Archive for 'Parks & Gardens'

Bari is a big port city on the Adriatic coast and the capital of Puglia. It is a little off the beaten track and has a slightly dubious reputation within Italy that means you'll be warned to hold onto your valuables tightly.

However, it is a lovely place to spend a few days and shouldn't hastily be skipped over in favour of the rest of the region. The charming Old Town based on a headland that reaches into the Adriatic and is easily explored on foot. It is quite easy to get lost but, so long as you are careful, there is a pleasure in this.

Some of the most important attractions in the city at large are the Pinacoteca Provinciale 'Corrado Giaquinto,' art gallery, the Archaeological Museum, the eleventh-century Romanesque Basilica di San Nicola (dedicated to Santa Claus), the Castello Svevo, the Colonna della Giustizia (where debtors were once reputedly tied and flogged) and Bari's futuristic stadium designed by Renzo Piano.     Read More

The Villa Cimbrone is a historic villa located on a rocky outcrop known as "Cimbronium", from which it takes its name, in Ravello that dates to at least the 11th century AD. The earliest references to the villa from this time refer to when the villa belonged to the Accongiogioco, a noble family. It later became the property of the wealthy and influential Fusco family, who are also recorded as owning the local church of S. Angelo de Cimbrone in the 13th century. Later still, it became part of the nearby monastery of Santa Chiara. Ownership from the seventeenth century is uncertain, but by the second half of the nineteenth century it had come into the possession of the Amici family of Atrani.

In the 20th century, the villa was altered and extended by Ernest William Beckett, who brought in salvaged architectural elements from other parts of Italy and elsewhere, leaving little of the original structure visible.     Read More

Genoa is a great unsung hero that many often don't hear much about. It does not seem to garner the endless lines and lines of press that are published about other Italian cities every day but it should. It is a wonderful beauty, filled with architectural gems and hidden treasures. Its history is rich and its cultural heritage is fascinating. Even its graveyard is a stunner.

Among all the sights and attractions, however, one stands apart. It is hard not to notice the Biosfera by famous architect Renzo Piano. Just find a villa in Liguria and pay a visit to this extraordinary structure for yourself.

Renzo Piano was the 1998 Pritzker Prize winner and is probably best known for his controversial design of the Centre Georges Pompidou but is a prolific architect that his left his stamp all over the world. Piano was actually born in Genoa in 1937 and comes from a family of builders.     Read More

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.     Read More