Rome is the Italian capital. When you walk across Rome, you come across the Colosseum and the Roman Forum, located at the foot of the Capitoline Hill. The Roman Forum was the heart of Ancient Rome. It was a major meeting place, a business center, the Republic's political center, a center of Pagan religious activity, as well as an architectural center, dotted with triumphal arches and temples dedicated to deified emperors.
It stands in the middle of the seven hills, where villages were inhabited by peasant-soldiers, the Latins and Sabines. This marshland soon became the place where chiefs met to take common decisions, such as the birth of the Forum, that you discover today, and where soon temples and public buildings were erected.
After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Forum was abandoned. Over the course of time, it became a vast expanse of ruins, where Rome's inhabitants found stones to build their homes and cattle grazed. It was then called: the Campo Vaccino, or cow plain.
Then, the Renaissance arrived, as well as new interest for Ancient Roman remains, while churches squatted former Pagan temples, the wealthy decorated their homes with statues found in the Forum. You just had to dig to find something ! Serious archeological digs and clearing work only really started at the beginning of the 19th century.
Today, mutilated walls, colonnades, ruined temples or churches make up a magnificent landscape, when seen from the Palatine Hill. Despite the irreparable ravages of time, this site offers the melancholy majesty of a great extinct civilisation.
Further down south, on the Amalfi Coast, in Castellammare di Stabia, the villa di Arianna was a sumptuous home proudly situated facing the gulf of Naples and Vesuvius. You will be seduced by the refinement of the villa di San Marco, which has two floors and is embellished by gardens and a swimming pool.
At the other extreme of the country, in Northern Italy, Milan is proud of its Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II. Completed in 1877 based on a plan by Giuseppe Mengoni, this prestigious gallery, the most famous in Italy, is a symbol of Milan: center of political and social life, this is also the place for shopping in the luxurious boutiques, a harmonious group of buildings.
In San Remo, on the Ligurian Coast, the Corso Imperatrice (Empress's promenade), is flanked by superb Canary palms. This promenade alongside the sea is one of the most elegant in Liguria.
In Venice, Bridge of Sighs has a little known history. The condemned crossed this bridge after having been judged and condemned in the ducal palace, to get to the prisons where they would remain for years and years. As they walked there, they would notice the sky, the lagoon, the sea, a last glimpse of freedom, upon which they would sigh hopelessly, thus giving this bridge its name.
In Florence, the Loggia della Signoria was built at the end of the 14th century to accommodate the members of the Florentine government (the Signoria) during official ceremonies. It was later used as a guardroom. Today it houses Antique and Renaissance statues: notable works include the Kidnapping of a Sabine Woman (1583) and a Hercules and Nessus by Giovanni da Bologna, but the highlight is the impressive statue of Perseus brandishing the head of Medusa, made between 1545 and 1553 by Benvenuto Cellini.