Archive for 'Tourist Attractions'

The pretty seaside town of Civitavecchia, Lazio, is located along the coastline of the Tyrrhenian Sea and is located just an hour and a half from Rome. It has Etruscan origins and its name means “Ancient Town”. Due to this long and rich history, it is dotted with beautiful buildings and interesting monuments from many different periods throughout history. From the sixteenth century, there is perhaps the most striking and obvious of all the sights in the whole town, Forte Michelangelo. This impressive fortification towers over the rest of the port and is the work of three of the most famous Italian architects of the Renaissance. Find a holiday rental in Lazio and spend a day wandering the town of Civitavecchia and this feat of Italian architecture.

One of Italy's prettiest museums has to be Museo Revoltella in Trieste. The museum occupies the former home of Baron Revoltella and has since spilled out into two neighbouring buildings as the collections have grown over the years. Founded in 1872, it gathers the works of 19th and 20th century artists from the area and presents them alongside some of the original décor of the building including chandeliers, ornate gilded plasterwork and flamboyant silk wallpaper. The museum is also home to a lovely rooftop café and a great bookshop. Find a holiday rental in Friuli Venezia Giulia and pay a visit to the city, in order to see this amazing museum.

One of the aspects of Italian cultural heritage which is most appreciated and celebrated is her architecture, which is varied and reflects the lengthy history and different periods of building in Italy. The small town of Alberobello in Puglia is particularly famous for its architecture, featuring limestone houses, called “trulli” with distinctive pyramidal, cone-shaped or domed roofs made of corbelled slabs of stone.

These unique buildings are seen as so important and intrinsic to the history and cultural heritage of the town that they have been a designated UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996.

In a city such as Rome where the classical, from ancient to Renaissance incarnations, rules supreme, the Chiesa del Sacro Cuore del Suffragio (Church of the Sacred Heart of the Suffrage) on the banks of the Tiber immediately stands out.

This Gothic Revival church, built in the 20th century according to designs by the engineer, Giuseppe Gualandi, is often referred to as the “Little Milan Cathedral” due to its sumptuous gothic design and is well worth a visit in its own right.

However, hidden at the back of the building is a highly unique museum which is the show-stopper of the piece - the tiny century-old Piccolo Museo Del Purgatorio, or "Museum of the Holy Souls in Purgatory," which holds a collection gathered from all over the world of bibles, prayer books and clothing said to have been singed by the hands of souls in purgatory.

With over 3,000 years of history behind her, Rome is bound to have a complicated past, often with dark and gory moments. It seems likely, then, that if anywhere in the world might be populated by ghosts, Rome would be a strong candidate. Certainly, there are countless tales of ghost, grisly accidents, murder, magic and horror that take place in the Eternal City. Due to this ghostly heritage, there are also plenty of ghost tours of Rome, should you be interested in seeing the city in a different (or less) light. Just find a vacation rental in Rome and choose one of the following tours to learn all about the ghosts that forever haunt the Eternal City.