Italy

Many things can be said about the wonderful and unique country of Italy. In this page we are going to try give a general view over Italy and its italian style and culture.

A trip to Italy is always an artistic, wine and food, natural and cultural tour. The whole country has thousands incredible artistic treasures, such as churches, monuments, sculptures, paintings, museum, art galleries, More than half of the world's historic and artistic treasures are in Italy !

Over 3,000 museums are located throughout the whole country. Artistic and archaeological sites are from many different ages: Greek (south) and Roman, Baroque (south), Gothic (north), Byzantine, Muslim and Norman elements (north). In every city and town you can find interesting monuments and buildings to visit.
Renaissance art was one of the greatest cultural movement which began in Italy in the 15th century and that deeply influenced the history of culture of Europe. Its main artists were Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Masaccio, Botticelli, Piero della Francesca, Mantegna, Donatello, Raffaello and many others.
The great Renaissance movement left its magnificent marks everywhere in Italy, both in the great cities like Florence, Rome, Venice, Milan and Naples and in many other centres of Italy's regions. Paintings, statues, churches, buildings, palaces and fountains: an impressive collection of masterpieces who still influence the whole world.

10% of Italian territory is under state protection. Many nature parks and reserves are closed and used just for developing nature in all of its forms. In the Italian parks and nature reserves, therefore, not only are untouchable animals but also many plants, minerals, water and many other natural elements.

Italy has 23 National Parks, 89 Regional Parks, 270 Regional Reserves, 142 State Reserves, 47 Marsh reserves and 7 Marine Reserves. The National Parks are: Abruzzo (the oldest, officially opened in September 1922), Gran Paradiso (opened a few months after the Abruzzo park), Circeo, Stelvio, Calabria, Pollino, Monti Sibillini, Archipelago Tuscany, the Caserta Forests, the Belluno Dolomite mountains, Aspromonte, Cilento-Valle di Diano, Gargano, Gran Sasso-Laga, Maiella, Val Grande, Vesuvius, and Gennargentu-Asinara-Golfo di Orosei, Alta Murgia, Appennino Tosco-Emiliano, Arcipelago La Maddalena, Monte Falterona, Cinqueterre, Foreste Casentinesi, Campigna.

Italy was already mentioned during the age of the Etruscans, as is shown by the manuscripts kept in some museums, especially in Umbria, Tuscany and Latium. These in fact were the regions where most Etruscan settlements are found, although they also populated Campania and some zones of what is now Emilia Romagna and Lombardy.
Then came the Romans who, starting from the 3rd century BC, unified the whole peninsular under their dominion (and then most of Europe).
The long Roman domination (from the 3rd century BC to the 5th century AD) has left an indelible mark in Italy with its roads, aqueducts, temples, monuments, towns and cities, bridges, theatres - all memories of a past that is remote and yet also very present, a past that can be seen in every part of the country. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Italy was invaded and dominated for centuries by foreign populations, especially in the southern regions. Thanks to the independent city states in the Centre and North such as Venice, Florence, Siena, Genoa, and Milan, Italy became a flourishing and civilised country of trade and the arts.

Later however, the small independent states could not hold out against the invasions of the great states of Spain and Austria. Only the small kingdom of Piedmont remained independent and after Napoleon's forced occupation it became the lead power behind il Risorgimento, the great movement that led to the unification of Italy in 1870 under the Royal House of Savoia. After the Second World War, in 1946 a popular referendum abolished the monarchy and proclaimed Italy a Republic.

In Italy visitors can find several ways to spend their free time: sports, hobbies, relaxing, cultural events, concerts, theatres, festivals (also food festivals especially in central Italy, called "Sagra"). Also, sitting in a bar and enjoying a cappuccino or a glass of good wine, an Espresso coffee, or wandering around the beautiful towns visiting their churches, palaces, monuments, castles, archaeological sites, museums, galleries, squares and streets.

Specialties all over the country are: spaghetti, pizza, tomatoes, olive oil, espresso coffee and cappuccino! Freshness is the most important term in all Italy's table specialities, which is always present in risotto, mozzarella cheese, porchetta, pesto, steaks, lasagna, etc.

Nice and typical restaurants, osterie, wine bars and trattorie are everywhere ! And the best way to find them is asking native people around.

To complete your Italian style "virtual tour" you need to try a good wine. the whites to go with white meats, the reds for red meats. Then there are the rosés, the sparkling wines, the fortified wines, the liqueurs and the grappas: something to go with every stage of your meal, from an aperitivo at the beginning to a refreshing lemon or strawberry sorbet to end a perfect evening.