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Rome may no longer be caput
mundi (capital of the world), but it is an epic, bubbling-over
metropolis harbouring lost empires. One visit and you’ll be hooked.
Rome has a glorious monumentality that it wears without reverence.
Its architectural heirlooms are buzzed around by car and Vespa as if
they were no more than traffic islands. The city bombards you with
images: elderly ladies with dyed hair chatting in Trastevere;
priests with cigars strolling the Imperial Forums; traffic jams
around the Coliseum; plate loads of pasta in Piazza Navona; sinuous
trees beside the Villa Borghese; barrages of pastel-coloured
scooters revving up at traffic lights as if preparing for a race.
Sandwiched between a sleeping volcano and the steaming Campi Flegrei,
Milan is the engine room of the
country’s economy and home of its stock exchange, yet it isn’t
driven by tourism. Treasures that survived WWII’s extensive damage
include its elaborate cathedral, Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last
Supper, La Scala opera house and Castello Sforzesco. What
really sets Milan apart, though, is its creative streak. Armani,
Versace, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Pucci, Gucci and many more took off
on Milan’s runways. Fashionistas make a pilgrimage here to shop at
the designers’ flagship stores in the Quadrilatero d’Oro (Golden
Quad). Boutiques stocking emerging labels, and chic concept shops
also line the city’s streets, while discount outlets selling
samples, seconds and last season’s cast-offs are a bargain-hunter’s
Holy Grail.
Naples is a rumbling mass of
contradictions. Extremes are something Naples does impressively
well. Grimy streets hit palm-fringed boulevards, crumbling façades
hide baroque ballrooms and cultish shrines flank cutting-edge clubs.
One minute you’re in dusty Tangiers, the next you’re thinking of
Paris.
Sardinia is the Mediterranean
second largest island, "lost between Europe and Africa and belonging
to nowhere" in the words of D. H. Lawrence. Sardinia (Sardegna in
Italian) has secluded beaches which count among the most beautiful
ones on the Mediterranean, and rocky headlands on every coast
interspersed with dramatic cliffs and placid lagoons.
Sicily will reward you with an
intense bittersweet experience rather than anything lightweight and
frothy. In Sicily it seems as though the sun shines brighter, the
shadows are darker, and life is lived full on and for the moment.
Overloaded with art treasures, undersupplied with infrastructure and
continuously struggling to thwart Mafia-driven corruption, Sicily
possesses some baffling social topography. Brace yourself to
reconcile architectural beauty with modern squalor, artistic
excellence with moral ambivalence and the rational with the sensual.
This is an island to be visited with an open mind – and a healthy
appetite; one factor remains a constant, and that is the
uncompromisingly high quality of the cuisine.
Venice
defies description. Many have tried, from Goethe to Brodsky, but it
has to be seen, felt and wandered through to be believed, and even
then you may have trouble thinking it real. Yet no theme-park
creator could ever have come up with this result of 1400 years of
extraordinary history. |
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THIS PHOTO GALLERY IS DEDICATED
TO LORENZO SANTONICOLA E MIRKO CARDONE FROM ROME
Copyright: All pictures in
this Italy photo gallery including but not limited to the pictures
from Rome, Milan, Calabria, Naples, Venice, Pompeii and Sicily are all by Victor Ovies
©victorovies2008
Unauthorized
reproduction or commercial use of this material is forbidden
and will be prosecuted.
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