The ancient city of Rome is about to impose a new tax on visitors starting January 1, 2011. Recent collapses at the Colosseum, Nero's Golden Palace and in Pompei grabbed world news headlines. Officials say "accommodation tax" will help pay toward efforts to stopping the city's famous heritage from crumbling away. Al Jazeera's Sabina Castelfranco reports. (Dec 28, 2010)
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For the Italian in Everyone!!! Food, Fashion, Family, Fun, Friends and so much more.
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Pompei is a city and comune in the province of Naples in Campania, southern Italy. The city is mainly famous for the ruins of the ancient city of Pompeii, located in the frazione of Pompei Scavi. The central basilica, dedicated to Madonna del Rosario di Pompei, has become a site for Catholic pilgrimages in recent years. It houses a canvas by Luca Giordano. [edit] Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for over 1500 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1599. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, with approximately 2500000 visitors every year.Early history The archaeological digs at the site extend to the street level of the 79 AD volcanic event; deeper digs in older parts of Pompeii and core samples of nearby drillings have exposed layers of jumbled sediment that suggest that the city had suffered from the volcano and other seismic events before then. Three sheets of sediment have been found on top of the lava that lies ...
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Matera About this sound listen (help·info) is a town and a province in the region of Basilicata, in southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Matera. Apart from an economy which has traditionally been based on agriculture, in the late 1990s the major economic base of Matera, and of surrounding cities, is the production of upholstered furniture. The town lies athwart a small canyon, which has been eroded in the course of years by a small stream, the Gravina.
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Geography Modena lies on the Pianura Padana, and is bounded by the two rivers Secchia and Panaro, both affluents of the Po River. Their presence is symbolized by the Two Rivers Fountain in the city's center, by Giuseppe Graziosi. The city is connected to the Panaro by the Naviglio channel. The Apennines ranges begin some 10 km from the city, to the south. The commune is divided into four circoscrizioni. These are: * Centro storico (Historical Center, San Cataldo) * Crocetta (San Lazzaro-East Modena, Crocetta) * Buon Pastore (Buon Pastore, Sant'Agnese, San Damaso) * San Faustino (S.Faustino-Saliceta San Giuliano, Madonnina-Quattro Ville) Modena has a temperate climate. It experiences hot, humid summers with little rainfall and cold, damp wintersAncient times The territory around Modena (Latin: Mutina, Etruscan: Muoina) was inhabited by the Villanovans in the Iron Age, and later by Ligurian tribes, Etruscans, and the Gaulish Boii (the settlement itself being Etruscan). Although the exact date of its foundation is unknown, it is known that it was already in existence in the 3rd century BC, for in 218 BC, during Hannibal's invasion of Italy, the Boii revolted and laid siege to the city. Livy described it as a fortified citadel where Roman magistrates took shelter. The outcome of the siege is not known, but the city was most likely abandoned after Hannibal's arrival. Mutina was refounded as a Roman colony in 183 BC, to be used as a military base by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus ...
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Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in 1285.3 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. 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. 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.[2] 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. 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. The city is one of ...
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Ferries to Sicily: ferriessicily.com Modica is a city and comune in the Province of Ragusa, Sicily, southern Italy. The city is situated in the Hyblaean Mountains and, along with Val di Noto, is part of UNESCO Heritage Sites in Italy. ( source Wikipedia )
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Alberobello is a small town and comune in the province of Bari, in Puglia, Italy. It has about 11000 inhabitants and is famous for its unique trulli constructions. The Trulli of Alberobello are part of the UNESCO World Heritage sites list since 1996.In some degrees of the fourteenth century the site of Alberobello is reported by the term "Silva Arboris Belli," referring to an area rich with lush vegetation, but no permanent settlements inhabited. One of the first human settlement activities began only in the early sixteenth century at the instigation of the count of Conversano III Andrea Matteo Acquaviva d'Aragona, son of the famous Count Giulio Antonio Acquaviva, who died in 1481 at Otranto in the war against the Turks. Count Andrea Matteo introduced by the estate of nuts about forty families of farmers to reclaim and cultivate the land, with the obligation to hand over a tenth of the harvest. Its successor, the powerful Count II Giangirolamo said Guercio of Apulia (1600-1665), who had erected a hunting lodge and an inn on the spot, began the real urban jungle with the construction of a cluster of houses. The abundance of calcareous sediment and authorization of the count only to build houses with dry stone walls without using mortar, which are the trulli, contributed to the expansion of the urban sprawl. This requirement to build homes only with dry-stone of the Count was an expedient to avoid paying taxes to the Spanish Viceroy of the Kingdom of Naples under the ...
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MANTUA AND SABBIONETA. Mantua (Italian: Màntova About this sound listen (help·info), in the local dialect of Emilian language Mantua) is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy and capital of the province of the same name. Mantua's historic power and influence under the Gonzaga family, made it one of the main artistic,[1] cultural and notably musical hubs of Northern Italy and the whole country itself. Mantua is noted for its significant role in the history of opera,[2] and the city is known for its several architectural treasures and artifacts, elegant palaces or palazzi, and its medieval and Renaissance cityscape. It is also the town where Romeo was banished to in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. Mantua is surrounded on three sides by artificial lakes created during the 12th century.[3] These receive the waters from the Mincio, which descend from Lake Garda. The three lakes are called Lago Superiore, Lago di Mezzo, and Lago Inferiore ("Superior", "Middle", and "Inferior" Lakes).[4] A fourth lake, Lake Pajolo, which once completed a defensive water ring of the city, dried up at the end of the 18th century.Sabbioneta is a town and comune in the province of Mantua, Lombardy region, northern Italy. It is situated about 30 km north of Parma, not far from the northern bank of the Po River. It was inscribed in the World Heritage List in 2008. [edit] History Sabbioneta was founded by Vespasiano I Gonzaga in the late 16th century along the ancient Roman Via Vitelliana ...
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Some lady in Connecticut owed a chimpanzee (chimp) which weighed over 200 pounds and allowed to live in the owners home as a human would. A friend came to visit, and the beast (the chimp) went on a rampage and tore the face off the visitor. The owner called the police who when arrived shot the beast (the chimp). This happened about the same time the Stimulus Package was making its way through Congress. The New York Post, owned by Rupert Murdoch (who also owns FOX News) published an editorial cartoon illustrating two policemen who shot the chimp dead, with a caption Theyll have to find someone else to write the net Stimulus Bill. This caused the race baiters in the United States of America (USA) to accuse The New York Post, Fox News, and Rupert Murdoch of racism accusing them of comparing President Obama to the monkey in the cartoon. When in fact that editorial cartoon had nothing to do with racism or President Obama. Because the Stimulus Package WAS NOT written by President Obama. It was orchestrated by Democratic Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi from San Francisco. Mrs. Pelosi is of Italian heritage, so if one wanted to equate that cartoon with racism then it could have been racist towards those Americans who enjoy an Italian heritage. True historically in America racist have compared blacks to monkeys. Also the same insults have been lobbed at Americans with an Italian heritage. In the early part of the 20th century when there was a massive migration from Italy to the ...
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Ferries to Sicily: ferriessicily.com Syracuse is a historic city in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is notable for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of the preeminent mathematician and engineer Archimedes. This 2700-year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the southeast corner of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Syracuse next to the Ionian Sea. The city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth, exerting influence over the entire Magna Grecia area of which it was the most important city. Once described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all", it later became part of the Roman Republic and Byzantine Empire. After this Palermo overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860. In the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125000 people. The inhabitants are known as Siracusans, and the local language spoken by its inhabitants is the Sicilian language. Syracuse is mentioned in the Bible in the Acts of ...
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Aquileia (Friulian: Acuilee/Aquilee/Aquilea) is an ancient Roman city in what is now Italy, at the head of the Adriatic at the edge of the lagoons, about 10 km from the sea, on the river Natiso (modern Natisone), the course of which has changed somewhat since Roman times. Today, it is one of the main archeological sites of Northern Italy.Roman Era A view of the archaeological area of Aquileia. Aquileia was founded as a colony by the Romans in 180/181 BC along the Natissa River, on land south of the Julian Alps but about 8 miles north of the lagoons. Apparently named from an indigenous word Akylis, the colony served as a frontier fortress at the north-east corner of transpadane Italy and was intended to protect the Veneti, faithful Roman allies, during the Illyrian Wars and act as a buttress to check the advance of other warlike people, such as the hostile tribes of Carni and Histri. In fact, Aquileia was founded on a site not far from where Gaulish invaders had attempted to settle in 183 BC. The colony was established with Latin rights by the triumvirate of Publius Scipio Nasica, Caius Flaminius, and Lucius Manlius Acidinus, two of whom were of consular and one of praetorian rank. They led 3000 pedites (infantry), mainly from Samnium, who with their families formed the bulk of the settlers and were soon supplemented by native Veneti. It is likely that Aquileia had been a center of Venetia even before the coming of the Romans. And Aquileia's strategic military position ...
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Ercolano is a town and comune in the province of Naples, Campania (southern Italy). It lies at the western foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the Bay of Naples, just southeast of the city of Naples. The medieval town of Resina was built on the volcanic material left by the eruption of Vesuvius (AD 79) that destroyed the ancient city of Herculaneum, from which the present name is derived. Ercolano is a resort and the starting point for excursions to the excavations of Herculaneum and for the ascent of Vesuvius by bus. The town also manufactures leather goods, buttons, glass, and the wine known as Lacryma Christi (Tear of Christ). [edit] History For the ancient city, see Herculaneum. Ercolano was most likely founded by the Oscans, an Italic tribe of the 8th century BC, and later became part of both the Etruscan and Samnite dominions. Under the control of the Romans, the city was a renowned seaside resort where some of the richest Roman citizens passed their summer vacations. After the AD 79 eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the city was completely buried under volcanic material. Unlike neighboring Pompeii, the citizens of Herculaneum died of thermal shock from the extremely hot pyroclastic surges, rather than buried under heavy ash. Records of rehabitation in the area begin to appear around the year 1000, when the sanctuary called Castel di Resina, one of the most visited in the Campania region, was recorded to have been located on a hill in that area. It is named after the Greek god ...
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Cerveteri is a town and comune of the northern Lazio, in the province of Rome. Originally known as Caere (also Caisra and Cisra), it is famous for a number of Etruscan necropoleis that include some of the best Etruscan tombs anywhere.Tarquinii (Etruscan Tarchnal) is said to have been already a flourishing city when Demaratus of Corinth brought in Greek workmen. It was the chief of the twelve cities of Etruria, and appears in the earliest history of Rome as the home of two of its kings, Tarquinius Priscus and Tarquinius Superbus. From it many of the religious rites and ceremonies of Rome are said to have been derived, and even in imperial times a collegium of sixty haruspices continued to exist there. The people of Tarquinii and Veii attempted to restore Tarquinius Superbus to the throne after his expulsion.
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Castel del Monte (Italian: Castle of the Mount) is a 13th century castle situated in Andria in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. It was built by the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II some time between 1240 and 1250; it has been despoiled of its interior marbles and furnishings in subsequent centuries. It has neither a moat nor a drawbridge and might in fact never have been intended as a defensive fortress.Castel del Monte is situated on a small hill close to the monastery of Santa Maria del Monte, at an altitude of 540 m. It lies in the comune of Andria, occupying the site of an earlier fortress of which no structural remains exist. It was completed in 1240 and was used primarily as a hunting lodge by Frederick until his death in 1250. It was later turned into a prison, used as a refuge during a plague, and finally fell into disrepair. It originally had marble walls and columns, but all were stripped by vandals. [edit]
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Ferries to Sicily: ferriessicily.com Piazza Armerina is an Italian comune in the province of Enna of the autonomous island region of Sicily.The city of Piazza (as it was called before 1862) originated during the Norman domination in Sicily (11th century), but the area was inhabited since prehistoric times. The city was flourishing also during Roman times, as showed by the notable mosaics at the patrician Villa Romana del Casale. Cathedral of Piazza Armerina. [edit] Main sights The town is famous chiefly for its Roman mosaics in the Villa Romana del Casale, about 3 km to the southwest. It has a range of significant architecture dating from medieval through the 18th century. The discovery and excavation of the well-preserved, highly refined mosaics has helped attract tourists. The medieval history of the city is manifest in some of its houses, which show Norman or Gothic architecture. The main landmarks include a range of architectural styles: * The massive Baroque Cathedral (17th-18th century), built on the 15th-century foundations of a former church, from which the bell tower was taken and reused.[1]. Also original to the 15th c. church are the Catalan-Gothic style windows on the left side. The dome dates from 1768. The façade has a notable portal with spiral columns by Leonardo De Luca. The interior, with a single large nave, houses the Madonna della Vittoria (Madonna of the Victory). The Byzantine icon is traditionally associated with the banner donated by the Pope to ...
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Herculaneum - www.BAZHE.com Herculaneum Ancient City, Italy Ancient city of Herculaneum is located at the northwestern foot of Vesuvius. Destroyed, together with Pompeii and Stabiae, by the eruption of AD 79. Buried under a mass of tufa preserved many fragile items. Excavation began in the 18th century and uncovered numerous artifacts, including paintings and furniture. Later work uncovered the palaestra (sports ground) and a vast central swimming pool. BKBAZHE is a writer, poet, and artist. He is the author of DAMAGES (creative nonfiction) — Winner in the Writers Digest Awards and IDENTITIES (poetry). He is published and exhibited in Europe and America. More info at www.BAZHE.com Amazon Books & Art by BKBazhe astore.amazon.com YouTube Videos by BK Bazhe: www.youtube.com Google Blog by BK Bazhe: bazhe.blogspot.com
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Ferries to Sicily: ferriessicily.com Siracusa is a historic city in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Syracuse. The city is famous for its rich Greek history, culture, amphitheatres, architecture, and as the birthplace of Archimedes. This 2700 year-old city played a key role in ancient times, when it was one of the major powers of the Mediterranean world. Syracuse is located in the south-east corner of the island of Sicily, right by the Gulf of Syracuse next to the Ionian Sea. The city was founded by Ancient Greek Corinthians and became a very powerful city-state. Syracuse was allied with Sparta and Corinth, exerting influence over the entire Magna Grecia area of which it was the most important city. Once described by Cicero as "the greatest Greek city and the most beautiful of them all", it later became part of the Roman Republic and Byzantine Empire. After this Palermo overtook it in importance, as the capital of the Kingdom of Sicily. Eventually the kingdom would be united with the Kingdom of Naples to form the Two Sicilies until the Italian unification of 1860. In the modern day, the city is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site along with the Necropolis of Pantalica. In the central area, the city itself has a population of around 125000 people. The inhabitants are known as Siracusans, and the local language spoken by its inhabitants is the Sicilian language. Syracuse is mentioned in the Bible in the Acts of the Apostles book at 28:12 as Paul stayed ...
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The Royal Palace of Caserta is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed for the Bourbon kings of Naples. It was the largest palace and one of the largest buildings erected in Europe during the eighteenth century. In 1997, the Palace was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site, described in its nomination as "the swan song of the spectacular art of the Baroque, from which it adopted all the features needed to create the illusions of multidirectional space".[1] History Map The construction of the palace was begun in 1752 for Charles VII of Naples, who worked closely with his architect Luigi Vanvitelli. When Charles saw Vanvitelli's grandly-scaled model for Caserta it filled him with emotion "fit to tear his heart from his breast". In the end, he never slept a night at the Reggia, as he abdicated in 1759 to become King of Spain, and the project was carried to completion for his third son and successor, Ferdinand IV of Naples. The political and social model for Vanvitelli's palace was Versailles, which, though it is strikingly different in its variety and disposition, solves similar problems of assembling and providing for king, court and government in a massive building with the social structure of a small city, confronting a baroque view of a highly subordinated nature, la nature forcée.[2] The Royal Palace of Madrid, where Charles had grown up, which had been devised by Filippo Juvarra for Charles' father, Philip V of Spain, and Charlottenburg ...
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EUROPEAN HERITAGE LIBRARY WWW.EUROHERITAGE.NET Roughly half of Libya was superficially annexed from the collapsing Ottoman empire by the growing Italian colonial empire in 1910. Its tribes resisted fiercly, and Italy was unable to secure a full colony much like it was humiliated in Ethiopia. The strongman Mussolini sought to prove Italian Roman majesty, and initiated a full-scale conquest of the Libyan tribes. Islamic Mujahidin fought a Jihad against the Italian colonialists for the establishment of an independent Muslim Libya (under the Wahhabi/Salafist Sanussis, still influential today). Islamic assaults on Italian civilian settlers and soldiers were met with brutal scorched-earth attacks. The rebellion was led by Umar Mukhtar. The uprising was unsuccessful, but became a heroic model for Muslims across the world. Libya was the first nation in North Africa to break from colonial rule. The Libyan revolution -- like the later Islamic revolution of Mumar Qadafi -- was under the banner of Islam, heavily influenced by Wahhabism and "Sanussism". The copyright of this film is expired. EUROPEAN HERITAGE LIBRARY WWW.EUROHERITAGE.NET
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