Posts Tagged ‘Italy Travel’

Bologna Tours Travel , Italy

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

Bologna is one of the best looking city in Italy. The city centre is a combination of red bricks, tiled roofs and balconies. It is famous for the great central square of Piazza Maggiore. Bologna is a historical city, the main city in Emilia-Romagna which is a region in northern Italy. It is renowned for its cuisine and architecture. Bologna Tours can be a wonderful experience in between the itinerary of Venice and Florence. To get an Italian experience in a working city Bologna is the right place.

Bologna Tours is ideal between the months of March and October. It is warm at this time and people accumulate in places like the Piazza Santo Stefano and Piazza Maggiore.

There are various things that you can do and see on your Bologna Tours. Bologna is a place of Museums and Art Galleries. The museum card is for either one or three days. The museum card is given free if one wants to visit the city’s main museums and in some cases discounts are given. It is available at museums and tourist offices. Some of the best museums of the country which you should not miss are:
- Museo Civico Archeologico (Archaeological Museum)
- Jewish Museum
- Gallery of Modern Art of Bologna
- Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna (National Picture Gallery)
- University Museums
- Museo di Antropologia
- Museo di Anatomia Patologica
- Museo Internazionale e Biblioteca della Musica di Bologna
- Modern Art Gallery
- Ducati Museum

There are many areas in the city for sightseeing while you are enjoying the Bologna Tours. The best option for that would be the bus tours and walking tours. Some of the favourite sites are:
- Piazza Maggiore which is a large pedestrian square located in the monumental center of the old part of the city.
- Via Rizzoli which is one of the main streets of Bologne.
- Fontana di Nettuno (Fountain of Neptune) – Piazza del Nettuno.
- Corte de’ Galluzzi that can be accessed through a vault from Piazza Galvani and
- the University Quarter in the University of Bologna.

Tourists are also open to a number of landmark buildings in Bologna. These unique buildings show some kind of variety regarding the architectural designs. The two towers at the heart of the city are Torre degli Asinelli (Tower of the Asinelli) and Torre dei Garisenda (Tower of the Garisenda). Palazzo Comunale is Bologna’s city hall. Besides, Tombe dei Glossatori (The Glossatori tombs) Piazza San Domenico e Piazza Malpighi was built for the lawyers who used to add glosses. Santuario della Madonna di San Luca (St. Luke’s Basilica) is located on the Colle della Guardia (Guardia hill). Visitors should also go to the Basilica of San Petronio Piazza Maggiore Bologne, Basilica of San Dominico and Santa Maria della Vita.

One must definitely pay a visit to the magnificent parks and gardens that Bologna has to offer. They must be in the list of things to see in Bologna Tours. Many of these parks were former private gardens of nobility. Some of them are:
- Giardini Margherita (Margherita Gardens) – Viale Gozzadini that is Bologna’s main park.
- Parco Montagnola – Piazza VIII Agosto, a public park.
- Orto Botanico (Botanical Gardens)
- Villa delle Rose
- Villa Guastavillani
- Villa Spada
- Parco Cavaioni and
- Certosa

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Lecce Something New Under The Sun

Thursday, September 24th, 2009

The quiet mood of Castel del Monte is completely different from that which greets me the next day at the Baroque village of Martina Franca, host to a weekly market on Wednesdays. Traveling from town to town, such markets are roving shopping malls, with clothes, shoes, bags, and enough tools for a hardware store heaped in stalls. All the people from the town and the countryside gather to buy household necessities and to exchange gossip. I wander about the stalls, doing some informal research on Pugliese fashion trends—from heels (towering cork platforms) to lingerie (the French pant-style seems to be making inroads) and then move on to my favorite part of any market, the food and produce.

One stand sells more than ten types of olives, a local variety of pickle, five or six kinds of preserved mushrooms, buckets of capers, sun-dried tomatoes, and hot peppers. The next is devoted to the barattiere (a cucumber-melon hybrid native to the region that has the crunch of the former and a flavor that is similar to but more delicate than the latter). Crates of peaches, their leaves still attached, are stacked next to plums, fragrant lemons, yellow melons, beets, and plump white-and-purple eggplants (the last selling for thirty cents a pound). Bushels of cherry tomatoes and turnip tops are staples at every vegetable vendor. A pickup truck’s flatbed sags under the weight of huge watermelons. An old lady watches over sacks of grain, rice, and saffron, while her neighbor, a nattily dressed farmer with his hat at a rakish tilt, has only one ware: organic brown eggs. The most popular concession is in a refrigerated truck, where a long line of people queue for capocollo (a local pork salami) and huge rounds of cacio ricotta.

I get a sense of just how complicated Puglia’s history is when I arrive in Lecce, the entry point to the southern Salentine Peninsula. In the fifteenth century, Lecce (which grew into a city under the Romans) became a Bourbon stronghold and the base for a number of Spanish and feudal revolts, all brutally repressed; this was also the period when the city’s most striking architecture was completed.

In the nineteenth century, Lecce was dubbed the Florence of the South, a title that seems apt given its particular beauty. While I don’t consider myself a Baroque fan, Lecce’s dilapidation somehow makes the over-the-top style less formal and tones down the flourishes, to great effect. The lack of crowds keeps the place peaceful, but it still feels lived in, and as with many of these Pugliese towns, there are always unexpected and often unexplained deviations from the norm: a duomo not centered, for example, with an unusually high campanile and only one entrance into the piazza. In the evening, I make my way to Casareccia, a restaurant and Lecce institution in a storefront on a nondescript street outside the city center, which exemplifies why Puglia is so refreshing. It’s Friday night, and the place is packed with locals. There is no menu, no wine list, just a few courses prepared by the husband-and-wife team who run the show. The antipasti of roasted beets, baby potato salad, and roasted peppers encrusted with cheese, and the lightly battered capers, tomatoes, and olives are all commendably simple and utterly unforgettable.

“Let me bring you another starter, and after we’ll talk of after and after,” says Anna Maria Perrone, in Italian, who is wife, main chef, and waiter all in one. Shortly, she returns with a bowl of fava puree with strands of chicory in the middle. “It’s the oldest dish in Puglia.” I look at it with interest but don’t have the foggiest idea how to eat it. She giggles and takes my fork to wind the strings of chicory like spaghetti, using the puree as the sauce. She pops a forkful into my mouth before wandering back to her small kitchen.

I continue the drive south from Lecce, heading to the southernmost cape of the peninsula, where the Adriatic and Ionian seas meet. The beaches are even more striking than farther north, stretches of crisp white sand and turquoise water with sailboats drifting lazily in the coves. Norman castles mingle with Byzantine churches perched over the water, Art Deco villas nestle into the rock, surrounded by cool pines and deserted, crumbling farmhouses. Among the small ports, Otranto has become a popular resort, with every rock and stretch of pier taken over by sunning Italian bodies.
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Travel in Tower of Pisa , Italy

Friday, September 18th, 2009

The Leaning Tower of Pisa (Torre Pendente di Pisa in Italian) is one of the great icons of Europe. Begun in 1173, the bell tower of Pisa Cathedral is famous for the shifting of its sandy foundations that has led to a significant lean of 5.5 degrees.

The Tower of Pisa (La Torre di Pisa) is the campanile, or freestanding bell tower, of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistry.

Although intended to stand vertically, the tower began leaning to the southeast soon after the onset of construction in 1173 due to a poorly laid foundation and loose substrate that has allowed the foundation to shift direction. The tower presently leans to the southwest.

The campanile was begun in 1173 as the final structure of the magnificent cathedral complex on the Campo dei Miracoli in Pisa. The settling of its foundations and resulting lean became apparent before it was even finished – after only three stories were completed. The engineer, belived to be Bonnano Pisano, tried to compensate by making the new stories a little taller on one side. However, the extra materials caused the tower to sink even more.

Work was suspended several times as engineers worked to find a solution, but the tower was still leaning when it was completed in 1350. The architectural design remained unchanged throughout, as later builders stayed faithful to the original Romanesque designs.

Over the years various attempts have made to straighten the tower, including the injection of cement into the foundations and various types of bracing, but in the late 20th century the structure was still subsiding at the rate of 0.05 inches (1.2 mm) per year and in serious danger of collapse.

In 1990, the Leaning Tower was closed and the bells were silenced as engineers undertook a major straightening project. The main technique was to siphon more than 70 tons of earth from underneath the foundations while supporting the tower with steel cables and lead weights. The work was completed in May 2001 and has decreased the lean by 17 inches (44 cm) to 13.5 feet (4.1 metres).

Made of gleaming white and pastel marbles, the Leaning Tower has a diameter of 52 feet (16 m) at the base and would stand 185 feet (56 metres) high if it were straight. It currently leans 5.5 degrees, which amounts to about 15 feet or 4.5 metres from vertical.

The famous lean of the bell tower often overshadows its magnificent architecture, which is an exceptional example of the Romanesque style. The round tower is made of fine multicolored marble and has eight stories in all, each surrounded by an arcaded gallery. The repeating registers of arches give the tower an exceptionally harmonious and rhythmic appearance.

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Travel in Milan , Italy

Thursday, September 17th, 2009

Milan is the city of dreams and romanticism as the whole city is wrapped up in style, glamour and fashion which grab the attention from millions of international visitors who opt for Milan Travel to explore the magnificence of the city. The magical charm of the city stretches beyond its multitude of countless stylish boutiques and modern outlets displaying designer and branded outfits and a host of other chic commodities in the popular Golden Triangle area and in the Via Monte Napoleone region to the lush green gardens of Giardini di Villa Reale, Parco Marinai d’Italia, Parco di Villa Litta and Parco delle Basiliche which makes Milan Travel a truly delightful experience for the visitors. Milan Travel also includes a wide array of legendary tourist attractions like Duomo Square, Kartell Museum, Bagatti Valsecchi Museum and such other tourist destinations.

Due to the wide spread popularity of Milan Travel, millions of travelers from all corners of the world visit Milan every year and thereby there are good choice of transportation options for getting to Milan. Milan Malpensa Airport is the international airport in Milan and it is one of the most important international airports of the country. While opting for Milan Travel the travelers will find out that Milan Malpensa Airport is situated at a distance of 48km in the northwest of Milan and this airport is served by a wide range of transcontinental and other international flights and this airport also enjoys excellent ground transport facilities and a host of airport facilities which makes it convenient for the passengers as soon as they get down at the airport. There are numerous flights to Rome as a host international airline like Adria, Aegean Airlines, Aeroflot, Air Berlin, Air Baltic, Air Europa, Air Madrid, Albanian Airlines, Atlas Blue, Belle Air, Condor, Croatia Airlines, Cyprus Airlines, Carpat Air, Bulgaria Air, Panorama Airlines, Malaysian Airlines, Climber Air, Iceland Air, Montenegro Airlines, Norwegian Air, LOT Polish Airlines, Kuwait Airways, Tyrolean Airways, Lufthansa, Singapore Airlines, Austrian Airlines, Swiss International, TAO Portugal, Saudi Arabian Airlines, Singapore Airlines, Royal Air Maroc, Kuwait Air, Yemen Airways provides regular scheduled and chartered flights to Rome. Alitalia is the national airlines of Italy and the Milan Malpensa Airport also acts as one of its premier base in the country.

The travelers can also opt for railways or roadways in their Milan Travel and the tourists never get to complain about the transportation in Milan takes pride in its good network of transportation which makes it comfortable for the visitors to get around in the city without any hassles. One of the significant aspects for the travelers while planning for Milan travel is to find out the perfect time to visit Milan and the ideal time to visit Milan is during the seasons of autumn and spring as the weather in the months of the April to May and October to November makes it suitable for the visitors to explore the numerous premier tourist attractions of Italy. It is also a very good idea to visit Milan in the month of August as during the entire month of August, the city of the Milan is practically deserted as Milanese have their vacations in this time and they head for the nearby hills and lakes.

Milan is one of the most noted cities of the country as well as the world and therefore innumerable tourists from all corners of the world come over here to enjoy a leisure vacations or for corporate trips .The capital city of Italy is replete with numerous tourist attractions like ancient frescoes, renaissance fountains and beautiful piazzas and Milan has more than 400 churches and four major basilicas – St Peter’s, St John Lateran, St Mary Major and St Paul’s. Milan travel tips provide the travelers with all the necessary information that is required to enjoy a safe and exciting Milan tours with your near and dear ones. Milan travel tips are inclusive of all the necessary details that makes you trip in Milan hassle free.

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