The Costa Smeralda is a coastal area and tourist destination in northern Sardinia, Italy, with a length of some 20 km, although the term originally designed only a small stretch in the commune of Arzachena. With white sand beaches, a golf club, private jet and helicopter service, and hotels costing up to US$2000–3000 per night in the peak season, the area has drawn celebrities, business leaders and other affluent visitors. In a study released by the European luxury real estate brokerage Engel & Völkers, Costa Smeralda is the most expensive location in Europe. House prices reach up to 300,000 euros per square meter.…

Volterra is a town in the Tuscany region of Italy. The town was a Neolithic settlement and an important Etruscan centre with an original civilization; it became a municipium in the Roman Age. The city was a bishop’s residence in the fifth century and that power was affirmed during the 12th century. With the decline of the episcopate, Volterra was the subject of the interest of Florence, which defeated it many times though rebellions sometimes took place. When the Florentian Republic fell in 1530, Volterra came under the control of the Medici family and later followed the history of the Grand Duchy of…

Verona is a city and provincial capital in Veneto, Northern Italy. The ancient town of Verona and the centre of the modern era are in a loop of the Adige River near Lake Garda. Because of this position, the areas saw a regular flow of flooding until 1956, when the Mori-Torbole tunnel was constructed, providing 500 cubic meters of discharge from the Adige river to Lake Garda when there was danger of flooding. The tunnel reduced the risk of flooding from once every seventy years to once every two centuries. Geographic history of Verona is plains and small mountain areas.…

Viterbo is an ancient city and comune in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history. It is approximately 80 kilometres (50 miles) north of GRA (Rome) on the Via Cassia, and it is surrounded by the Monti Ciminiand Monti Volsini. The historic center of the city is surrounded by medieval walls, still intact, built during the 11th and 12th centuries. Entrance to the walled center of the city is through ancient gates. Apart from agriculture, the main resources of Viterbo’s area are pottery, marble, and wood. The town is…

The Puster Valley is a valley in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in Tyrol, Austria and Mühlbach near Brixen (Bressanone) in South Tyrol, Italy. The term Pusteria or Pustertal is sometimes used only to describe the Italian part of this valley. The Puster Valley is located in the western part of the Periadriatic Seam, which separates the Southern Limestone Alps from the Central Alps (and also most of the limestone Alps from the central gneiss and slate peaks of the range’s central section). Half of the valley drains to the West (to the Adriatic via…

The Val di Fiemme is a valley in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region in northern Italy located in the Dolomites mountains region. The valley composes the Avisio’s river basin with Fassa Valley and Cembra Valley. The valley has been in a dispute between Austria and Italy during most of the 20th century before it was resolved with a treaty between both nations in 1971. As a tourist attraction, Fiemme Valley has become well known for its skiing areas, even hosting the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships for both 1991 and 2003. The town is also up for nomination for the 2013 Championships after…

The Fassa Valley is one of those privileged places where nature has generously dispensed some gifts of singular beauty and where the meeting between man and nature reaches the top of its meaning. The Valley is set in the heart of the Alps and is surrounded by the most known mountains of the world: the Dolomites. Indeed, the Fassa Valley can be seen as the synonym of Dolomites: from the Queen of the Dolomites, the “Marmolada”, to the “Catinaccio” and known in the legends as the abode of King Laurino, to the “Sassolungo”, just to cite the most important massifs.…

Sited in a unique mountain scenery, Alta Badia is rich in natural beauties and ancient traditions. A real emotion of finding oneself in the heart of the Dolomites, surrounded by springing torrents and deep alpine lakes, wild gorges and suggestive plateaus full of flowers. In the villages you’ll be involved in the simple everyday life of local people, as well as in the customs and traditions of the ancient Ladin culture. Alta Badia is located in a large valley surrounded all around by the gorgeous peaks of the Dolomites. Because of its geographic position and also because of the warm…

Trani is a seaport of Apulia, in southern Italy, on the Adriatic Sea, 40 kilometres (25 mi) by railway West-Northwest of Bari. The town has recently become one of the capital cities of the new Province of Barletta-Andria-Trani. The city of Turenum appears for the first time in the Tabula Peutingeriana, a 13th-century copy of an ancient Roman itinerary. The name, also spelled Tirenum, was that of the Greek hero Diomedes. The city was later occupied by the Lombards and the Byzantines. First certain news of an urban settlement in Trani, however, trace back only to the 9th century. The most flourishing age of Trani was the 11th century, when it became an episcopal see in place of Canosa, destroyed by the Saracens. Its…

Trento is an Italian city located in the Adige River valley in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. It is the capital of the region and of the Autonomous Province of Trento. Although off the beaten path of mass tourism, Trento offers rather interesting monuments. Its architecture has a unique feel, with both Italian Renaissance and Germanic influences. The city centre is small, and most Late-Medieval and Renaissance buildings have been restored to their original pastel colours and wooden balconies. Part of the medieval city walls is still visible in Piazza Fiera, along with a circular tower. Once, these walls encircled the whole town and…