Places to Visit in Italy
Vacation Ideas

These tours typically include the Sistine Chapel where you will see Michelangelo's famous ceiling fresco of the Creation of Adam.

The museums also include Raphael’s Rooms which are a suite of papal apartments with several of Raphael’s ceiling frescoes plus his workshop.

Many of the rooms house the art of Raphael’s assistants who continued his work after his death. Some of these artists are Romano, Penni, and de Colle.

You should try to include St. Peter’s square and St. Peter’s Bacilica in your tour.

The architecture of each of these two masterpieces is absolutely stunning. The Bacilica is considered to be the largest church in the world, and with at least forty five altars, it probably is.

Its outer surfaces are marble of various colors such as pink, green, and white along with several elaborately designed doors. Inside the dome is a constructional masterpiece and climbing the 463 steps to the top has become a tourist magnet.

The Palazzo Vecchio in Florence is an excellent example of Romanesque architecture. Although it is now the town hall of Florence it was originally built as a palace with the many features of a fortress. Back in the 1400’s you had to think that way.

You could take a walking tour starting at the Ponte Vecchio which is the oldest bridge in Florence. From the bridge there are great views of the river plus street vendors. A few steps away is the Piazza della Signoria where you can view the statue of Michelangelo’s David. As you continue along you observe the Duomo of Florence which is a outstandingly beautiful church with a very colorful portico.

So, if you don’t plan on bringing a boat with you, you’ll just have to rely on the gondoliers and their gondolas. You might want to start at the Piazza San Marco (Saint Marks Square) which is a central attraction and meeting place for photographers, tourists and pigeons.

On one end of the square is Saint Marks Church, a beautiful example of Byzantine architecture. This church serves as the home church of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. The square is also a very sociable place and has a long history of visitors easily meeting new friends.

On the sides of most Venice canals are narrow streets which allow you to move all over the city. There are many walking bridges to get you over the canals and the Ponte di Rialto (Rialto Bridge) should be your next stop.

The design of this bridge is absolutely breath-taking. You might continue your walking tour by wandering around the back streets and checking out the coffee shops followed by hiring a gondola for a romantic ride back to Saint Marks Square.

The 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino proved to the world that Italy had some very good skiing. Since the Olympics include competition in a wide variety of cold weather sports you know that Torino has every thing you could ask for. The town of Sauze d’Oulx, located in Turin, Piedmont also gained fame during those same Olympics by hosting all of the Freestyle Skiing events.

Piedmont has over fifty ski resorts and 800+ miles of ski runs plus highly adequate cableways, chair-lifts and tramways which can handle thousands of people per day.

The town of Courmayeur is located at the Italian end of the Mont Blanc tunnel. This location, in the highest mountain region in Europe, assures you that there will be snow, and lots of it, waiting for your arrival. Courmayeur is a quaint, picture-book town that with cobblestone streets and gourmet restaurants. The relaxed ambience is just what you need after a busy day on the slopes.

There are many organizations who specialize in wine tasting tours in Italy. The following are a few that give you a start. A typical tour would find you being driven to the Chianti region where your guide would introduce you to several wine-growing estates. You would tour the vineyards and mechanical equipment plus having a relaxing wine tasting session.

You probably know that wines from the Chianti region are know the world over for their taste and quality. Some of the tours have added a second product. We refer here to the combination chocolate and wine tasting tour. One of these tours takes you to Florence where the chocolate that you will taste will be 64% pure cocoa. This is the most pure chocolate you can get without eating the bean itself. We predict that you will love the dark chocolate from this tasting experience.

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