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Italy
 Europe's kinky
over-the-knee boot has it all: popes, painters, polenta,
paramours, poets, political puerility and potentates. Its three
millennia of history, culture and cuisine seduce just about
everyone. In Italy you can visit Roman ruins, gawk at Renaissance
art, stay in tiny medieval hill towns, go skiing in the Alps,
explore the canals of Venice and see more beautiful churches than
you imagined could exist in one country. Naturally you can also
indulge in the more elementary pleasures of enjoying good food and
wine, improving your wardrobe and seeking out la dolce vita. |
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| Florence |
| The
cultural and historical impact of Florence is
overwhelming. Close up, however, the city is one of
Italy's most atmospheric and pleasant, retaining a strong
resemblance to the small late-medieval centre that
contributed so much to the cultural and political
development of Europe. Unfortunately, it can be one of
Italy's most clogged tourist traps, with up to 2000
tourist buses arriving daily in the peak season.
Where Rome
is a historical hot-pot, Florence is like stepping back
into a Fiat and Vespa-filled Renaissance: the shop-lined
Ponte Vecchio, the trademark Duomo, the gem-filled Uffizi
Gallery, the turreted Piazza della Signoria and the Medici
Chapels. Thankfully, these unforgettables are all within
walking distance of each other.
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| Milan |
| The
hard-working Milanese run their busy metropolis with
efficiency and aplomb. It is the country's economic engine
room, home to Italy's stock market and business centers.
This stylish city is also the world's design capital and
rivals Paris as a leading fashion center.
It is
distinctly sophisticated. Shopping, whether of the window
variety or - for those who can afford it - the real thing,
is of almost a religious significance. Theater and cinema
flourish in this fashionable milieu, while top
international artists always include Milan while on tour.
The club scene is hopping. Food is another one of Milan's
joys. Immigrants dish up eclectic cuisines to the delight
of denizens and visitors alike. When you're tired of
exquisite Lombard, Sicilian and Tuscan dishes, here you'll
be able to find a fragrant bowl of pho or a spicy curry.
Milan is certainly a Renaissance city.
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| Rome |
There's
no escaping it: Rome means history. There's layers of the
stuff - Etruscan tombs, Republican meeting rooms, Imperial
temples, early Christian churches, medieval bell towers,
Renaissance palaces and baroque basilicas. In this city a
phenomenal concentration of history, legend and monuments
coexists with an equally phenomenal concentration of
people busily going about their everyday life. It's hard
to say what you'll find most breathtaking about the
eternal city - the arrogant opulence of the Vatican, the
timelessness of the Forum, the top speed of a Fiat Bambino
or the bill for your caffè latte.
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| Venice |
| La
Serenissima, Queen of the Adriatic, captivating city of
canals and palaces - or merely a floating rip-off merchant
bursting with tourists ... Call her what you will, Venice
is simply unique. For a thousand years, the city led an
independent existence as one of the most enduring
mercantile sea powers in history. Today the brilliance and
influence have long since faded, leaving a town of
tarnished glories that's out of time and out of place, so
achingly beautiful and complete it's hard not to look for
evidence of props. If you get caught up in the
never-ending flow of visitors tramping the narrow main
thoroughfares it can be the epitome of hell. Step off the
main drag, however, and you'll discover the subdued,
shabby charm of the real Venice, whose baroque backstreet
churches are framed by lines of washing flapping in the
breeze.
There's no
denying that the proud city of the winged lion is slowly
expiring, attacked by submergence, neglect and pollution.
Rationally speaking she shouldn't exist at all. Venice is
too small and her attractions too dainty to cope with the
mass tourism she receives year in, year out. The
preservation of her crumbling monuments and churches is
almost an industry; the debate on how to stem the Adriatic
floods is never ending; and the battle to clean the lagoon
of toxic petrochemical waste is highlighted by media
reports on building subsidence and rotting foundations.
Venice will have to pull a pretty good stunt to survive,
but love her or loathe her, life without her is utterly
unthinkable. |
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