Sorrento is one of the most romantic and famous tourist attractions in Italy. The main fascination of this town is the serene brilliance of its landscape, the flowering of its gardens, the mildness of its air.
I now realise all the dreams of my youth, wrote Goethe on his arrival in Rome in winter of 1786. Perhaps Rome today is more chaotic, but it’s certainly no less romantic.
Cinque Terre is a fishing and agricultural area of great natural beauty and it is composed of five small villages: Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Riomaggiore.
Capri is called the Blue Island because of the colour of turquoise sea. It is for sure one of favourite places by the personalities from the arts and entertainment.
Geographically, Sardinia is located in the middle of the Mediterranean, close to Europe and Africa, near Italy but also France and Spain: the culture of Sardinia is therefore a synthesis of all these other cultures.
Famous in antiquity for its glorious Faculty of Medicine, the first based in Europe, Salerno boasts the masterpiece of its medieval Cathedral, dedicated to St. Matthew.
Amalfi is well-known for its magnificent Cathedral, with its majestic staircase, the gable adorned with mosaics and the bell tower. This building houses the sacred relics of Saint Andrew, patron saint of the town.
Chianti is the land of vineyards, with large farms and castles. If the vineyard prevails, there are large expanses of woodlands, beeches and chestnuts.
Prato boasts an old town of great artistic interest. Heart of the old town is the
Piazza del Duomo where rises the Cathedral of Santo Stefano, Romanesque building of the XII century.
The Cilento boasts great natural beauties, but also a wealth of history and culture: the nymph Leucosia, Palinuro, the helmsman of Aeneas, who died on this land, the ruins of Elea and Paestum, the Charterhouse of Padula.
Pistoia was important above all during the Middle Ages when, rival of Lucca and Florence, it became rich by trade. Worthy of note are the Cathedral, Baptistery and the Palazzo del Comune.
Covering an area of 46 square kilometres with its highest point 788 metres above sea level,
Ischia is the largest island of the Gulf of Naples.
The largest and most popular of the Italian lakes, Garda (370 sq km) lies between the Alps and the Padana plain and enjoys a temperate climate with the orange and lemon groves.
American poet Mark Rudman once wrote: ”Venice is anti-simile ; it isn’t like any other place”. It may be one of the few cities where you’ll never hear an automobile.
The coast of Marche consists of an alternation of the beautiful beaches of gravel and sand, and it offers answers to the needs of every visitor.
Treviso, with a population of 82,000 inhabitants, is situated in the Po valley in an area rich in water resources. The city is also rich in sacred buildings such as the
Cathedral, the church of San Francesco , and places of art such as profane
Piazza dei Signori and the
Loggia dei Cavalieri.
This small volcanic island, whose craters have been levelled by erosion, is the most savage of the entire Gulf of Naples.
A gracious city of wide boulevards, elegant arcades and grand public buildings, Turin rests in regal calm beside a pretty stretch of the Po river.
The Langhe is an area of wine in Piedmont composed of hills with sharp ridges, marked by deep valleys and carved by streams, between the Tanaro river, Ligurian Apennines and Bormida.
Asti is known worldwide for its wines, notably Asti Spumante, and every year in September, it takes place one of the most important wine competitions in Italy, called the
Douja d'Or.
The dramatic topography that made the life in Positano so difficult is what makes it such a touristic attraction today. Positano’s vertical layout means that almost every house has a clear view over the top of the one in front.
Florence is the cradle of the Renaissance, the Athens of Italy. Today, Florence offers tourists from all over the world the image of the elegant city of art par excellence.
Siena is a city of art and culture that has preserved the look of the past. Very beautiful are the Piazza del Campo with its Palazzo Pubblico, the Church of San Domenico and that one of San Francis.
The Maremma offers thousand different atmospheres. In order to preserve their integrity, Parks and Oasis were established where you can admire its flora and fauna.
The Italian Riviera extends from Capo Cervo to the French border and it is composed of many bays, harbours and inlets. It offers beaches, sun, sea, mountains, medieval villages, old churches and excellent cuisine.
The Amalfi Coast (Costiera Amalfitana) is a stretch of shore famous for its natural beauty. Its terraced cliffs overlook the splendid sea.
One of Italy's best-preserved medieval hill towns, Perugia has a strong artistic and cultural tradition. It was home to the fresco painters Bernardino Pinturicchio and il Perugino, the teacher of Raphael.
Mount Conero is named after one of its old products, the
Komaròs , for the ancient Greeks, the strawberry-tree. In 1987 a natural park was created around Monte Conero.
Aosta is the capital and the only major city of the Val d’Aosta region. It lies at the centre of the valley, with the Dora Baltea river at its southern boundary and the Buthier river on its eastern side.
In medieval times Lucca was the capital of a thriving marquisate and the thirteenth century was the period of its great Romanesque churches. Worthy of note are the Cathedral, the Church of San Michele in Foro and the National Art Gallery.
San Gimignano is an extraordinary place, because due to the economic decline in the Middle Age, it has been preserved almost intact in its urban fabric.
Naples is a universe in its own right, imbued with fantasy and fatalism, superstition and splendour. It is a city of a thousand faces: it may be chaotic and heaving with traffic but it is rich with history and art.
Pisa is famous mainly for its Campo dei Miracoli (Field of Miracles) that gathers a spectacular complex of monuments harmoniously combined in colours and architectural forms.
The island of Sicily is almost like a country unto itself. Geographically separate from the rest of the Italian peninsula, it has developed its own unique culture over the centuries.
Viterbo has experienced the vicissitudes of the papacy until 1860 with the unification of Italy. Its centre offers a lot, such as
the Palace of the Popes and the
Cathedral of San Lorenzo.
The land of Bari, to be understood and loved, must be visited with calm and quietness, in order to read again the social and economic history in the artistic, sculptural and pictorial manifestations.
The renowned Swiss architect Le Corbusier called the Dolomites
the most beautiful natural architecture in the world . From 27 June 2009 the Dolomites are recognized officially by UNESCO.
Elba is the largest among the islands of the Tuscan archipelago. The areas of the island, all interesting for historical reasons or landscapes, are connected by good roads that allow magnificent views.
In 1646 in his "History of Terni" Francesco Angeloni wrote:
Terni that...is among the most renowned and illustrious cities of Italy, for the cause of heritage, for its dignity, for its judges, for greatness and nobility of public factories.
Gargano area, the spur of the boot of Italy , is the only mountain range of a certain importance in Apulia. The forests of this area were also praised by Horace for their beauty.
