Pisa

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9th and 10th of February we spent in Pisa.

Pisa is a city in Tuscany, central Italy, on the right bank of the mouth of the Arno River on the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. The city is known worldwide for its famous bell tower.

While the Leaning Tower is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza dei Miracoli (Square of Miracles), to the north of the old town center. The Piazza dei Miracoli also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Camposanto Monumentale (the monumental cemetery).


See also A virtual travel to Pisa and the leaning tower.

Florence

Thanks to Ryanair we had great weekend in Italy. 8th February we spent in Florence.


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Ponte Vecchio ->

Florence (Italian: Firenze) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany and has a population of 364,779.

The city lies on the River Arno and is known for its history and its importance in the Middle Ages and in the Renaissance, especially for its art and architecture. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy.

<- Piazza della Signoria

One of the bridges in particular stands out as being unique — The Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), whose most striking feature is the multitude of shops built upon its edges, held up by stilts. The best-known site and crowning architectural jewel of Florence is the domed cathedral of the city, Santa Maria del Fiore, known as The Duomo.

Santa Maria del Fiore ->

In 1504, Michelangelo's David (now replaced by a reproduction as the original was moved indoors to the Accademia dell'Arte del Disegno), was installed in front of the Palazzo della Signoria (also known as Palazzo Vecchio).

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Milan

21st of January we spent in Milan.

Milan (Italian: Milano) is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the regional capital of Lombardy.

<- Galleria Vittorio Emanuele

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Castello Sforzesco ->

The Lombard metropolis is famous for its fashion houses and shops (such as along via Montenapoleone) and the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in the Piazza Duomo (reputed to be the world's oldest shopping mall).

<- the Milan Cathedral

The biggest and greatest example of Gothic architecture in Italy, the Milan Cathedral, is the third largest cathedral in the world after St. Peter's Basilica in Rome and the Cathedral of Seville. Built between 1386 and 1577, it hosts the world's largest collection of marble statues with the widely visible golden Madonna statue on top of the spire, nicknamed by the people of Milan as Madunina (the little Madonna), that became one of the symbols of the city.

Rome

Our favourite airlines (which name we will not mention here:)) gave us an irresitible proposition to see Italy so we began the conquest with spending 18-20th of January in Rome.

It is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,726,539 residents in an urban area of some 1,285.3 km2 (496.3 sq mi). It is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber river.

Rome's history as a city spans over two and a half thousand years, as one of the founding cities of Western Civilisation. It was the centre of the Roman Empire, which dominated Europe, North Africa and the Middle East for four hundred years from the 1st Century BC till the 4th Century AD.

Rome has a significant place in Christianity and is the present day home of the Roman Catholic Church and the site of the Vatican City, an independent city-state run by the Catholic Church within as an enclave of Rome.

As one of the few major European cities that escaped World War II relatively unscathed, central Rome remains essentially Renaissance and Baroque in character. Rome is the third-most-visited tourist destination in the European Union, and its historic centre is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. As a modern city it has been capital of the unified Italy since 1870, and grew mainly in two periods either side of Word War II.

There are tons of books about the sites of interests in Rome so there's no point in mentioning them here. Enought to say that after spending there three days we had the feeling of not beeing even close to seeing all the best that the city has to offer.

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