Rome
Rome (Italian: Roma [ˈroːma] is the capital city of Italy and a special comune (named Comune di Roma Capitale). Rome also serves as the capital of the Lazio region. With 2,868,782 residents in 1,285 km2 (496.1 sq mi), it is also the country's most populated comune. It is the fourth-most populous city in the European Union by population within city limits. It is the centre of the Metropolitan City of Rome, which has a population of 4.3 million residents. Rome is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, within Lazio (Latium), along the shores of the Tiber. The Vatican City (the smallest country in the world)[3] is an independent country inside the city boundaries of Rome, the only existing example of a country within a city: for this reason Rome has been often defined as capital of two states.
Capitoline Museums
The Capitoline Museums (Italian: Musei Capitolini) is a single museum containing a group of art and archaeological museums in Piazza del Campidoglio, on top of the Capitoline Hill in Rome, Italy. The historic seats of the museums are Palazzo dei Conservatori and Palazzo Nuovo, facing on the central trapezoidal piazza in a plan conceived by Michelangelo in 1536 and executed over a period of more than 400 years. The history of the museums can be traced to 1471, when Pope Sixtus IV donated a collection of important ancient bronzes to the people of Rome and located them on the Capitoline Hill. Since then, the museums' collection has grown to include a large number of ancient Roman statues, inscriptions, and other artifacts; a collection of medieval and Renaissance art; and collections of jewels, coins, and other items. The museums are owned and operated by the municipality of Rome.
The statue of a mounted rider in the centre of the piazza is of Emperor Marcus Aurelius. It is a copy, the original being housed on-site in the Capitoline museum.
Opened to the public in 1734 under Clement XII, the Capitoline Museums are considered the first museum in the world, understood as a place where art could be enjoyed by all and not only by the owners.
Tivoli
Hadrian's Villa (Villa Adriana in Italian) is a large Roman archaeological complex at Tivoli, Italy. A UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is the property of the Republic of Italy, and has been directed and run by the Polo Museale del Lazio since December 2014.
Vieste and the Adriatic Coast
Vieste (Viestano: Vìst) is a town, comune and former Catholic bishopric in the province of Foggia, in the Apulia region of southeast Italy. A marine resort in Gargano, Vieste has received Blue Flags for the purity of its waters from the Foundation for Environmental Education. The area covered by the comune is included in the Gargano National Park.
In mediaeval times, the port was frequently attacked by pirates, Saracens and other enemies of the Kingdom of Naples. In 1554 around 7,000 inhabitants were enslaved by the Turks, with those being deemed too elderly or infirm to merit transportation into slavery executed. This event is commemorated annually in a ceremony.
Leaving Vieste to next stop Alberobello
Alberobello (Italian: [ˌalberoˈbɛllo]; literally "beautiful tree"; Barese: Aiarubbédde) is a small town and comune of the Metropolitan City of Bari, Apulia, southern Italy. It has 10 735 inhabitants and is famous for its unique trullo buildings. The trulli of Alberobello have been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site since 1996.
Alberobello
Trulli of Alberobello
The history of these very particular buildings is linked to the Prammatica De Baronibus, an edict of the 15th-century Kingdom of Naples that subjected every new urban settlement to a tribute. The Counts of Conversano D'Acquaviva D'Aragona from 1481, owners of the territory on which Alberobello stands today with the summer "domus" that was called Difesa De Le Noci on the border with the territory of the duchy of Martina Franca, then imposed on the peasants sent in these lands they built their dwellings dry, without using mortar, so that they could be configured as precarious buildings, easily demolished.
A first anthropization of the area started only in the early sixteenth century on the impulse of the Count of Conversano Andrea Matteo III Acquaviva d'Aragona, son of the famous Count Giulio Antonio Acquaviva, who died in 1481 near Otranto, when 800 martyrs were killed in battle against the Ottomans . Count Andrea Matteo introduced from the fief of Noci about forty peasant families to reclaim and cultivate the land, with the obligation to give him the tenth of the crops.
His successor, the powerful Count Giangirolamo II, known as the Guercio delle Puglie because he had a blindfolded eye ( 1600 - 1665 ), in 1635 erected an inn with tavern and oratory, which started the urbanization of the forest with the construction of a conglomerate of small houses. The abundance of material, especially limestone and karst and calcareous sedimentary, and the permission of the count to build houses only with dry walls without the use of mortar, which became the characteristic trulli, contributed to the expansion of the urban agglomeration . This obligation to have houses built only with dry stones was an expedient of the count to avoid paying taxes to the Spanish viceroy of theKingdom of Naples according to the Pragmatica de Baronibus, law in force until 1700 according to which the construction of a new inhabited center involved first of all the royal assent and the consecutive payment of the tributes by the Baron to the Royal Court.
Alberobello was built on the streets of the ancient river Cana, where is now the largo Giuseppe Martelotta (also called largo delle fagade or largo della fiera).
Alberobello remained a fief of the Acquaviva of Aragon until May 27, 1797, when King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon, who was a guest in Taranto by the archbishop, welcomed the petition of a delegation consisting of three civilians and four priests from Alberobello (don Vito Onofrio Lippolis, Don Vito Nicola Tinelli and Don Francesco Sgobba) and issued a decree by which he elevated the small village to the royal city, freeing it from the feudal servitude of the counts. On 22 June 1797 the first mayor Francesco Giuseppe Lippolis was elected. In the same years the Casa D'Amore was also built by Francesco D'Amore, first cummersa with 2 floors. [ without source ] Alberobello is the only inhabited center in which there is an entire district of trulli. It is therefore considered cultural capital of the trulli of the Valle d'Itria.
Matera
The area of what is now Matera has been settled since the Palaeolithic. The city was allegedly founded by the Romans in the 3rd century BC, with the name of Matheola after the consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus. In AD 664 Matera was conquered by the Lombards and became part of the Duchy of Benevento. In the 7th and 8th centuries the nearby grottos were colonised by both Benedictine and Basilian monastic institutions. The 9th and 10th centuries were characterised by the struggle between the Byzantines and the German emperors, including Louis II, who partially destroyed the city. After the settlement of the Normans in Apulia, Matera was ruled by William Iron-Arm from 1043.
After a short communal phase and a series of pestilences and earthquakes, the city in the 15th century became an Aragonese possession, and was given in fief to the barons of the Tramontano family. In 1514, however, the population rebelled against the oppression and killed Count Giovanni Carlo Tramontano. In the 17th century Matera was handed over to the Orsini and then became part of the Terre d'Otranto di Puglia. Later it was capital of Basilicata, a position it retained until 1806, when Joseph Bonaparte reassigned it to Potenza.
In 1927 it became capital of the province of Matera.
On September 21, 1943, the Materani rose against the German occupation, the first Italian city to rebel against the Wehrmacht.
Tenuta Vannulo
Organic Buffalo Mozzarella Farm and Lunch
Greek Paestum
Paestum was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order, dating from about 600 to 450 BC, which are in a very good state of preservation. The city walls and amphitheatre are largely intact, and the bottom of the walls of many other structures remain, as well as paved roads. The site is open to the public, and there is a modern national museum within it, which also contains the finds from the associated Greek site of Foce del Sele.
After its foundation by Greek colonists under the name of Poseidonia it was eventually conquered by the local Lucanians and later the Romans. The Lucanians renamed it to Paistos and the Romans gave the city its current name.[1] As Pesto or Paestum, the town became a bishopric (now only titular), but it was abandoned in the Early Middle Ages, and left undisturbed and largely forgotten until the eighteenth century.
Today the remains of the city are found in the modern frazione of Paestum, which is part of the comune of Capaccio in the Province of Salerno, Campania, Italy. The modern settlement, directly to the south of the archaeological site, is a popular seaside resort, with long sandy beaches.
Positano
Ravello - Amalfi Coast
Positano was an essential stop for the ancient Greeks and Phoenicians on their expeditions to western areas. It is said that the coastal village was named after Poseidon, God of the Sea. Like many other places along the beautiful campanian coast, it was a favourite site for wealthy ancient Romans to build rich and grand villas, one of which lies below the church of Santa Maria Assunta and has recently been opened to the public.
Ravello (Campanian: Raviello) is a town and comune situated above the Amalfi Coast in the province of Salerno, Campania, southern Italy, with approximately 2,500 inhabitants. Its scenic location makes it a popular tourist destination, and earned it a listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997.
Sorrento
Gelateria David Cooking Class
Pompeii
Pompeii (/pɒmˈpeɪi/) was an ancient Roman city near modern Naples in the Campania region of Italy, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried under 4 to 6 m (13 to 20 ft) of volcanic ash and pumice in the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in AD 79. Many of the inhabitants were also buried before they could escape.
The catastrophe was described in a surviving letter by Pliny the Younger who saw the eruption from a distance and described the death of his uncle Pliny the Elder, an admiral of the Roman fleet, who tried to rescue citizens. The site was eventually lost until its initial rediscovery in 1599 and broader rediscovery almost 150 years later by Spanish engineer Rocque Joaquin de Alcubierre in 1748. Largely preserved because of lack of air and moisture, the remains of the city provide an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of its inhabitants. During excavations liquid plaster was used to fill the voids in the ash that once held human and animal bodies, giving often gruesome images of their last moments.
Pompeii has been a tourist destination for over 250 years. Today it has UNESCO World Heritage Site status and is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Italy, with approximately 2.5 million visitors every year. Excavations recommenced in 2018 in the unexplored Regio V area of the city and new discoveries are being reported
Capri
Capri (usually pronounced /kəˈpriː/ by English speakers; Italian: [ˈkaːpri], Neapolitan: [ˈkɑːpri]) is an island located in the Tyrrhenian Sea off the Sorrentine Peninsula, on the south side of the Gulf of Naples in the Campania region of Italy. The main town Capri that is located on the island shares the name. It has been a resort since the time of the Roman Republic.
Some of the main features of the island include the Marina Piccola (the little harbour), the Belvedere of Tragara (a high panoramic promenade lined with villas), the limestone crags called sea stacks that project above the sea (the faraglioni), the town of Anacapri, the Blue Grotto (Grotta Azzurra),the ruins of the Imperial Roman villas, and the various towns surrounding the Island of Capri including Positano, Amalfi, Ravello, Sorrento, Nerano, and Naples.
Capri is part of the region of Campania, Metropolitan City of Naples. The town of Capri is a comune and the island's main population centre. The island has two harbours, Marina Piccola and Marina Grande (the main port of the island). The separate comune of Anacapri is located high on the hills to the west.
Mount Solaro - Capri
Monte Solaro is a mountain on the island of Capri in Campania, Italy. With an elevation of 589 m, its peak is the highest point of Capri.
Statue of Emperor Augustus It contains the "Fortino di Bruto", a blockhouse which was used in battles between Britain and France in the early 19th century. It is characterised by its "sheer dolomitic slopes" which form an "unsurpassable partition" between the eastern and western sides of the island. Marina Grande lies at the foot of the mountain. It became popular with painters due to its "romantic situation, affording extensive and beautiful views to the NW of the Tyrrhenian sea, the gulf of Naples". Up the mount there is a statue of Emperor Augustus who first landed on Capri.
Lemon Orchard and Marina Grande - Sorrento
Dinner at Luigi's home
Naples Capodimonte Museum
he vast collection at the museum traces its origins back to 1738. During that year King Charles VII of Naples and Sicily (later Charles III, king of Spain) decided to build a hunting lodge on the Capodimonte hill, but then decided that he would instead build a grand palace, partly because his existing residence, the Palace of Portici, was too small to accommodate his court, and partly because he needed somewhere to house the fabulous Farnese art collection which he had inherited from his mother, Elisabetta Farnese, last descendant of the sovereign ducal family of Parma.
Over the years the palace was enlarged and filled with more art. In 1787, on the advice of Jacob Philipp Hackert, a laboratory for the restoration of paintings was created.
When the Parthenopaean Republic was declared in 1799, Ferdinand fled to Palermo on board Nelson's Vanguard, taking the most valuable items from the museum with him. What remained was looted by the French troops of General Championnet who were billeted there during the short life of the Republic in 1799. Later on during the ten years of French reoccupation (1806 to 1815), the art collection was transferred to the Naples National Archaeological Museum. When King Ferdinand returned from Sicily in 1815, he employed many painters and sculptors to work on the redecoration of the palace . It was finally completed in 1840, and a gallery housing contemporary art was added.
After the palace passed in 1861 to the House of Savoy, further pieces were added to the art collections, appointing Domenico Morelli as consultant for new acquisitions. They also added an extensive collection of historic firearms and other weapons. In 1866, the boudoir of Maria Amalia of Saxony was transferred to Capodimonte from the Palace of Portici, and in 1877 a Roman era marble floor was brought in from a Roman villa on Capri. After the end of the monarchy, the palace became purely a national museum in 1950, with many of the exhibits being returned from the National Museum.
Nitty Gritty Naples
Naples (/ˈneɪpəlz/; Italian: Napoli [ˈnaːpoli] Neapolitan: Napule [ˈnɑːpələ] or [ˈnɑːpulə]; Latin: Neapolis; Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις, lit. 'new city') is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest municipality in Italy after Rome and Milan. In 2017, around 967,069 people lived within the city's administrative limits while its province-level municipality has a population of 3,115,320 residents. Its continuously built-up metropolitan area (that stretches beyond the boundaries of the Metropolitan City of Naples) is the second or third largest metropolitan area in Italy.
National Archaeological Museum, Naples
The museum hosts extensive collections of Greek and Roman antiquities. Their core is from the Farnese Collection, which includes a collection of engraved gems (including the Farnese Cup, a Ptolemaic bowl made of sardonyx agate and the most famous piece in the "Treasure of the Magnificent", and is founded upon gems collected by Cosimo de' Medici and Lorenzo il Magnifico in the 15th century) and the Farnese Marbles. Among the notable works found in the museum are the Herculaneum papyri, carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, found after 1752 in Villa of the Papyri.
Napulitanata
Clips from our Concert about 14 minutes worth
Underground Naples
Naples has many chambers and tunnels beneath the city, including channels and reservoirs for water, and catacombs.