Category Archives: italy

florence, florence, italy, pisa

Florence & Pisa, Italy

Florence and Pisa, Italy

What to see, how to get around and all major attractions
Santa Croce, climbing the Duomo (Santa Maria del Fiore), the Door, Medici.
Florence is famous for its history. A centre of medieval European trade and finance and one of the wealthiest cities of the time, Florence is considered the birthplace of the Renaissance, and has been called the Athens of the Middle Ages. A turbulent political history includes periods of rule by the powerful Medici family, and numerous religious and republican revolutions.
The historic centre of Florence attracts millions of tourists each year, and Euromonitor International ranked the city as the world’s 72nd most visited in 2009, with 1,685,000 visitors.[5] It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1982. Due to Florence’s artistic and architectural heritage, it has been ranked by Forbes as one of the most beautiful cities in the world, and the city is noted for its history, culture, Renaissance art and architecture and monuments.[7] The city also contains numerous museums and art galleries, such as the Uffizi Gallery and the Pitti Palace, amongst others, and still exerts an influence in the fields of art, culture and politics.
Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The Santa Croce receipts:

The receipt for Duomo

The receipt for Medicee:

italy, vaporetto, Venice

Vaporetto (in Venice, Italy)

Vaporetto (in Venice, Italy)

You may see the sign of “ACTV”, it is the Azienda Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano, the Venetian public transportation system.

Vaporetto is a waterbus operation. It serves locales within Venice, Italy, and travels between Venice and nearby islands, e.g., Murano and Lido. (The name, vaporetto, also serves as the appellation for a single such craft, vaporetti being the plural version of the name.) The natives used to call the Vaporetto Batèo. The waterbus line is operated by Azienda Consorzio Trasporti Veneziano (ACTV), the Venetian public transportation system. The system is necessary in Venice as the deep canals prohibit the building of underground railways, and there is no space for overground trains, leaving the canals as the only viable rapid transport system.

europe, italy, Venice

Sights in Venice, Italy

Sights in Venice, Italy

Venice is a city in northeast Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges.
vaporetto, vaporetti (water buses) and water taxis. ACTV
Doge’s Palace (Palazzo Ducale)
Bell tower of St. Mark (Campanile di San Marco)
Saint Mark’s Basilica (Basilica di San Marco)
Correr Museum
Grand Canal
Gondola
Confusing Signs
Bridge of Sighs
Prison
“leaning” tower
Rialto Bridge
Mono Rail
Museo Della Musica

italy, Messina, Mount Etna, Sicily

Mount Etna of Sicily

Mount Etna of Sicily

Mount Etna, is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, close to Messina.
Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south.
Honey
Lava Rocks

italy, Messina, Sicily

Messina, Sicily


Messina is the capital of the Italian province of Messina and the third largest city on the island of Sicily. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina, just opposite Villa San Giovanni on the mainland. Archimandrite seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important international fair.

Bell Tower: The bell tower holds one of the largest astronomical clocks in the world, built in 1933 by the Ungerer Company of Strasbourg. The belfry mechanically animated statues, which illustrate events from the civil and religious history of the city every day at noon, are a popular touristic attraction.

Church: The building had to be almost entirely rebuilt in 1919-1920, following the devastating 1908 earthquake, and again in 1943, after a fire triggered by Allied bombings.

Mount Etna