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Rome (Roma)
Click this link for the Best Places to Visit in Rome
The "Eternal City" is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world. Once the capital of western civilization, Rome has an incredible number of world-class attractions, including, churches, monuments, piazzas, fountains, and museums.
The saying "All roads lead to Rome" was a truism during the Roman Empire and the city displays its heritage in a spectacular fashion. Rome is a fantastic destination; you will run out of time before you run out of worthwhile things to see and do. Rome is a tourist friendly city - see our recommendations on the best places to visit in Rome and, then, book your vacation.
We also show our recommendations for the best places to visit in Rome on a detailed street map of the city. You can view it as a normal map or see the attractions highlighted an a detailed satellite image of Rome. Just click the map symbol next to the description of an attraction to be shown where the attraction can be found within the Eternal City.
Anyone who visits Rome should reserve time to experience the Best Places to Visit in the Vatican, which we cover in our destination guide for the Holy See.
Although surrounded by Rome, the Vatican is an independent state that was established under the Lateran Treaties of 1929 (see our section on country facts on the Vatican for more information).
Venice (Venezia)
Click this link for the Best Places to Visit in Venice
Travel in Venice oozes romance and history. Canals, beautiful buildings, world famous landmarks - Venice is an experience unique in the world of travel. Whether taking a gondola down the Grand Canal or gazing at this romantic city's unique setting and architecture, Venice is a vision that you will never forget.
Be sure to see the Piazza San Marco, including the Basilica (St. Mark's) and the Doge's Palace (Palazzo Ducale). The Grand Canal is another must, as are its palazzos, bridges and gondolas.
Florence (Firenze)
Click this link for the Best Places to Visit in Florence, Italy
or continue reading below for our Florence Highlights.
From the point of view of art and architecture, Florence rivals Rome. During the renaissance, Florence was the art center of western civilization. A list of past residents of the city represents the "Who's Who" of the Masters, including: Dante, Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, among others. Culture seems to ooze from the frescoes and statues; perhaps that is why Florence and its museums tend to be incredibly attractive to tourists.
We provide a detailed street map showing the locations of the best places to visit in Florence. You can view the map using a satellite image as the background to see the attractions displayed at very high levels of detail.
Sampling Tuscany
Florence is the crown jewel of Tuscany (Toscana), but the entire region is known for its contributions to art and culture. The countryside of Tuscany is beautiful and varied, including coastal plains and mountains. Tuscany's landscapes have been the settings for many wonderful works of literature. Tuscany is a region to be savored. We feel that the best way to experience Tuscany Noteworthy destinations include:
Siena is a lovely town that has managed to retain its medieval look and feel. Its Piazza del Campo, featuring the Palazzo Pubblico, is considered by many to be the finest town square in Italy. Siena has several interesting art museums (especially the Pinacoteca Nazionale) that are small but filled with treasures. The town's Gothic-style Duomo is a showstopper. Siena has many charms and should be included in a tour of Tuscany.
Visit Pisa to the see the Leaning Tower, as well as its companions the Duomo and Baptistery. Other attractions in Pisa are limited.
Be sure to budget some time to see Tuscany's hill towns. San Gimignano is noted for its towers and medieval atmosphere . Cortona, another of Italy's charming towns preserved from ages past, is famous for its walls built by the Etruscans and rebuilt and extended in the Middle Ages. Cortona is also known for its delightful piazzas . The Chianti Hills are another area favored by many visitors. If you can spend some time savoring the delights of Tuscany, you will find it a most enjoyable experience.
Wandering Liguria and the Cinque Terre
The Cinque Terre on the "Italian Riviera" is a band of five scenic towns nestled along a hilly, dramatic coast. The Cinque Terre is both a National Park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The five towns of the Cinque Terre (Monterosso al Mare, Vernazza, Corniglia, Manarola, and Rigmaggiore) are connected by trails and the best way to see the area is to hike between towns. Alternatively, you can take the train or in some locations a boat between the towns.
Click for our photo-guide to the Cinque Terre.
Although we have given top billing to the Cinque Terre, other sections of Liguria are also top attractions. The Ligurian Alps shelter the coast from the cool winds from the north and coastal Liguria benefits from a delightful coastal climate most of the year.
Liguria, is known by most vacationers as the home of the Italian Riviera . The Riviera is an arc of shoreline broken into three main sections that can be traveled by road or by sea.
Starting at the French border is the Riviera di Ponente, which continues to Genoa. The western section includes the popular resort towns of San Remo and Ventimiglia as well as scenic, small villages. The Riviera di Ponente is more developed than the western section and has the same feel as the French Riviera.
Genoa, birthplace of Christopher Columbus and one of the most powerful cities on the Mediterranean during the Middle Ages, is an interesting city that features one of the largest Old Towns in Europe. . Be sure to see the Palazzo Ducale.
The Old Town that has a variety of architectural treasures and fine museums awaiting your exploration. In addition, the Porto Antico area, renovated for Expo 92, is known for its aquarium, which is rated as one of the best in the world.
See the city's official tourism web site for more information.
The eastern section of the Riviera (Genoa to La Spezia ), which is more rugged than the Riviera di Ponente, is known as the Riviera Levante. In addition to the Cinque Terre, the Riviera Levante is known for the closely-nested resort towns of Portonfino, Santa Margherita Ligure and Rapallo.
For more information on Liguria, see the official website of the Ligurian Tourism Agency.
Milan is a glamorous city, but not quite in the same class as Rome, Florence, or Venice. Milan, widely known as a fashion center, provides the tourist a number of delightful explorations that are tightly clustered in the vicinity of the Duomo, Milan's ostentatious cathedral.
Be sure to see the Duomo, La Scala, Castello Sforzesco and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II.
If you plan on seeing "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci, make reservations in advance by telephoning +39.02.8942.1146; tickets can also be reserved by contacting companies specializing in arranging museum tickets for travelers. (Use your search engine; enter "tickets + the Last Supper + Milan").
If you hope to see the Last Supper during high tourist season or around Easter, you may need to reserve tickets several weeks in advance to guarantee admission during your trip to Milan.
In our Milan Travel Guide, we provide a detailed street map showing the location of the best places to visit in Milan.
Milan is a good place to begin on a tour of the beautiful Italian Lakes.
Italy's Lake Country
Running along Italy's border with Switzerland are a series of lakes that offer amazing scenery and a chance to experience a region in Italy that, while not undiscovered, has been ignored by many travelers. The Italian Lakes, which spread through the Piedmont and Lombardy, each have a different flavor, although all offer beautiful scenery and colorful towns, comfortable restaurants and unexpected treasures.
Lake Maggiore is the westernmost of the lakes and its northern edge is within Switzerland. One of the Lake's most popular towns is Stressa, the the gateway to the picturesque Borromean Islands that are well-known for their scenic gardens. Be sure to see the palace and gardens on the island of Isola Bella. Stressa is also known to literary buffs for its role in Hemingway's "Farewell to Arms".
Lake Lugano is mainly in Switzerland (in the Canton of Ticino), although a minor portion of its shoreline is in Italy. Regardless, the villages of Lake Lugano have an Italian flavor and the city of Lugano is a terrific place to visit and easily accessible from Italy.
Lake Como is widely regarded as the most beautiful of the Italian Lakes. It is also the deepest, with a bottom well below sea level. Be sure to see the town of Bellagio for its country charm and beautiful setting. Also, Como is an interesting town and a center for boat travel along the lake, as well as offering car-ferry services to a limited number of destinations. For those interested, Lake Como is where the actor George Clooney bought a beautiful, rambling, lakeside villa.
Lake Garda is the largest and most popular of all of the lakes. It is noted for being a recreation center that is very popular with with northern Italians. The villages and accommodations along Lake Garda are also the most modern of any of the Italian Lakes. Although favored by many tour groups, we think the Lake Garda is the least interesting of the Italian Lakes (although, it is the closest to Venice).
If you are considering a trip to the Italian Lakes, we highly recommend that you visit www.italianlakes.com. Although it is not an official site for the region, we think it is the best site for understanding the allure and culture of this attractive area. As a matter of fact, we suspect that visiting the site will convince you to travel to the Italian Lakes.
Visiting Umbria
Although no part of Italy is undiscovered, many travelers believe that region of Umbria, with its quilt of hill towns represent some the best travel in Italy. Perugia, Assisi, Spello, Orvieto, and Gubbio are destinations that will reward your inquisitiveness. Most of these towns are small and can be crowded during the day in high season. We recommend that you consider spending a night or two to understand the how wonderful a visit to Umbria can be. When the sun goes down, the tour buses rumble down the highway and life returns to normal.
The hill towns are small cities that offer a delightful change of pace. Most of these towns grew in layers around their church and feature winding walks and curvy, narrow roads and interesting, but not dramatic architecture. You will find a limited number of residents who speak English and communications may be a challenge. Conversely, the restaurants are wonderful, the people friendly and the pace of life enjoyable. A meal and a quiet afternoon seem to follow, since most shops will be closed after lunch until early evening.
Travel in Campania
Campania, a popular region with travelers, includes Naples, Capri, the Amalfi Coast ( Amalfi, Ravello, Positano and we include Sorrento), Pompeii, Paestum and other attractive vacation spots. All these location are shown on our map of Italy's Best Places to Visit.
Naples
Naploli (Naples), which is often featured in guide books as the gateway to the Amalfi Coast, has lost much of its charm over the last few decades. While Naples is the largest town in the province, it suffers from a high crime rate and a deserved reputation as a place rough around the edges. Naples has grown quite seedy, and graffiti, which is a national problem in Italy's big cities, seems unrestrained. Naples is not a destination recommended by ThereArePlaces, but there are several reasons for visiting.
If you are planning to touring the ruins at Pompeii, then you should know that many of the best preserved treasures from both Herculaneum and Pompeii are on display at the Museo Archeologico Nazionale Napoli in Naples (at the Piazza Museo, 19). The Museum includes an outstanding collection of early Greek and Roman Sculptures.
Also, in Naples, the Museo di Capodimonte (Via Milano 2), housed in the former royal palace of the Bourbons, provides a renowned collection of art.
Finally, the hydrofoil from Naples is one of the quickest ways to reach Capri.
Pompeii and Vesuvius
Pompeii is an outstanding, world-famous attraction and should not be missed. It can be visited as a long day trip from Rome, if your travel plans do not include stops in Campania or the Amalfi Coast.
Frozen in time as a result of a cataclysmic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., which buried it under ash and volcanic mud, Pompeii's history has been unearthed by archaeologists over the last two centuries. The time capsule-like nature of the remains of Pompeii provide interesting and poignant views of life in the Roman Empire
Click for our photo-guide to Pompeii.
Relaxing in Capri
The Isle of Capri is a great place to kick back and enjoy the high life - assuming you can afford the high life! In addition to the pampering at classy hotels, the island offers a number of interesting antiquities. Be sure to see the Piazza Umberto (La Piazzetta) and spring for a boat ride for the best view of the island's breathtaking coast. Take the hydrofoil or ferry from Naples or Sorrento.
For a little change of pace, you might consider a stay in Ischia, another delightful island, but on the north end of the Bay of Naples. See Ischia Online for more detailed information.
Touring the Amalfi Coast
One of the great drives in the world can be experienced by starting at Sorrento and touring along the Amalfi Coast through Positano, Amalfi and uphill to Ravello. These are some of the most scenic coastal villages in the world. Most settlements are terraced up steeps hills, utilizing every inch of land to take advantage of spectacular views of beautiful coastlines.
Unfortunately, the Amalfi Coast is incredibly popular and the roads and towns are filled with tour buses in high season. Driving the road along the coast can be maddening when you are trapped behind a convoy of buses - and the road with its numerous hairpin turns is not that easy to drive in the best of conditions. Stay the night in Positano or Ravello to experience the Amalfi after dark and without the crowds.
Exploring Paestum
If you are going to venture as far south as Amalfi, you should consider adding another fifty miles to visit Paestum. The three fabulous Greek Temples at Paestum are the best preserved ancient Greek buildings in Italy and perhaps, the world. The temples date from the third and fourth century BC and were part of a large Greek town known as Poseidonia that was later occupied by the Romans.
Discovering Sicily
Plan your visit before July or after August, as the heat during high summer is oppressive. Sicily was at the heart of much of the history of the Mediterranean between 500 and 1500 A.D. and its architecture reflects the unique mixture of those who conquered this interesting island.
Have fun in Italy it really is a great place
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