Resorts

In mountainous areas, the Castelli Romani, the Romans often spend their weekends. Tivoli, Frascati, Genzano, Castel Gandolfo and Rocca di Papa, are the most popular attractions. Ostia, the ancient port of Rome, is now a popular seaside resort. In Anzio, Sabaudia, San Felice Circeo, Terracina and Sperlonga so you can spend a relaxing beach holiday. 30 km off the coast lies the idyllic Iceland of Ponza.

Civitavecchia is a major commercial and naval port

Southern Italy

Regioni Molise, Campania, Puglia, Basilicata and Calabria.

MOLISE: This mountain region is a very pristine area of ??Campobasso is the most important city of this sparsely populated region ..

CAMPANIA (Napoli): The Campania Felix (blessed land), as the region was called by the Romans, has fertile soil and mild climate.

Napoli (Naples), Italy’s third largest city, is famous for its lovely location on the Gulf of Naples and its beautiful surroundings. Above the town rises the mighty crater of Vesuvius. The city is a mix of interesting art treasures and monuments, apartment buildings, old palaces with crumbling plaster and vociferous street vendors. The neoclassical Teatro San Carlo (1737), according to Milan’s La Scala opera house of Italy’s most important.

Museums and Art Galleries

Capodimonte Museum, Via San Martino 76th Castel Nuovo Maschio Angevin, Piazza Municipio. Floridiana Duca Di Martina Museum, Via Cimarosa al Vomero. G. Filangieri Museum, Via del Duomo. Royal apartments in the Palazzo Reale (Royal Palace), Piazza del Plebiscito.

A toll road leads almost to the summit of Mount Vesuvius. The last 100 meters you have to deal with walking on a trail of pumice. From the viewing platform, which stands right on the caldera, is not only opens up a breathtaking view of the steaming crater, but also a magnificent panoramic view over the Gulf of Naples. Close by lie the remains of Pompeii and Herculaneum, destroyed in 79 AD by an eruption of Vesuvius.

Caserta was once the country residence of the kings of Naples. Versailles served as a model for the royal baroque castle. Imposing Greek temples at Paestum can be visited.

Resorts

Sorrento, Amalfi, Positano, Ravello, Maiori, Vietri sul Mare, Palinuro and the islands of Capri and Ischia.

Puglia (Apulia): This southeastern region stretches from the wooded slopes of the Gargano, the spur, to the plains of the Salentine peninsula, the heel of the boot. In between lies Murgia, a limestone plateau with caves (particularly in Castellana). Bari and Taranto are attractive cultural cities.

Due to its strategic location as the gateway to the eastern Mediterranean, Puglia was one of the most important regions of the Roman Empire. The port city of Brindisi is the terminus of the Appian Way, were the products from the eastern provinces of the country and from abroad to Rome and transported to the northern regions. Places of interest include the Cathedral (12th century, Baroque) and the beautiful church of Santa Maria del Casale with its wonderful frescoes (14th century). The exhibits in the Provincial Archaeological Museum documenting the prosperity of the region at that time. The poet Virgil died in 19 BC at Brindisi.


Between Alberobello and Selva di Fasano is the Murgia plateau. In this area there are very unusual stone building, called trulli. These houses are similar to the known nuraghi in Sardinia. These are circular stone building with a pointed or cone-shaped roofs made of stone. At the northern end of the plateau lies the impressive Castel del Monte, an octagonal castle in the 13th Century by the Hohenstaufen Emperor Frederick II was built as a hunting lodge. In nearby Canosa di Puglia, the remnants of the great Roman city can be seen Canusium.

The convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in San Giovanni Rotondo is a major pilgrimage site because of its link with Padre Pio da Petralcina.

Good beaches are located on the Adriatic coast between Bari and Barletta.

BASILICATA (Basilicata) is a remote and largely mountainous region between Apulia and Calabria. In the north, surrounded by dense forests, is the Monte Vulture, an extinct volcano. Many rivers that flow from the southern Apennines to the Gulf of Taranto irrigate the fertile plain north of Metaponto, the birthplace of Pythagoras. The old town of Matera, with cave-dwellings of the ancient world, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Potenza, the largest city in the sparsely populated region had, in 1857 after a violent earthquake almost completely built up again. In the second world war the city was destroyed again.

Calabria (Calabria): The toe is a beautiful region with high mountains, dense forests and relatively empty beaches that are especially suitable for hiking. Almost half of Calabria is covered by chestnut, beech, oak and pine forests. Ceps (porcini), fresh, dried and canned, are a specialty of the region. At higher altitudes, there is only sparse pasture. By draining some marshes in coastal land has been won, the cultivation is possible. In the mountains of the Sila Massif wolves. Catanzaro, Cosenza and Reggio (the Straits of Messina) are the most important cities of this region. The best sand beaches lie on the west coast. A typical and very picturesque town of Tropea is built on the cliffs above the Tyrrhenian Sea, with a particularly busy commercial street in the evening, ending at a viewing platform overlooking the sea. The divided by rocky coves, sandy beaches stretching from north to south. On the Ionian sea, on the east coast, the beaches are rough and rocky. But they offer seclusion and tranquility, especially in the often very hot season in May and June.

Sicily and Sardinia

Sicilia (Sicily): The strategic location of the island between Italy and North Africa, the fertile land and the fish-rich waters were incentive enough for the Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Byzantines, Arabs, Normans, In Four, Aragonese, Bourbons, and during the second World War II for German troops to occupy the islands.

Palermo, the capital, is a beautiful city, its magnificent architecture impressed. Many imposing buildings, primarily in the Norman and Baroque architecture await the visitor. Particularly impressive are the churches of Martorana, Santa Maria di Ges, San Giuseppe dei Teatini and San Cataldo and the Cathedral of Santa Rosalia (1184-1185) and the Palazzo dei Normanni, the royal palace with a beautiful chapel. In the catacombs of the Capuchin monastery, lie thousands of mummies.

Siracusa (Syracuse) was probably the best natural harbor in Italy. The city lies on a small island near the coast and has many historic buildings, including a remarkable amphitheater (5th century BC). Archimedes lived here until his death.

Almost all the buildings date from the 18th of Catania Century. The city had to be rebuilt after several earthquakes. Close by is Mount Etna, Europe’s largest active volcano.

Further north, on the cliffs, lies the charming resort of Taormina. From here you can see Mount Etna. Beautiful beaches for swimming. The well-preserved Greek Theatre (3rd century BC), the castle on Monte Tauro and the Cathedral of San Nicola are worth seeing.

The lively port city of Messina in 1908 almost completely destroyed by an earthquake and is now one of the most modern cities in Italy. The cathedral, originally in the 11th Century built, was faithfully rebuilt again. Messina is the ferry dock from the Italian mainland.

Everywhere in Sicily you come across the remains of the cultures of many invaders: the magnificent mosaics in the Norman cathedral at Montreal, impressive ruins of Greek temples in Agrigento, which should be better preserved than comparable remains in Greece and the Byzantine cave dwellings and tombs in the rocky cava d’Ispica Valley near Modica. A huge temple of Apollo can be seen in Selinunte.

resorts

Cefalu (near Palermo), Mondello, Acitrezza, Acireale, Taormina (see above) and Tindari. On the south coast there are extensive sandy beaches. Sicily is surrounded by many small picturesque islands: Lipari, Vulcano, Panarea and Stromboli (Aeolian Islands, the), Ustica, Favignana, Levanzo, Marettimo, Pantelleria and Lampedusa.

Sardegna (Sardinia) is the second largest island in the Mediterranean. The barely inhabited interior, with its rocky clefts and resembles a lunar landscape. In recent years, infrastructure and tourist facilities were improved in some areas, particularly in the northern Costa Smeralda and on the west coast near Alghero. The Sardinian language is closer to Latin than is modern Italian.

Cagliari, the island capital, is located in a swampy valley in the south of the island. The city was founded by the Phoenicians and the Romans, who called it Carales strengthened.

Sassari is in the northwest, near the resort area around Alghero. The stronghold of the agricultural town of Nuoro in the foothills of the central mountain range is a good starting point for excursions into the interior. Olbia, a fishing port and car-ferry terminus situated at the edge of the Costa Smeralda.

Throughout the island there are relics from the Bronze Age. Best known are the circular (sometimes conical) stone dwellings nuraghi. The largest of these settlements from the Bronze Age is in Nuraxi, about 80 km north of Cagliari.

The most charming seaside resorts are Santa Margherita di Pula, Alghero, Santa Teresa, Porto Cervo and Capo Boi. Also on the island of La Maddalena can CONNECTIONS wonderful beach holidays.