Archive for 'Tourist Attractions'

Sardinia, by virtue of being an island, has no shortage of beautiful beaches. By virtue of its location in the Mediterranean, it is also assured that those beaches truly are stunning things to behold, all perfect sands contrasted by azure seas. There is, however, a particular stretch of the coast around Sardinia that is well-known for being especially beautiful. This is the Costa Smeralda.

The Costa Smeralda is located on Sardinia's northeastern coast between the Gulfs of Arzachena and Cugnana, the Costa Smeralda or Emerald Coast and owes its name to its particular hue of sea: an emerald blue that almost seems too beautiful to be real. This stretch of coast has much to offer from its beaches to seaside towns and all of the activities and attractions that come with both. If you are looking for a dreamlike holiday, just find a vacation rental in Sardinia and begin exploring this incredible part of the world.

The charms of taking the train can often be lost in the terrors and horrors of commuting but, while on holidays or travelling, there is something quite Old World and delightful about sitting back in a train carriage and just watching the world go by.

This is particularly true of places such as Italy, where the train is both the best way to traverse the country and also happens to cut through swathes of the incredible countryside, offering you wonderful views of the beautiful surroundings and scenery.

If you were to take just a single train route while exploring Italy, however, the Circumetnea train is one keep in mind.

In our final installment in this series, we bring you two more of the most interesting, unique and bizarre architectural feats in Italy, a land well-known for its artistic prestige and innovations. While these buildings may be no less beautiful or important than others throughout the country, they may be less recognisable. If you're an architecture lover or if you merely like checking out strange attractions on your holidays, be sure to read the whole list!

If you're interested at all in contemporary architecture or design or you're just fond of seeing the most unique and unusual things that a city has to offer while on holidays, then Milan has the perfect thing for you. The Bosco Verticale, or Vertical Forest, is a highly unique building in Milan which was opened in 2014. It is composed of a pair of high-rise buildings which are made up of 27 storeys with cantilevered balconies planted with 900 trees and more than 2,000 shrubs and bushes.

While there is no shortage of stunning buildings and architectural gems all across Italy, there are some rather special buildings among their number. These buildings and architectural ventures may be great works of art but they have aspects to their design, usage, ornamentation or origin stories that are fascinating, unique and rather bizarre. Continuing from our last post, here are some more of the strangest architectural feats in Italy.

The Renaissance gave birth to an endless list of extraordinary architectural gems and outstanding garden designs, such as the Villa Demidoff. Located about seven miles north of Florence, the gardens are home to many different sculptures, fountains and various other delights. The highlight, however, has to be the Appennine Colossus. Measuring about 35 feet tall, the Colossus is a personification of the Apennine mountain ranges, and is depicted as a blend between mountain and man, its smooth skin emerging out of the surrounding mountainous setting.

The Galleria Borbonica, or Bourbon Tunnel, is an ancient military underground passage that connects the Royal Palace to the military barracks in Naples. It was built to allow the king to flee to the sea and the soldiers to defend the palace quickly and remains a rather intriguing reminder of the past. Errico Alvino was commissioned by Ferdinand II in 1853 to construct this military passage due to his paranoia about the outbreak of a rebellion. His paranoia turned out to be well-founded as, two years after construction began, the fall of the Bourbon dynasty led to halt of all work on the tunnel.

A network of tunnels carved into the aqueducts of the city, it is 530m in length and remained unused and abandoned until WWII. During the hundreds of bombings in World War II, the people of Naples used the underground passages as shelters. There were also military hospitals established in the tunnel. Furthermore, confiscated vehicles such as cars and bicycles that were taken in this period were kept in the tunnels. A fascist monument made for Aurelio Padovani was also abandoned underground.

Then, again, the tunnels were forgotten until the 2000s, when the curious artefacts that were housed inside and the fascinating passages themselves began to garner attention from locals. In 2014, the tunnels were opened to the public and are now a tourist attraction. You can take several different tours of the tunnels including the Standard Tour, the Adventure Tour (80 minutes; adult/reduced €15/10) and adults-only Speleo Tour (2½ hours; €30).

Standard Tours take you around the displays of vintage cars, motorbikes and water tanks. The Adventure Tour, sees visitors enter a cistern still full of water and sail under the city on a raft. More extreme adventurers, meanwhile, might be more interested in the Speleo Tour, which sees participants don a hard hat and overalls and go crawling through aqueduct tunnels to reach the most beautiful water cisterns.

If you are exploring the city of Naples or have found a luxury villa in Campania, a visit to the Galleria Borbonica is a perfect alternative to more typical tourist attractions and promises to offer a rather unique experience!