuscany, Italy, the capital of the Province of Prato. The city is situated at the foot of Monte Retaia (768 m), the last peak in the Calvana chain. The lowest altitude in the comune is 32 m, near the Cascine di Tavola, and the highest is the peak of Monte Cantagrillo (818 m). The River Bisenzio, a tributary of the Arno, flows through it.

Historically, Prato's economy has been based on the textile industry. The renowned Datini archives are a significant collection of late medieval documents concerning economic and trade history, produced between 1363 and 1410. The Textile Museum also reflects this history.

Sangallo's Santa Maria delle Carceri.

Prato is also a centre of the slow food movement, with many local specialities, including cantucci, a type of biscotti, sold by local speciality bakers.

Since the late 1950s, the city has experienced significant immigration, firstly from southern Italy, then from other nationalities, the most notable being a large Chinese community which first arrived in the late 1980s. With more than 180,000 inhabitants, Prato is Tuscany's second largest city and the third largest in Central Italy, after Rome and Florence.

Palazzo Pretorio.

History

Ancient age

Archaeological findings have proved that Prato's surrounding hills were inhabited since Paleolithic times. The plain was later colonized by the Etruscans. In 1998 remains of a previously unknown city from that civilization were discovered in the neighbourhood, at Gonfienti near Campi Bisenzio: it was of medium size and it was already a centre for wool and textile industry. According to some scholars, it could be the mythical Camars. The Etruscan city was inhabited until the 5th century BC, when, for undisclosed reasons, it decayed; control of the area was later shifted to the Romans, who had their Via Cassia pass from here, but did not build any settlement.

Middle Ages

In the early Middle Ages the Byzantine and Lombard dominations followed. The history of Prato itself begins from the 10th century, when two distinct villages, Borgo al Cornio and Castrum Prati (Prato's Castle), are known. In the following century the two settlements were united under the lords of the castle, the Alberti family, who received the imperial title of Counts of Prato. In the same period the plain was dried and a hydraulic system regulating and exploiting the waters of the Bisenzio River was created to feed the gualchierae (pre-industrial textile machines).

After a siege in 1107 by the troops of Matilde of Canossa, the Alberti retreated to their family fortresses in the Bisenzio Valley: Prato could therefore develop as a free commune. Within two centuries it reached the number of 15,000 inhabitants, spurred in by the flourishing textile industry and by the presence of the Holy Belt relic. Two new lines of walls had to be built in the mid-12th century and, respectively, from the early 14th century. In 1326, in order to counter the expansionism of Florence, Prato submitted voluntarily under the seigniory of Robert of Anjou, King of Naples. However, on February 23, 1351 Joanna I of Naples sold the city to Florence in exchange of 17,500 golden florins. Prato's history therefore followed that of the former in the following centuries.

Modern age

In 1512, during the War of the League Santa, the city was sacked by Spanish troops assembled by Pope Julius II and the king of Aragón, Fernando II el Católico to recover the nearby city of Florence for the Medici family. The severity of the sack of Prato led to the surrender of the Florentine Republic, and to the restoration of the Medici rule. The army slaughtered some 50,000 Pratesi in the streets.

In 1653 Prato obtained the status of city and became seat of a Catholic diocese. The city was embellished in particular during the 18th century.

After the unification of Italy in the 19th century, Prato became a primary industrial centre, especially in the textile sector (Italian historian Emanuele Repetti described it as the "Italian Manchester"), and population grew up to 50,000 in 1901 and to 180,000 in 2001. The town experienced a significant internal immigration. Previously part of the province of Florence, in 1992 Prato became the capital of the eponymous province.

Chinese immigration

The city of Prato has the second largest Chinese immigrant population in Italy (after Milan with Italy's largest Chinatown). Legal Chinese residents in Prato on 31 December 2008 were 9,927. Local authorities estimate the number of Chinese citizens living in Prato to be around 45,000, illegal immigrants included. Most overseas Chinese come from the city of Wenzhou in the region of Zhejiang. Some of them have moved from Chinatown in Paris. The first Chinese people came to Prato in the early 1990s. The majority of Chinese work in 3,500 workshops in the garment industry and ready-to-wear. Chinatown is located in the west part of the city, spreading to Porta Pistoiese in the historical centre. The local Chamber of Commerce registered over 3,100 Chinese businesses by September 2008. Most of them are located in an industrial park named Macrolotto di Iolo. Raids on factories employing illegal immigrants in 2010 highlighted problems with the growth of an apparel industry in Prato based on cheap, and sometimes illegal, labor.

Main sights

Prato is home to many museums and other cultural monuments, including the Filippo Lippi frescoes in the Cathedral of Santo Stefano, recently restored. The Cathedral has an external pulpit by Donatello. Also of interest is the Teatro Metastasio, the city's main venue for operas and other theatrical productions, which was built in 1829-1830.

Palazzo Pretorio was built from the 13th century in red bricks. The part in white stone is from late-Gothic era. In the 16th century an external staircase and a watch were added. Also notable is the Palazzo Datini, built from 1383 for the merchant Francesco Datini. It has decorations by Florentine artists like Agnolo Gaddi and Niccolò Gerini. In 1409 it housed Pope Alexander V and Louis of Anjou. The Palazzo degli Alberti (12th century) is home to an art gallery with works by Filippo Lippi (Prato Madonna), Giovanni Bellini (Crucifix with Jew Cemetery) and Caravaggio (The Crowning with Thorns).

The Castello dell'Imperatore is the northernmost castle built by Frederick II of Hohenstaufen in Italy. A further major attraction of the city is the Centro per l'arte contemporanea Luigi Pecci a museum and education centre concerned with contemporary arts.

Other churches include:

l Santa Maria delle Carceri, commissioned by Lorenzo de' Medici to Giuliano da Sangallo in 1484. It is on a Greek cross plan, inspired by Brunelleschi's Pazzi Chapel. Works lasted for some twenty years. The interior is run by a bichromatic maiolica frieze by Luca della Robbia, also author of four tondos depicting the four Evangelists in the cupola. The external façade is unfinished, only the western part being completed in the 19th century according to Sangallo's design.

l Sant'Agostino, built from 1440 over an existing edifice from 1271. It has a simple façade with a rose window and a bell tower with pyramidal top. The interior is on the basilica plan, with a nave and two aisles divided by brickwork columns having "waterleave" capitals (c. 1410). The apse chapels date to the late 14th century. The interior is home to canvasses by Giovanni Battista Naldini, Lorenzo Lippi, l'Empoli, Giovanni Bizzelli and others, as well as 14th century frescoes. The cloister dates to the 16th century.

l San Domenico (begun in 1281), with a portal from 1310.

l San Francesco (1281–1331). It houses a funerary monument of Geminiano Inghirami (died 1460), and the frescoes by Niccolò Gerini in the Migliorati Chapel.

l San Fabiano, already existing in 1082. It houses precious traces of a pavement mosaic dating from the 9th-11th centuries. Also notable is the 15th century bell tower.

l the late-Baroque Monastery of San Vincenzo.

l Santa Maria della Pietà, built in 1617-1619. It houses a canvas by Mario Balassi (1638) and a 14th century fresco of the Madonna with Child, with alleged miraculous powers.

Tuscany, Italy

2011-11-14T22:13:00.000-08:00

Tuscany (Italian: Toscana, pronounced [tosˈkaːna]) is a region in Italy. It has an area of about 23,000 square kilometres (8,900 sq mi) and a population of about 3.75 million inhabitants. The regional capital is Florence (Firenze).

Tuscany is known for its gorgeous landscapes, its rich artistic legacy and its vast influence on high culture. Tuscany is widely regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some of the most influential people in the history of arts and science, such as Petrarch, Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci, Luca Pacioli and Puccini. Due to this, the region has several museums (such as the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace and the Chianciano Museum of Art). Tuscany has a unique culinary tradition, and is famous for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino).

The Via de' Tornabuoni in Florence, the city's top fashion and shopping street, contains some of the world's most luxurious clothing and jewelry houses, such as Cartier, Ferragamo, Gucci, Versace and Bulgari, to name a few.

Six Tuscan localities have been designated World Heritage Sites: the historic centre of Florence (1982), the historical centre of Siena (1995), the square of the Cathedral of Pisa (1987), the historical centre of San Gimignano (1990), the historical centre of Pienza (1996) and the Val d'Orcia (2004). Furthermore, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves. This makes Tuscany and its capital city Florence very popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of tourists every year. Florence itself receives an average of 10 million tourists a year by placing the city as one of the most visited in the world (in 2007, the city became the world's 46th most visited city, with over 1.715 million arrivals).

Tuscany south coast of Monte Argentario

Main artistic centres

In the province of Arezzo:

Arezzo

Castiglion Fiorentino

Cortona

Lucignano

Poppi

Sansepolcro

In the province of Florence:

Florence

Fiesole

Certaldo

In the Province of Grosseto:

Grosseto

Massa Marittima

Orbetello

Pitigliano

Roselle

Sorano

Sovana

In the province of Livorno:

Campiglia Marittima

Livorno

Piombino

Populonia

Suvereto

In the province of Lucca:

Barga

Castelnuovo di Garfagnana

Castiglione di Garfagnana

Lucca

Pietrasanta

Viareggio

Villa Basilica

In the province of Massa-Carrara:

Massa-Carrara

Pontremoli

Fivizzano

In the province of Pisa:

Pisa

San Miniato

Volterra

Vicopisano

In the province of Prato:

Carmignano

Poggio a Caiano

Prato

In the province of Pistoia:

Pescia

Pistoia

In the province of Siena:

Colle di Val d'Elsa

Pienza

Montepulciano

Montalcino

San Gimignano

Siena

Vineyards in the Chianti region

Language

Apart from standard Italian, the most spoken language in Tuscany is the 'Tuscan dialect' (lingua toscana), or the Tuscan dialect (dialetto toscano). In many respects it wandered less than other Romance dialects from the Latin language and evolved linearly and homogeneously, without major influences from other foreign languages. There are currently 3.5 million speakers of the language.

San Gimignano

Italian is in practice a "literary version" of Tuscan. It became the language of culture for all the people of Italy, thanks to the prestige of the masterpieces of Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini. It would later become the official language of all the Italian states and of the Kingdom of Italy, when it was formed.

Lucca

Siena

Prato

Pisa

Florence

Michelangelo's David

Blue-and-white faience albarello with Pseudo-Kufic designs, Tuscany, 2nd half of 15th century

Palazzo Vecchio in Florence

The Chimera of Arezzo, Etruscan bronze, 400 BC

Prato

Tuscany landscape near Siena

Hilly landscape in Val d'Orcia

Grosseto

Arezzo

Umbria, Italy

2011-11-14T21:46:00.000-08:00

Umbria (Italian pronunciation: [ˈumbrja]) is a region of modern central Italy. It is one of the smallest Italian regions and the only peninsular region that is landlocked.

Its capital is Perugia.

Assisi and Norcia are historical towns associated with St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Benedict.

The official language, as in the rest of Italy, is Italian.

History

The region is named for the Umbri tribe, one of those who were absorbed by the expansion of the Romans. Pliny the Elder recounts a fanciful derivation for the tribal name from the Greek ὄμβρος "a shower", which had led to the confused idea that they had survived the Deluge familiar from Greek mythology, giving them the claim to be the most ancient race in Italy.[3] In fact they belonged to a broader family of neighbouring tribes with similar roots. Their language was Umbrian, one of the Italic languages, related to Latin and Oscan.

The Umbri probably sprang, like neighbouring tribes, from the creators of the Terramara, and Villanovan culture in northern and central Italy, who entered north-eastern Italy at the beginning of the Bronze Age.

The Etruscans were the chief enemies of the Umbri, and the Etruscan invasion went from the western seaboard towards the north and east (lasting from about 700 to 500 BC), eventually driving the Umbrians towards the Apenninic uplands and capturing 300 Umbrian towns. Nevertheless, the Umbrian population does not seem to have been eradicated in the conquered districts.

After the downfall of the Etruscans, Umbrians attempted to aid the Samnites in their struggle against Rome (308 BC); but communications with Samnium were impeded by the Roman fortress of Narni (founded 298 BC). At the great battle of Sentinum (295 BC), which was fought in their own territory, the Umbrians did not substantially help the Samnites.

A typical landscape of the Umbrian countryside.

The Roman victory at Sentinum started a period of integration under the Roman rulers, who established some colonies (e.g., Spoletium) and built the via Flaminia (220 BC), which became a principal vector for Roman development in Umbria. During Hannibal's invasion in the second Punic war, the battle of Lake Trasimene was fought in Umbria, but the Umbrians did not aid him.

View of Assisi.

During the Roman civil war between Mark Antony and Octavian (40 BC), the city of Perugia supported Antony and was almost completely destroyed by the latter.

In Pliny's time, 49 independent communities still existed in Umbria, and the abundance of inscriptions and the high proportion of recruits in the imperial army attest to its population.

View of Norcia.

The modern region of Umbria, however, is essentially different from the Umbria of Roman times (see Roman Umbria), which extended through most of what is now the northern Marche, to Ravenna, but excluded the west bank of the Tiber. Thus Perugia was in Etruria, and the area around Norcia was in the Sabine territory.

The Cathedral of Orvieto

After the collapse of the Roman empire, Ostrogoths and Byzantines struggled for the supremacy in the region; the Lombards founded the duchy of Spoleto, covering much of today's Umbria. When Charlemagne conquered most of the Lombard kingdoms, some Umbrian territories were given to the Pope, who established temporal power over them. Some cities acquired a form of autonomy (the comuni); they were often at war with each other in the context of the more general conflict between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire or between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines.

In the 14th century, the signorie arose, but were subsumed into the Papal States, which ruled the region until the end of the 18th century.

After the French Revolution and the French conquest of Italy, Umbria was part of the ephemeral Roman Republic (1798–1799) and of the Napoleonic Empire (1809–1814).

After Napoleon's defeat, the Pope regained Umbria until 1860.

After the Risorgimento, the expansion of the Piedmontese, and Italian unification, in 1861 Umbria was incorporated in the Kingdom of Italy.

The borders of Umbria were fixed in 1927, with the creation of the province of Terni and the separation of the province of Rieti, which was incorporated in Lazio.

In 1946 Umbria became part of the Italian Republic

S'Archittu, Sardinia, Italy

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S'Archittu (Translation: "the little arch," in the Sardinian language) is a small coastal tourist resort near Oristano (Sardinia, Italy), part of the municipality of Cuglieri.

Overview

It is best known for its beach, at the end of which is a peculiar rock which the sea and wind erosion has bored, thereby digging a rather wide natural tunnel.

Approximately 1 km to the south of S'Archittu is Torre del Pozzo ("The Well's Tower), itself within the municipal territory of Cuglieri too, with its Is Arenas beach, which is more than seven km long, and flanked by the largest marine pine forest in Europe engulfing a world-renowned golf-club. The marine pine trees were planted back in the Sixties, but the forest developed into a truly amazing natural spectacle beyond anybody's expectations. Centuries ago, the tower served as a watch tower to safe-guard the island from marauding invaders from the sea, and the well is a natural vertical tunnel not far from the tower, dug through limestone and sandstone by the sea. It gushes sea water when the Mistral blows with gale force, from the north-west all the way down from the Massif Central in France.

Noteworthy of the area is also its lush Mediterranean vegetation. The roads are also lined with local cactus trees (Opuntia ficus-indica) bearing very flavoury Indian figs; these are best eaten when ripe after the rain. They can be picked using a cane which has been cut with deep slits at one end and provided with a small stone fitted at the centre of the three resulting wooden tongues that are thus spread apart to form a claw-like tip.

Travellers can reach it from Oristano and Bosa by bus, and accommodation is provided by a number of B&Bs and three camping sites. Victuals are galore at the many restaurants punctuating that stretch of coastline.

Argentiera, Sardinia, Italy

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Argentiera is a Ghost town and a frazione (hamlet) in the comune of Sassari, in Sardinia, Italy. It is far 43 km from Sassari. It is located in a narrow valley, in front of the Sardinian Sea.

The village

History

Argentiera is a former mining town, its name comes from the Italian argento, that means silver.

The mine was exploited since the ancient era, from the Romans and the Phoenicians. It was reopened in 19th century by a Belgian company, called "Società di Corr'e boi". The French writer Honoré de Balzac, explored the village in 1838.

The most florid period for the mining village were the 1940s. The town declined after World War II, and the mine was closed in 1963.

Argentiera's beach

Today the village is abandoned, and it is one of the most important example of industrial archaeology in Sardinia, it is included in the Geological-Mining Park of Sardinia and preserved by UNESCO.

The Laveria

Typical sandwiched stone in Argentiera

Cape Argentiera in North West Sardinia

Ruins of the village

Tharros, Sardinia, Italy

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Corinthian columns at Tharros.

Tharros (also spelled Tharras, Greek: Θάρρας, Ptol., Tarrae or Tarras) was an ancient city on the west coast of Sardinia, Italy, and is currently an archaeological site near the village of San Giovanni di Sinis, municipality of Cabras, in the Province of Oristano. It is located on the southern shores of the Sinis peninsula, that forms the northern cape of the Bay of Oristano, the cape of San Marco. Tharros, mentioned by Ptolemy and in the Itineraries, seems to have been one of the most important places on the island.

Archaeological research done in the area of Tharros has established that in the eighth century BCE the town was founded by Phoenicians. On the remains of a former nuragic village on top of the hill called Su Muru Mannu they founded a tophet, an open air sacred place common for several installations of Phoenicians in the western Mediterranean, and seen as a first sign of colonization and urbanization. Excavations have shown that from the eighth century BCE until the abandonment of Tharros in the 10th century the place was inhabited, first by Phoenicians, then by the Punics and then under Roman domination. The town was the capital of the medieval Guidicato of Arborea, a Roman/Byzantine relict state from the 9th century until 1070 when Orzocorre I relocated to Oristano under pressure of Saracen raiders. The town was effectively abandoned at this time or shortly thereafter. The site was used for centuries after that as a quarry for building materials for the surrounding villages and towns. Certainly there has always been a strong Sardic element during the whole time of its existence. An inscription records the repair of the road from Tharras to Cornus as late as the reign of the emperor Philip. The Antonine Itinerary correctly places it 18 miles from Cornus and 12 from Othoca (modern Santa Giusta near Oristano).

The area is now an open air museum and still excavations are done bringing to light ever more details of the past of this town. What is to be seen is most of the period of Roman domination or early Christianity. Amongst the interesting structures is the tophet itself, the bath installations, the temple foundations and a part of the area with houses and artisan workshops.

Most of the artifacts can be found in the Archaeological Museum at Cagliari, in the Antiquarium Arborense, the Archaeological Museum of the town of Cabras and in the British Museum, London.

Cala Gonone, Sardinia, Italy

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Cala Gonone is an Italian seaside town and a civil parish (frazione) of the municipality (comune) of Dorgali, Province of Nuoro, in the region of Sardinia. In 2007 its population was of 1,279 inhabitants.

History

The area around Cala Gonone was inhabited in the Nuragic Era. The remains of a Nuragic settlement can be seen at Nuraghe Mannu on the outskirts of the village, just off the road to Dorgali. The modern village was founded by a colony of fishermen from the island of Ponza at the beginning of the 20th century.

The beach of Cala Fuili

Looking down on Cala Gonone and the Bay of Orosei from the north