The finest in art and design in full Roman splendor
The spectacular facade of Galleria Borghese
Take a trip to Rome to see some of the world’s finest historical works of art and modern design brought together in stunning surroundings.
“A great city, whose image dwells in the memory of man,” so said Benjamin Disraeli of Rome, which has a rich tradition of creating stunning imagery to be forever remembered. The city is well-known for its fine artists and throughout Rome you will find artistry on every corner, from the beautiful basilicas to the statues that grace the piazzas. Make sure you shop around for cheap holiday offers, before departing for Rome as staying in the city can be quite expensive.
For the devoted art-lover, there is more than enough to keep you occupied in Rome for several lifetimes, but if you’re pushed for time there are some places that you should make sure you absolutely don’t miss on your visit.
Read MoreRome: The Eternal City
Rome, The Eternal City, has created a sense of wonder and awe in visitors for thousands of years.
Rome is a contemporary capital in every sense of the word however rich with historical past, with an abundance of art, architectural mastery and religious beliefs to accommodate each and every traveler, academic or pilgrim. More than 200 decades of heritage have left their mark in every elements of this elegant city. Custom has it that this urban center was created by Romulus on Palatino among the 7 hillsides which the Italian Capital was made near the Tevere river, which ensures that anywhere that you are you are never far from a sensational view of the city.
Golfing In Italy
Golfing In Italy
While Spain and Portugal may attract all the headlines for a European golfing holiday, there is much more to golf in Europe as a whole. Southern Italy will claim that it has the courses and weather to match these countries and golfers who have played there will agree. Naples in particular is a fine base for the holiday golfer and if you’re thinking about playing some golf in Naples, there are some superb courses waiting for you.
It’s as easy to get to Naples as any other golf destination in Europe. The city has its own international airport with direct flights to many international terminals as well as regular flights to Rome if you need to find a connection. The city as a whole is well renowned as a beautiful location that offers the best of Italy.
With regards to golf in Naples, there are some truly stunning locations and a good place to start your holiday and your golf in Naples is at the Napoli itself. Some six miles outside of the city centre, this is an immaculate course with stunning views all around. It’s popular with locals as well as tourists and that in itself is as good and endorsement as you will get. Many players who have been here also recommend the excellent dining facilities.
If you’ve played golf in Europe before then you’ll be aware of the importance of taking your handicap certificate wherever you go. When you play golf Europe as a whole will need evidence of your competence. The Napoli will require your certificate as well as advance booking but once you’ve checked in, this is a very welcoming place indeed and it provides some tempting golf offers on packages throughout the year.
All over Naples and the south of Italy as a whole, you’ll find many nine hole courses. While the serious golfers may be disparaging of these, the nine hole locations in Naples are of the highest standard and Porto D’Orra golf club is a first class location with testing holes across the course. Naturally you can play Porto D’Orra twice to make up a full round but many holiday golfers like to use nine holes as a way of easing themselves into a busy golfing week and this is perfect for that.
While many holidaymakers use the Napoli and the Porto D’Orro in the main, golf offers many more courses here and the Adriatic, the Bologna, the Riva deiTessali and the Croara are all highly thought of and have been popular locations in the past. Each of the courses offers different challenges with varying degrees of difficulty but they are all in superb condition. The greens and fairways are looked after so well that they can be used all year round.
When you consider Europe has two major golf destinations in Spain and Portugal they can become very crowded at times. The main complaint of the holiday golfer is that a course becomes overbooked to the extent that a round can seem to take an eternity. Rounds in excess of six hours are unheard of in Naples. The courses however are of the highest possible standards.
This is a great region to visit for the tourist and for the golfer; there is much to keep you entertained. In Naples, golf offers the perfect accompaniment to a holiday with superbly maintained courses and facilities that offer the best in Italian hospitality. When you talk about golf Europe is much more than just two countries and Naples is a perfect example of the great golf on offer across the continent.
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Flying Blind in Italy
There was a physical weight on my eyes. Whether gravity or sensory overload was the cause, my weary ocular orbs were retreating back into my skull to escape. How many miles had my feet carried me through the endless halls of the Vatican, viewing the gaudy color murals and frescoes?
The first few visits to Rome were filled with the wonder and amazement that goes along with such a mystical place steeped in the richest history of the world. Living in Orlando must be similar; instead of Disney World, visiting friends want to see the Vatican and gaze at the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
I was glad for the break from the demanding city and visiting friends. Italy still held all of the charm and allure as always, but it was time for a much needed escape to the quiet Tuscan hills. Away from the speeding Vespas and psychotic taxis, I sat on the grassy embankment which surrounds the medieval village of Lucca, with eyes shut. I didn’t want to see a thing. I needed to balance the senses. As I relaxed into the damp grass, another side of Italy began to fill me. A smell of blossoms hanging from trees, I had never noticed before, engulfed me like an over-zealous perfumery clerk.
This new sensation sparked an idea. Since I had arrived in Italy eight months prior I had been exposed by so many awe inspiring sites that I began to lose my other senses. Lucca was my retreat from the city yet it was difficult not to be amazed by the beautiful architecture and ancient cobbled streets. I wanted to treat my senses to something new.
Stopping in a shop at the Piazza degli Scalpellini I purchased the darkest glasses I could find. Next door was my favorite gelato stand. I ordered a double cioccolato al peperoncino (chocolate with chili pepper) and quickly walked to the Piazza Anfiteatro, an ancient Roman amphitheater, before the gelato melted.
The amphitheater was now used as a place for children to play soccer on the cobbles, old ladies to argue over the freshness of overpriced herbs and a cut through to the bocce pit for pensioners.
I sat on the cool stones with my back against the wall, eyes closed, listening to the rapid conversations echoing through the open windows. A lover’s playful quarrel was the backup singers for the lead, a women yelling at her good for nothing son that couldn’t find work on a horseless farm. Not quite sure what that meant but she said it in earnest.
The chocolate was richer, the pepper spicier than ever before: the cold colder and the richness richer. Aromas never before considered wafted around like tornadoes in slow motion. The oval amphitheater was perhaps 50 meters wide, 75 across and bordered by converted flats. The sounds and smells were trapped in a jar for my amusement. I could smell clothes drying in the sun on limp cords strung from window to window. But more… I could hear them flapping. The familiar dropping of pasta into a pot of boiling water echoed down from the window above me with a sizzle carrying the smell of yeast and semolina.
Only when my rear end could take the hard stones no longer did I give myself ten more minutes of blissful blindness. I fell in love with Italy all over again that day.
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Turin: A City of Contrasts
High in the Piedmont region of Northern Italy, nestled at the base of the silent Alps, a city alive with commerce and cosmopolitan lifestyle proudly calls itself the first capital of Italy. Torino (Turin) was home to the 2006 Winter Olympics and arguably the automobile Mecca of the world.
Torino is a city of contrasts. The surrounding rural areas are picturesque and quiet as one would expect the Italian Alps to be. Within the sprawling urban area the ambiance drastically changes as visitors find themselves in a bustling metropolis comparable to any of the great cities of the world.
Cosmopolitan Torino is widely known for restaurants like Ristorante Arcadia and Ristorante Del Cambio 1757, fine art galleries like Galleria Sabauda and Galleria D’Arte Martano Di Dematteis Liliana, cathedrals, palaces, opera houses, lush gardens and busy piazzas. The contrasts continue as the old mingles with the new. Torino is built of a plethora of architectural magnificence in the style of baroque, rococo, neo-classical, and art nouveau, and is a wonderful place for Cheap Holidays Abroad
Museo Dell Automobile ,Carlo Biscaretti Di Ruffia, Museo della Marionetta Fondazione, Torino Musei are but a few of the many museums throughout the city which hold national treasures one would expect to find in the major museums of the world.
Far from Rome, the feel of Torino is more towards the French than the Italian. Much of the city’s beauty is fashioned after the city of Versailles designed by the Sicilian architect Filippo Juvarra. Within the city limits great castles such as Camino Castle, Castello di Razzano, Castello di Santa Vittoria and palazzi like Royal Palace of Turin or Palazzo Reale speckle the region as to suggest Torino is a city built for many kings. Romance and royalty topped with mystery and intrigue is the very foundation of Torino. Here is the home of the famous Shroud of Turin and the Italian royal family, House of Savoy.
One feels the electricity in the air when walking the city streets. For here is where great industry has produced some of the best automobiles in Italy and much of the International Space Station. The contrasts of Torino can be seen at every turn. Students learn modern science in ancient universities, modern public transportation carry visitors and residents alike to the medieval gardens, tended much in the same manner they have for more than 500 years.
Torino exists in the midst of many centuries, abandoning none, instead embracing the best of eras past, present and welcoming the future.
Siena Italy: The Tuscan Medieval City
If it were possible to have a love affair with a region, Tuscany would never have a lonely night. The inspiration for countless works of art that diverge from brightly layered colors upon canvas, literature to stir the very soul of passion itself and movies that bring stinging tears and raucous laughs of joy is the Tuscan region of Italy.
Sienna, located approximately an hour away from Florence, rests in the heart of Tuscany. The rolling hills, like emerald and ochre blankets laid lovingly over mother nature’s favorite children. Siena personifies the natural beauty that has become one of the most painted rural landscapes in Italy. The town itself captures the heart of the countryside in it’s historic and unspoiled splendor.
When you imagine gothic architectural mastery and a medieval city, you would imagine Siena. Constructed to be a fortified city behind substantial, heavy walls on a modest mountain, Siena is the epitome of heritage. Automobiles are prohibited from most of the city, so you’re able to meander down ancient brick alleyways beneath imposing wall-to-wall homes.
In Siena, you’ll discover a tranquil lifestyle. This rural setting is no stranger to art and culture with two world class music schools and art classes for every medium reside here. Within the city walls you will find the essence of what Italy must have been like in the centuries past.
Away from the stone walls where the moss appears to be as ancient as the megalithic ramparts themselves is Piazza del Campo in the middle of the hub where the masses congregate in traditional cafés. While you gazing upon the surroundings the Duomo Cathedral towers above the city. Unlike other small Italian cities, the cathedral does not contrast with the structures around it. All of Siena holds the gothic, middle age architectural fashion that challenges one to discover a better gothic illustration in all of Europe.
Daily explorations bring about unusual little merchants shops, unbelievably pleasant folks and an over-all sense serenity.
At first glance Siena may seem like a sleepy village forgotten by the outside world, until you experience an event that rivals any in Europe. The Il Palio bareback horse race round the Piazza del Campo is really a sight to behold. The enjoyment commences a long time before the race when numerous neighborhoods challenge one another. The challenge occurs by means of bands walking through “enemy” neighborhoods in the middle of the night, creating an unholy racket. Ultimately, every neighborhood delivers a horse and rider during the day of the race. Bareback, the riders battle for neighborhood pride amongst a completely shouting crowd of people. The Italian equivalent of Spain’s running of the bulls can be found in Siena.
This single affair describes the year round pride and sense of community that all visitors will experience firsthand in this beautifully ancient Tuscan city.
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