italy
° Civitavecchia ° Florence ° Livorno
° Capri/Naples ° Rome
° Venice
° UNESCO World Heritage Sites
We're hitting "expat age," meaning other parts of the world are beckoning, especially in this age of declining home prices in America. Of course, Italy is one of those places we would like to disappear to: Just start with the food and wine then add world-class cities, magical hill towns, art and beauty at every turn, and Italian! which you can learn fast with Transparent Language Software.
Italy is a dream destination---but it could so easily be the place to call home. It has many hidden pockets where lovely move-into properties cost under $100,000. Even under $50,000.
In the 19th Century, Italy was one of the most overcrowded countries
in Europe. Many Italians began considering the possibility of leaving
Italy to escape low wages and high taxes. Most of these immigrants
were from rural communities with very little education. From 1890
to 1900, 655,888 arrived in the United States, of whom two-thirds
were men.
1850 to 1930 is a significant period because this was a peak time
for Italian immigration to the United States. 17 million immigrants
had their first contact with the United States on Ellis Island. Many
Italians who came to America settled on the East Coast where they
opened stores and restaurants featuring foods from home, their neighborhoods
often called "Little Italy."
Ancona
In III and I centuries b.C. Romans went to the Marche area with an interest in controlling the territory and opening access to the Adriatic. They built two important roads -- Salaria and Flaminia -- which would connect Tyrrhenian and Adriatic seas. The city prospered under the Romans, and its harbor was enlarged (2d cent. A.D.) by Emperor Trajan. In the 9th century, Ancona became a semi-independent maritime republic under the nominal rule of the popes, to whose direct control it passed in 1532. The port of Ancona eventually became of one the most important seaside trading centers facing the East, with commercial and cultural links with the Near East . . . in addition to people and goods filling the quay along the shoreline, early paintings show forests of masts. For a long period of time the coastal region was threaten by the Saracen pirates. Residents fled inland and growth slowed along the coastline.Capri/Naples
The Isle of Capri is the most sought-after island in teh Bay. Capri's dramatic Blue Grotto and cliff-bound scenery has drawn visitors throughout history from Emperor Augustus to Napoleon. It's charm has also drawn noted author D.H. Lawrence and George Bernard Shaw.
Civitavecchia
("Ancient
Town")
The modern city, which is a major cruise port serving Rome, was built
over an Etruscan settlement. The harbor was constructed by the Emperor
Trajan at the beginning of the 2nd century. The massive Forte Michelangelo,
which almost overwhelms this small town, ("Michelangelo's fort")
was commissioned to Bramante by Pope Julius II to defend the port
from the pirate attacks, and was completed in 1535 by Giuliano Leno
and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger, under Paul III. The upper part
of the "maschio" tower, however, was actually completed
by Michelangelo, who gave the name to the fortress. The walls have
an impressive thickness of 6-7.6 m. The fortress was built over an
ancient Roman construction, probably the barracks of the classiarii ("mariners") of the Imperial Fleet.
In the high Middle Ages, this port was a Byzantine stronghold. Captured
by the Saracens in 828, it was later acquired by the Papal States.
The place became a free port under Pope Innocent XII in 1696. The
main port of Rome in modern era, it was occupied by the French in
1849. On April 16, 1859 the Rome and Civitavecchia Rail Road was opened
for service. The Papal troops opened the gates of the fortress to
the Italian general Bixio in 1870.
Livorno (Florence/Pisa)
Livorno, or “Leghorn,” is the principal town in the province of the same name, which lies in the region called Tuscany. Italy’s third-largest seaport, Livorno serves as the gateway to the cities of Florence and Pisa. The only downside of travelling by ship is that there is seldom sufficient time in port, especially on European cruises with cities so filled with rich heritage.Tuscany gets its name from the ancient Etruscans, who settled the region. The Etruscans were a hard, warlike people whose origin is still uncertain. They were the first civilized people in Italy to build cities, establish trade, develop a code of law, and create high-quality artwork.
Although the Etruscan state was defeated by the Romans and incorporated into their empire, Tuscans as a people continued to thrive in the region, enjoying life and creating things of beauty. The pinnacle of their civilization was the Italian Renaissance, one of the great cultural explosions in the world’s history.
Tuscan families like the Medici had a prosperous trade with the eastern Mediterranean and a great surplus of wealth, which they used to support artists and decorate their homes and churches in the new style.
Florence and its landmarks symbolize the wealth and power of the Renaissance's golden age. Few structures anywhere rival the beauty of the Duomo, the grand Cathedral of Florence with a dome that dominates the cityscapes. It's a city home to masterpieces by Da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Raphael and the glow of that storied era still resonates through the architecture, the bustling piazzas and charming neighborhoods. Rome
Venice
A Brief History of Venice: A New History of the City and Its People
As Goths and Ostrogoths drove through Italy in the 5th and 6th centuries,
the people of Veneto took shelter on the islands off their coast,
then began building houses on the lagoon-like islands, developing
the boats known as gondolas in the process. From these desperate beginnings,
Venice grew to become a great maritime power, both in terms of military
might and in its commercial trading with Byzantium and Constantinople.
The Venetians participated in—and profited off of—the Crusades by
supporting both sides in trade. The city finally defeated its main
competitor, Genoa, in 1381. Venice reached the height of its power
in the 15th century, but declined after the 16th century. At its height,
it controlled much of what is now Greece, as well as a large chunk
of Italy. However, plagues fostered by the stagnant water greatly
hurt the city and eventually led to its downfall. The Turks took advantage
of this weakness by encroaching on the Venetian empire gradually,
by way of its Grecian territories. Also, when the Portuguese discovered
the Cape Route to India and the East, Venice's shipping monopoly was
rendered far less relevant. Venice fell to Napoleon in 1797, and eventually
became part of the unified Italy in 1866.
Calabria is the toe of the boot that is Italy "-- a rugged peninsula where grapevines and fig and olive trees cling to the mountainsides during scorching summers. Calabria is also a seedbed of Italian-American culture; in North America, more people of Italian heritage trace their roots to Calabria than to almost any other region in Italy.
Mark Rotella's "Stolen Figs" (right)-- named a Best Travel Book of 2003 by" Conde Nast Traveler -- is a marvelous evocation of Calabria. A grandson of Calabrese immigrants, Rotella persuades his father to visit the region for the first time in thirty years; once there, he meets Giuseppe, a postcard photographer who becomes his guide. As they travel around the region, Giuseppe initiates Rotella "-- and the reader "-- into its secrets: how to make a soppressata and 'nduja, and, of course, how to steal a fig without committing a crime. "Stolen Figs is a model travelogue "-- at once charming and wise, and full of an earthy and unpretentious sense of life that now, as ever, characterizes Calabria and its people.
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selections of books about
World Heritage Sites
UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Italy
- Rock Drawings in Valcamonica (1979)
- Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci (1980)
- Historic Centre of Rome, the Properties of the Holy See, Extraterritorial Rights and San Paolo Fuori le Mura (1980, 1990)
- Historic Centre of Florence (1982)
- Piazza del Duomo, Pisa (1987, 2007)
- Venice and its Lagoon (1987)
- Historic Centre of San Gimignano (1990)
- The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera (1993)
- City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto (1994, 1996)
- Crespi d'Adda (1995)
- Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta (1995, 1999)
- Historic Centre of Naples (1995)
- Historic Centre of Siena (1995) Castel del Monte (1996)
- Early Christian Monuments of Ravenna (1996)
- Historic Centre of the City of Pienza (1996)
- The Trulli of Alberobello (1996)
- 18th-Century Royal Palace at Caserta with the Park, the Aqueduct of Vanvitelli, and the San Leucio Complex (1997)
- Archaeological Area of Agrigento (1997)
- Archaeological Areas of Pompei, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata (1997)
- Botanical Garden (Orto Botanico), Padua (1997)
- Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande, Modena (1997)
- Costiera Amalfitana (1997)
- Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto) (1997)
- Residences of the Royal House of Savoy (1997)
- Su Nuraxi di Barumini (1997)
- Villa Romana del Casale (1997)
- Archaeological Area and the Patriarchal Basilica of Aquileia (1998)
- Cilento and Vallo di Diano National Park with the Archeological sites of Paestum and Velia, and the Certosa di Padula (1998)
- Historic Centre of Urbino (1998)
- Villa Adriana (Tivoli) (1999)
- Assisi, the Basilica of San Francesco and Other Franciscan Sites (2000)
- City of Verona (2000)
- Isole Eolie (Aeolian Islands) (2000)
- Villa d'Este, Tivoli (2001)
- Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto (South-Eastern Sicily) (2002)
- Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy (2003)
- Etruscan Necropolises of Cerveteri and Tarquinia (2004)
- Val d'Orcia (2004) Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica (2005)
- Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli (2006)
- Mantua and Sabbioneta (2008) Rhaetian Railway in the Albula / Bernina Landscapes (2008)
Changes in Latitude, Changes in Attitude