Archive for 'Must See Attractions'

Once you’ve found a vacation rental in Trentino Alto Adige and are planning on visiting the city of Bolzano, make sure to find time to see Ötzi, the 5,000-year-old Iceman and oldest human mummy on earth. Discovered by German tourists in a glacier in the area in 1991, it has been on display in a purpose-built museum since 1998. Ötzi has been the talk of the past years not only in Bolzano, but all over the world and he’s probably the only mummy in the whole world to have an entire museum dedicated just to him. Every year thousands of visitors come to Bolzano just to see him.

The body has been extensively examined, measured, x-rayed, and dated since it has been found and research into the body is on-going to this day. The Archaeology Museum of Bolzano houses the Iceman and also documents the pre-history and early history of the surrounding area from the end of the last Ice Age to the time of Charlemagne. It uses models, reconstructions, stereoscopic images, videos and interactive multimedia stations to provide an interesting, engaging and informative experience. Yet, its main purpose remains to be displaying, housing and researching Ötzi.





How the body is displayed and the museum organised has been very carefully planned. In awareness of fact that the discovery of the body was likely to trigger heated ethical discussions, the careful and restrained presentation of the Iceman was the first and foremost concern when the museum was established in 1998. The current exhibition, as it appears today, is actually the format created for the special 20th anniversary exhibition in 2011. This, however, went on to become the permanent method of display in 2013.

The area surrounding the mummy is stark, made up of white walls that evoke the snow-covered landscape in which it was discovered. Everything surrounding, from fonts to graphics to décor is muted and does not detract from the mummy or sensationalise it. The room is also actually partitioned, meaning those interested in the story but uncomfortable with viewing the body can still enjoy a visit to the museum. The mummy has been placed in a visually separated, tastefully designed room which is kept at a fixed temperature of -6ºC and nearly 100% relative air humidity - the same conditions found in a glacier. The accompanying finds are also kept in acclimatised, nitrogen-filled showcases at a temperature of 18ºC.

Tasteful, fascinating and engaging, this museum is a must for anyone visiting Trentino Alto Adige.

If you’ve found a holiday rental in Trentino Alto Adige and are planning on visiting the city of Bolzano, there’s a very famous gentleman who lives there that you should make sure to pencil in some time to visit. He's over 5,000 years old and has been the talk of the past years not only in Bolzano, but all over the world. His name is Ötzi the Iceman and he’s a mummy. In fact, he’s probably the only mummy in the whole world to have an entire museum dedicated just to him. The Ötzi Museum in Bolzano has been home to the Iceman, the oldest human mummy on earth, since 1998 and every year thousands of visitors come just to see him.

Over 5,000 years ago, a man climbed to the icy heights of the Schnalstal glacier and died there. In 1991 he was found, along with his clothes and other gear, mummified and frozen, by two German tourists, Helmut and Erika Simon. The body was at first thought to be a modern corpse, like several others which had been recently found in the region. It was quickly and hastily retrieved by the Austrian authorities and taken to Innsbruck before true age was finally discovered. Subsequent surveys showed that the body had been located a few meters inside Italian territory and it is now on display at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano.





He is Europe's oldest known natural human mummy, and has offered an unprecedented view of Chalcolithic Europeans. The body has been extensively examined, measured, x-rayed, and dated. Tissues and gut contents were examined microscopically, as was the pollen found on his gear. All of this tells us that at the time of his death, Ötzi was a 30-to-45-year old man, approximately 160cm tall and 50kg in weight. More recently, a DNA study conducted by Walther Parson of Innsbruck Medical University revealed Ötzi has 19 living genetic relatives. Research is also on-going with more discovered about Ötzi and more learned from him each year.

In addition to housing the remains of the Iceman, the Archaeology Museum also documents the pre-history and early history of the surrounding area from the end of the last Ice Age to the time of Charlemagne. It uses models, reconstructions, stereoscopic images, videos and interactive multimedia stations to provide an interesting, engaging and informative experience. However, the star of the show is still Ötzi himself who continues to fascinate people and draw them back to Trentino Alto Adige.

One of the great joys of Italy is discovering the small, and beautiful, towns which dot her countryside. You can stumble upon food festivals that make the best Italian restaurant in your hometown look pitiful by comparison but cost little, works by famous artists tucked away in tiny churches and castles and palaces right out of your favourite childhood story. Camerino is one such magical small town in the centre of the Le Marche region of central Italy, south-west of San Severino. A stunning walled medieval city, it has outstanding works of art and architecture that rival that of anywhere else in the world. In order to explore this little wonder, just find a vacation rental in Le Marche and make your way to the hill on which the town is perched.

Michelangelo is one of the most famous artists in the western world, as has been the case since early on his career and will probably always be true. Born in the fifteenth century, he was a Florentine sculptor, painter, poet, architect and engineer who was prodigiously talented, an incredibly hard worker, devoted to his art to a fault and the true definition of a Renaissance man. His work is now scattered across the globe but Florence and Rome remain the best places to see his work – Rome nudging just ahead.

The Scala dei Turchi, or Turkish Staircase, in Realmonte on the island of Sicily is a naturally occuring phenomenon. It is a rocky cliff, an unusual white in colour, which has been eroded by the sea over the centuries. Due to this extraordinary appearance and its mention in Andrea Camilleri's series of detective stories about Commissario Montalbano, it has become a popular tourist attraction in the area.

The white, starkly beautiful crags and hollows of the cliff-face, paired with the rich blue of the ocean and the stunning sunsets in the area make it an astounding sight.