Best 5 Tourist Attractions in Tuscany, Italy

Many interesting tourist attractions you can find in Tuscany. The area is full of vineyards, villas and small towns will make you feel like being in a romantic journey. You can stay at the historic villa with the best food, and you can cycle around the vineyards of your choice, and drink the best wines.

Besides being famous in quality of food and wine, Tuscany is famous for its culture. Hill town of Volterra in the Tuscany region save ancient charm, which worthy explored. There you can see the stone buildings that dominate the city views as well as many historic sites along the way.

Tuscany, as the historical center, offers you a variety of interesting attractions. There is a Roman Theatre from the 1st century BC, the ruins excavated in the 1950s. You can also visit the main square Piazza dei Priori, and, Palazzo dei Priori which construction started in 1208 and completed in 1257. Then, there is a Pinacoteca, a kind of art gallery in the Palazzo Minucci-Solaini.

Here are best tourist attractions in Tuscany you must visit:

1. Florence

Florence (Firenze), the capital of Tuscany, is where Master Draftsman and Leonardo Da Vinci spawned great works. City of Florence consists of old buildings that stood magnificent cathedral city of Florence and the surrounding statues masterpiece Michelangelo Buonarroti the strapping looming. Florence has lots of famous churches, monuments, statues and buildings which attract lots of tourists worldwide every years. Santa Croche is a further attractive church in Florence and is often deemed as essentially the most renowned Gothic church in whole Italy. This church is in particular significant for the reason that you could obtain tombs of essentially the most renowned Italian artists like Michelangelo, Dante, Galileo and lots of other people.

2. Volterra

Town of Volterra is neolithic settlement and an important Etruscan center (Velathri or Felathri). In the city, there is a bishop at the 5th century, and his power passed to the 12th century. In addition, there is a tourist destination Volterra Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta. In the cathedral, you can see the ciborium (a canopy over the altar in a basilica or church) that display some paintings of angels work Mino da Fiesole. Still inside the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, there are famous wood deposition in 1228, a Roman statue and the Chapel of the Sacrament, as well as paintings at Tito Santi, Giovanni Balducci, and Agostino Veracini.

3. San Gimignano

San Gimignano famous for the attractive towers. There had been originally 72 towers having a height of 50 meters but only 14 survived. It is as UNESCO world heritage center for its architecture. Seven of San Gimignano’s towers is often identified about Piazza del Duomo. The largest 1 is Torre Grossa having a height of 54 meters and visitors can climb to see the best view of the city.

4. Siena

Siena is also the most visited place in Tuscany and is called as the jewel of Tuscany. This city is usually a medieval hill town surrounded by olive groves, Chianti vineyards and holm-oak woods. The Piazza Del Duomo is the most popular tourist attractions in this city. The Duomo is usually a masterpiece of Romanesque Gothic architecture developed by architect Nicola Pisano. The scenery of this cathedral is impressive and build from white marble of Carrara.

5. Montecatini Terme

Montecatini Terme is an wonderful location to visit in Tuscany. From this location, you could visit all of the favorite art locations in Tuscany. It is actually a Spa town and nicely identified for its healing waters. It is actually worthwhile to visit Monte Alto, beautiful town on the best of the hill where you may have a scenic view of Montecatini Terme.

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Top attractions of Venice , Italy

One of Italy’s top travel destinations, Venice is a unique city in that is built upon a lagoon surrounded by the Adriatic Sea. Located in northeastern Italy, Venice is an archipelago of 118 islands all connected by hundreds of beautiful bridges and scenic canals. Of the canals, the Grand Canal is most famous and divides the city into two sections. Picturesque waterways and historic architecture make Venice one of the most romantic cities in the world.
Venice is often crowded and expensive but well worth visiting to see its magnificent landmarks like Saint Mark’s Square and Basilica, Doge’s Palace and Rialto Bridge. One of the most popular things to do is to take a gondola ride along the Grand Canal. However, it is just as equally enjoyable to ride a vaporetti along the quiet back canals.
Every year, Venice hosts one of Italy’s liveliest Carnival festivals where the streets are filled with people dressed in colorful costumes and masks, and the Grand Canal is packed with fleets of decorated boats and gondolas. A popular souvenir to purchase in Venice is one of the beautifully crafted carnival masks.
Venice can be reached by plane, bus and train. There are no cars in Venice, so people either walk or ride the water taxis along the canal system. Travelers should note that Venice frequently experiences high water in the spring and fall.
  
Venice Attractions

1-Canals of Venice

Referred to as “The City of Water”, Venice is the crown jewel of water cities. Romantic gondolas, and Italian architecture along the Grand Canal helped earn this status. Stitched together with over 150 canals that have become central to its character, Venice has decayed since its heyday and has more tourists than residents, but with its romantic charm it remains one of the top tourist attractions in Italy.

2-St Mark’s Square

Piazza San Marco  – the “drawing room of Europe”, as Napoleon is said to have described it – is an elegant colonnaded square dominated at one end by the dreamy domes, arches and glittering gold mosaics of St Mark’s Basilica. The Campanile (belltower) and the Doge’s Palace, on the lagoonside extension of the Piazzetta, are the tourist magnets.
Another essential stop-off is the Torre dell’Orologio , where you can observe the workings of the elaborate clock that still marks the hours in the piazza.

3-St Mark’s Basilica
Resplendent at the eastern end of the piazza, St Mark’s basilica resembles nothing else in Christendom - from its four great bulbous domes outside to its one-and-a-half square miles of glimmering golden mosaics covering the splendid interior.
Go for 6.45am mass if you want to see it without the crowds and don’t forget the upstairs loggia where the originals of the  four Graeco-Roman bronze horses that face the square prance elegantly in a museum

Go for 6.45am mass if you want to see San Marco without the crowds

4-Doge’s Palace
Venice’s doges (dukes) were elected from among their aristocratic peers, after which their whole lives were subsumed by the state. Venice was all about shimmering exteriors concealing hard-nosed commercial or administrative activity, and the mainly 15th-century Doge’s palace mirrors this perfectly: beyond immense meeting halls and formal reception rooms with acres of canvases by Tintoretto and Veronese lie narrow chambers in which city scribes and bureaucrats beavered away in cramped darkness.

Venice was all about shimmering exteriors concealing hard-nosed commercial activity

5-Gallerie dell’Accademia
A slow-moving refurbishment means that scaffolding and room closures can hamper visitors’ progress. But don’t be deterred: even a tiny fraction of what the Accademia  contains is enough to satisfy the most demanding art lover: Titian’s last painting, La Pietà, and his Presentation of the Virgin; Veronese’s Feast in the House of Levi; Giorgione’s mysterious The Tempest; numerous works by Giovanni Bellini. Dorsoduro 1050, Campo della Carità

6-Ca d’Oro
The flamboyant Gothic flourishes and trills of this 15th-century Grand Canal palazzosomehow distill the essence of Venice. The interior, where the art collection assembled by a former owner, Baron Franchetti, is displayed, has two highlights: Mantegna’s visionary St Sebastian, and the view of the Grand Canal from the first-floor balcony.

Highlights include the view of the Grand Canal from the first-floor balcony

7-Murano
It is fascinating to see glass being blown and fashioned into vases, glasses and baubles in the various workshops on Venice’s historic glass island, but be aware that any Murano excursion offered “free” by your hotel concierege comes with serious pressure to buy at inflated prices. Make your own way there (it’s 10 minutes from Fondamente Nove by waterbus) and shop around.

8-Peggy Guggenheim Collection
Everyone’s favourite eccentric art collector, the redoubtable Peggy assembled a remarkable yet still intensely personal portofolio of modernist and surrealist art, including major works by Picasso, Magritte, Max Ernst (her husband for a while), Giacometti and Jackson Pollock. Peggy’s 18th-century palazzo  on the Grand Canal was never finished by the Venetian family that commissioned it. The gardens are lovely, the museum shop is the best in Venice, and the bar/cafè makes a good lunch or tea stop.

9-I Frari
If you visit only one Venetian church aside from St Mark’s, make it this penumbral, echoing Gothic edifice , a 15-minute walk west of the Rialto. Its artistic treasures include two magnificent early Titians: The Assumption of the Virgin over the high altar, and the Madonna di Ca’ Pesaro in the left aisle.

10-Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana
These two historic containers the first an 18th-century Grand Canal palazzo that once belonged to Fiat, the second Venice’s old customs house – together contain the contemporary art collection of a French billionaire, François Pinault, head of the lifestyle corporation LVMH. In Palazzo Grassi, selected works are displayed in a series of long-running themed exhibitions, while Punta della Dogana – whose radical interior was entirely refitted by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando – houses the works of a roster of contemporary heavyweights, from Jeff Koons to Damien Hirst.

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7 Top Tourist Attractions in Rome

No, not the 7 hills but the 7 tourist attractions in Rome. Having been the center of one of the world’s greatest civilizations ever, Rome has exerted a huge influence over the world in its millennium long history. With wonderful palaces, ancient churches and basilicas, grand Roman monuments, ornate statues and graceful fountains, Rome has an immensely rich historical heritage and cosmopolitan atmosphere. Our top selection of the many sights of the ‘Eternal City’.

7-Roman Forum

 

Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, The Roman Forum (or Forum Romanum in Latin) was for centuries the teeming heart of ancient Rome: the site of triumphal processions and elections, venue for public speeches, and nucleus of commercial affairs. The Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and includes the Arches of Septimius Severus and Titus, the Temple of Antoninus Pius and Faustina and the Temple of Saturn.
 

6-Spanish Steps 

 

A truly monumental stairway of 135 steps, the Spanish Steps were built with French funds between 1721‑1725 in order to link the Bourbon Spanish embassy to the Holy See with the French church, Trinità dei Monti. The steps are usually very crowded attracting tourists as well as locals who use it as a gathering place. Each year in May the steps are decorated with pink azaleas. At the foot of the Spanish Steps is the Piazza di Spagna (Spanish square) and the Fontana della Barcaccia, a sober fountain designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
 

5-Trevi Fountain

 

Completed in 1762 to a design by Nicola Salvi, this world famous Baroque fountain features a mythological sculptural composition of Neptune, god of the sea, flanked by two Tritons. The location of the Trevi fountain marks the terminus of the ancient Aqua Virgo aqueduct and is so named on account of its position at the junction of three roads (tre vie). The fountain was the setting for an iconic scene in Fellini’s film Dolce Vita starring Anita Ekberg and Marcello Mastroianni. Since than, it has become one of the most popular Rome tourist attractions. The legend says that one who throws a coin in the fountain shall one day return to Rome.
 

4Vatican Museums 

 

Founded by Pope Julius II in the 6th century, the Vatican Museums inside the Vatican City boasts some of the world’s most important relics. Attractions of the museums include the spiral staircase, the Raphael Rooms and the exquisitely decorated Sistine Chapel. Under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the chapel ceiling between 1508 and 1512. Today the ceiling, and especially The Last Judgment, are widely believed to be Michelangelo’s crowning achievements in painting.
 

3-Pantheon

 

One of the best preserved Roman buildings, The Pantheon was built in 126 AD as a temple for all the Roman gods. The temple has served as a Roman Catholic Church since the 7th century. The Pantheon consists of a large circular portico with three ranks of huge granite Corinthian columns. The portico opens into a rotunda which is topped with a concrete dome with a central opening: the oculus. Almost two thousand years after it was built, the Pantheon’s dome is still the largest unreinforced concrete dome in the world.
 

2-St. Peter's Basilica

The center of the Catholic world and a major tourist attraction, the Basilica of St. Peter is a huge church: with an interior height of 120m, the space shuttle, together with its booster rockets, could fit inside, as could the Statue of Liberty. The basilica stands on the traditional site where Peter, the apostle who is considered the first pope, was crucified and buried. Construction on the current building began in 1506 and was completed in 1615. Many famous artists worked on the complex and its surroundings: Michelangelo designed the dome while Bernini designed the great St. Peter’s Square.

1-Colosseum 

 

The Colosseum is the largest and most famous amphitheater in the Roman world. Its construction was started by emperor Vespasian of the Flavian dynasty in 72 AD and was finished by his son Titus in 80 AD. The Colosseum was capable of holding some 50,000 spectators who could enter the building through no less than 80 entrances. The Colosseum today is a major tourist attraction in Rome with thousands of tourists paying to view, what is left of, the interior arena.

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Visiting Italy

It is generally acknowledged that Italy is one of the most beautiful and interesting countries on earth. Visiting Italy, from Venice in the north to Sicily in the south, you will find that the wonderful contrasts of scenery, food, lifestyle and culture are totally absorbing. Italy has more Unesco World Heritage Sites to visit than any other country in the world and its great cities: Rome, Venice and Florence, have been the favourite destinations of tourists for centuries. In addition to visiting these treasures, Italian holidays can offer some of the best skiing, hiking, swimming, scuba diving and sailing to be found anywhere on the planet.
Aside from all of that, there is nothing better than people watching with a cup of coffee in the piazza, or enjoying a glass of wine over a long, lingering, Mediterranean lunch in the sunshine.
So, what should the first-time visitor to Italy aim to see? Here is a selection of favourite locations for Italy vacations:
The unique Grande Canal in Venice
The rolling, cypress covered hills of Tuscany
The ancient and enduring beauty of Rome
The sunny, holiday romance of Capri and Amalfi
The white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters of Sardinia
The exotic, baroque beauty of Sicily
The choice of Italian holidays is endless, and although never far away from each other, these sites would take more than a lifetime to fully appreciate.



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The Tuscan Islands

The Tuscan Archipelago, or Tuscan Islands, consist of a group of seven islands: Elba, Giglio, Capraia, Pianosa, Montecristo, Gorgona and Giannutri. Together they form the Tuscan Archipelago National Park which is the largest protected marine park in Europe providing, in particular, an important sanctuary for many rare birds travelling between Europe and Africa.

The islands are situated a short distance off the coast of Tuscany between the Ligurian Sea and the Tyrrhenian Sea and there are several ports on the mainland that provide ferry trips for holiday makers. Elba and Montecristo are the best known of the islands internationally, but Elba, Giglio and Capraia have long been favourite tourist destinations for Italians. They are exceptionally beautiful and legend has it that they were a gift from the gods, formed as Venus dropped her necklace into the sea.
Visitors seeing the islands for the first time might well believe it!

Elba

Elba is the largest of the islands in the Tuscan Archipelago, and the third largest island in Italy, covering a total area of 224 square kilometres. Located just 10 miles from the mainland, its mild climate, rugged and varied coastline, more than 70 beaches, crystal clear water and delicious food and wine, make it an extremely popular holiday destination.
Those venturing inland are rewarded with fabulous walking trails, gently rolling hills and unspoilt countryside, a great variety of nature and wildlife as well as the splendid sight of Mount Capanne, towering to over 1,000 metres.
For many people the island of Elba will always be associated with Napoleon, if for no other reason than the famous English language palinrome: "Able was I ere I saw Elba."

Following the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Napoleon was exiled to Elba, arriving at Portoferraio on May 3, 1814. In all, he spent about 10 months on the island, accompanied by a small guard of 600 men, and monitored by the patrols of the British Navy. He returned to France in February 1815 for the fateful 'Hundred Days', which ended with the battle of Waterloo. Visitors to Elba can visit the house in Portoferraio where Napoleon lived, now an interesting and evocative museum.

Giglio
Giglio is the second largest of the Tuscan Islands, after Elba, with a total area of 22 square kilometres. It is 50 kilometres south of Elba and separated from the Argentario Promontory by a 16 kilometre stretch of water. The island offers the visitor a wonderful combination of sandy beaches, cliffs and coves, mountainous scenery and serene hiking paths through the unspoilt countryside with glorious views over the surrounding sea to the other islands, the Argentario Promontory and the Maremma beyond. It is also famous for the production of the amber-coloured Ansonaco wine.

There are three main areas worth a visit: Campese, on the west side of the island, features gloriously sandy beaches, crystal clear water and a delightful tower, the Torre Medicea, built in the 18th century by Cosimo I de Medici. The tower was originally separated from the bay and used to guard it against the frequent pirate attacks but now it is attached by a small causeway. The best beaches on Giglio are considered to be at Campese, centred around Faraglione Bay, but there are other popular beaches at Cannelle, Caldane and Arenella, each with their own charm.

The town of Castello is perched on a rocky hilltop at over 400 metres. It is in a stunning position in the centre of the island with spectacular views over the surrounding countryside and the sea. Castello is only a short bus trip from Campese or from Giglio Port. Once within the medieval castle walls visitors will discover a labyrinth of enchanting alleys containing many attractive shops, bars and restaurants.

The only port on the island of Giglio is 'Giglio Port', located on the east side of the island. It is here that the ferry arrives from Porto Santo Stefano, on the Argentario Promontory. You can still find traces of its origins as a thriving Roman port. Today it is a bustling, attractive place with many bars, restaurants and hotels close by. From here visitors can hire boats, take boat trips and find facilities for scuba diving, snorkling and fishing.

Capraia
The island of Capraia lies between Gorgona in the north and Elba in the south. It has an area of 19 square kilometres, making it the third largest of the Tuscan Islands, after Elba and Giglio. Its coastline is dramatic with high, rugged cliffs broken up with isolated beaches and caves. Inland, the terrain is wild and unspoilt with many nature trails threading their way through the rich and varied countryside. Part of the island is mountainous, rising to 466 metres at its highest point.

Capraia has been occupied by the Greeks, Romans, Saracen pirates and the English admiral, Horatio Nelson over its colourful history but is probably better known for its anchovy fishery! The island is sparsely populated with the inhabitants centred on the port and nearby village. The rest of the island is rugged, unspoilt and full of wildlife. The sea surrounding Capraia is very popular with snorklers and scuba divers due to the clear waters and abundance of marine life.

Although small, with limited accommodation, the island is a popular holiday destination so visitors wishing to visit in the summer months will need to book early!

Pianosa
The island of Pianosa is very flat (hence its name) reaching less than 30 metres at its highest point, it is mainly less than 20 metres above sea level. Like Gorgona, Pianosa was used as a penal colony for many years, most recently to house convicted mafiosi considered to be exceptionally dangerous. Inevitably, when the prison closed, this became something of a tourist attraction and up to 250 visitors a day are now allowed to visit the island under strict supervision.
Like many of the Tuscan Islands, Pianosa is a wildlife sanctuary and visitors are restricted. Pleasure boats and fishing vessels are not allowed to navigate within one mile of the coast without special permission.
Pianosa gained its place in history when the Roman emperor Augustus banished his gandson, Agrippa Postumus, to a villa on the island where he was later executed. The ruins of the villa are still visible today. It is also the semi-fictional setting of Joseph Heller's 'Catch 22', although his description of the island bears little resemblance to the actual place.

Montecristo
The island of Montecristo is the only island in the Archipelago that is inaccessible to tourists. It is kept as a nature reserve and only researchers are allowed to land there. Alexander Dumas immortalised the island in his book 'The Count of Montecristo', written in 1844. Apparantly Dumas visited the island by boat in 1842, fell in love with it, and used it as the setting for his novel. Needless to say, the island described in the book bears little resemblance to reality. However, he does refer to the legendary treasure trove of the pirate, Dragnut, apparantly hidden on the island. Over the years various people have attempted to find it, so far without success!

Gorgona
Gorgona is the smallest and most northern of the islands in the Tuscan Archipelago. It has an area of 2.2 square kilometres and rises to 255 metres at its highest point.

Although the island is currently in use as a prison, it is possible to visit it on a tour organised by 'The Cooperative Agency, Natural Park of Gorgona', which leaves from the port of Livorno every Tuesday during the summer months. However, each visitor has to be vetted by the 'Istituti di Prevenzione e Pena del Ministero di Grazia e Giustizia' at least fifteen days prior to the trip.

With a total population of only 300, the island is a natural paradise for wildlife. Its beautiful, rugged coastline, surrounded by uncontaminated water and indented with spectacular coves, is also forbidden to private boats except in an emergency.

Giannutri
Shaped like a half-moon, Giannutri is slightly larger that the Island of Gorgano, and is the southernmost island in the Tuscan Archipelago. It is located 15 kilometres from Giglio and approximately 15 nautical miles from the mainland. Most of the island's coastline is rocky, broken up with spectacular grottos and coves, the most well known of which is Cala Grottoni.

There are only two beaches: Cala Maestra, where the ferries from Porto Santo Stefano and Porto Ercole arrive, and Cala dello Spalmatoio, popular with the local boats.

The island is best known for its roman ruins. Currently closed for restoration, the ruins of the villa Agrippa, once belonging to the family of the Emperor Nero, can still be seen. There are also ruins of a roman temple and the original roman port, close to Cala Maestra. For scuba divers, the area around the island offers the wrecks of roman ships to explore in the crystal clear waters.

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Geography of Italy

Geographically, Italy is a boot shaped peninsula extending into the central Mediterranean sea. It is approximately 1,130 kilometres long and has a total area of approximately 301,238 square kilometres comprising some of the most varied and scenic landscapes on earth. Italy's land borders are with Switzerland, France, Austria and Slovenia. There are two independent states within Italy's borders: San Marino and Vatican City.

The Mountains

Italy is mostly mountainous with ranges over 700 metres covering a third of the country. The best known ranges are the Alps, the Dolomites and the Appenines.
The Italian Alps are divided into three main groups. The first group, the Western Alps run north to south from Aosta to the Cadibona Pass, with the highest peaks of Mount Viso 3,841 metres and Gran Paradiso 4,061 metres which is regarded as the highest mountain completely within Italy. The second group, the Central Alps run west to east from the Western Alps to the Brenner Pass, leading into Austria and the Trentino - Alto Adige valley. This group also has high peaks, such as Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) with a summit of 4,807 metres just over the border in France, Monte Cervino (Matterhorn) 4,478 metres, Monte Rosa with a summit of 4,634 metres just over the border in Switzerland, and Mount Ortles 3,905 metres. The last group, the Eastern Alps run west to east from the Brenner Pass to Trieste and include the Dolomites and Mount Marmolada 3,343 metres. The Italian foothills of the Alps, which reach no higher than 2,500 metres, lie between these great ranges and the Po valley.
The Apennines form the backbone of the country running down the full length of the Italian peninsula from the Cadibona Pass to the tip of Calabria, continuing onto the island of Sicily. The range is about 2,000 kilometres long. Although narrow at each end, only about 32 kilometres wide, it is about 190 kilometres wide in the Central Apennines, east of Rome, where the "Great Rock of Italy" (Gran Sasso d'Italia) provides the highest Apennine peak at 2,912 metres. This area also includes the only glacier in Italy, Calderone, the southernmost in Europe.

The Plains

Between the Alps and the Appenines lies the Padan Plain. This is drained by the longest river of Italy, the Po, stretching for 652 kilometres eastward from the Cottian Alps to the Adriatic. Plains cover less than a quarter of the total area of Italy, and the Padan Plain is the most extensive and important in Italy. It occupies more than 44,000 of the 77,000 square kilometres of Italian plain land. It ranges in altitude from sea level up to 550 metres but most of it lies below 100 metres. The waters of the Po River and all its tributaries, together with the Reno, Adige, Piave, and Tagliamento rivers, eventually provide vital irrigation for the intensive agriculture of the fertile lower plain.
Other notable plains include the Maremme of Tuscany and Lazio, the Pontine Marshes, the fertile Campania Plain around Vesuvius and the rather arid Apulian Plain. In Sicily the Plain of Catania is a good area for growing citrus fruit.

The Lakes

There are about 1,500 lakes in Italy. Most of these are small Alpine lakes that are used for hydroelectric schemes. Other lakes, such as Bolsena and Albano in Lazio, occupy the craters of extinct volcanoes. There are also coastal lagoons, such as Lakes Lesina and Varano in Puglia, and lakes resulting from prehistoric faulting, such as Lake Alleghe, near Belluno. The best-known, largest, and most important of the Italian lakes are Lakes Garda, Maggiore, Como, Iseo, and Lugano. They are situated in the north of Italy around Milan. They have a semi-Mediterranean climate and are surrounded by groves of olive and citrus trees. Italy also has considerable areas in which, as a result of porous rock, the water systems run underground, forming subterranean streams, sinkholes, and lakes. These are often associated with caves, the most famous of which are those of Castellana, in Puglia.

The Coast

Including islands, Italy has a total coastline of 7,600 kilometres, much of which is extremely varied. Along the two Ligurian rivieras, on either side of Genoa, the coast alternates between high, rocky zones and level gravel. The most famous of the rocky areas is called Cinque Terre, running from Sestri Levante down to La Spezia. The coast southwards from Tuscany to Campania consists of long, sandy, crescent beaches mixed with higher, more rocky stretches. The Tyrrhenian coasts of basilicata and Calabria are high and rocky, though sometimes broken by short beaches, many of them with spectacular white sand, particularly towards the south. The coast of Puglia is flat, as is most of the Adriatic coast of Italy, although it is dominated by terraced hills behind. The majestic delta of the Po River, extending from Rimini to Monfalcone, is riddled with the lagoons most famously around Venice. The Carso, the limestone coastal region between Trieste and Istria, is rocky.  

The Islands

Italy is surrounded by sea on three sides. To the north west is the Ligurian sea, to the west and south west the Tyrrhenian sea, to the south and south east is the Ionian sea and to the east is the Adriatic sea. The two largest islands in the Mediterranean, Sicily and Sardinia, are both a part of Italy. There are many other island groups too:


Tuscan Islands | Pontine Islands | Napolitan Islands | Aeolian Islands
Egadi Islands | Tremeti Islands | Pelagie Islands

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Italy's First Republic

There have been 61 governments in Italy since 1945. However, the dominance of the Christian Democratic party in Italian politics over this period provided continuity and comparative stability to the political situation in the country, as they attempted to maintain Cold War equilibrium in the region by keeping the Italian Communist Party (PCI) out of power. Apart from playing a part in the National Unity governments prior to 1948, the communists have never been in power.
The cliché that Italy had 50 governments in its first 50 years of democracy is often used as an example of political instability. However, Italy's main political problem was actually the opposite. Where the governments of other western countries alternated between left and right wing parties, Italy's government remained in the hands of the Christian Democrats and their allies throughout the whole of the period of the so called 'First Republic', since it was politically unacceptable for a communist party to rule a western country during the Cold war period.


During the 1960s, Aldo Moro, a relatively left-leaning Christian Democrat, unsuccessfully attempted to include the socialists in the government. He would later try to include the communist party as well in a deal called 'The Historical Compromise'. In 1978, this attempt was brought to an abrupt halt by the kidnapping and murder of Moro by the Red Brigades, an extremist left-wing terror organization.

At this time, the Communist Party was the largest in western Europe, and it has remained so ever since. Their appeal to Italians has been mainly due to the Party's independence from Moscow, their rejection of extremism and their reasonable, practical approach to politics.

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