Monte Isola in Lombardy

15 April 2025 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  4 minutes

© panoramio.com - ildirettore/cc-by-3.0

© panoramio.com – ildirettore/cc-by-3.0

Monte Isola (also known by the name of the main island Montisola; Brescian: Muntìsola) is a town and comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy. It is one of I Borghi più belli d’Italia (“The most beautiful villages of Italy”).   read more…

Panettone

10 November 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Bon appétit Reading Time:  7 minutes

Homemade panettone © flickr.com - N i c o l a/cc-by-2.0

Homemade panettone © flickr.com – N i c o l a/cc-by-2.0

Panettone (Milanese: panetton) is an Italian type of sweet bread and fruitcake, originally from Milan, Italy, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year in Western, Southern, and Southeastern Europe, as well as in South America, Eritrea, Australia, the United States, and Canada.   read more…

University of Milan

7 June 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Universities, Colleges, Academies Reading Time:  5 minutes

Ca' Granda © Sailko/cc-by-3.0

Ca’ Granda © Sailko/cc-by-3.0

The University of Milan (Italian: Università degli Studi di Milano; Latin: Universitas Studiorum Mediolanensis), officially abbreviated as UNIMI, or colloquially referred to as La Statale (“the Statal [University]”), is a public research university in Milan, Italy. It is one of the largest universities in Europe, with about 60,000 students, and a permanent teaching and research staff of about 2,000.   read more…

Naviglio Grande in Milan

27 May 2024 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  5 minutes

in Milan © flickr.com - harmishhk/cc-by-sa-2.0

in Milan © flickr.com – harmishhk/cc-by-sa-2.0

The Naviglio Grande is a canal in Lombardy, northern Italy, connecting the Ticino river near Tornavento (23 km (14 mi) south of Sesto Calende) to the Porta Ticinese dock, also known as the Darsena, in Milan. It drops 34 m (112 ft) over 49.9 km (31.0 mi). It varies in width from 22 to 50 m (72 to 164 ft) from Tornavento to Abbiategrasso, dropping to 15 m (49 ft) between there and Milan. Initially it carries 63 cubic metres per second (2,200 cu ft/s), 116 outlets take water to irrigate 500 square kilometres (190 sq mi) leaving the canal 12 m (39 ft) wide and carrying 12 m³/s (420 cu ft/s) as it enters the dock.   read more…

Villa d’Este on Lake Como

30 May 2023 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, Hotels, Palaces, Castles, Manors, Parks Reading Time:  11 minutes

© panoramio.com - Nikolai Karaneschev/cc-by-3.0

© panoramio.com – Nikolai Karaneschev/cc-by-3.0

The Villa d’Este, originally Villa del Garovo, is a Renaissance patrician residence in Cernobbio on the shores of Lake Como in northern Italy. Both the villa and the 25-acre (100,000 m²) park which surrounds it have undergone significant changes since their sixteenth-century origins as a summer residence for the Cardinal of Como. Nevertheless, visiting the garden in 1903 for Century Magazine, Edith Wharton found this to be ‘the only old garden on Como which keeps more than a fragment of its original architecture’, and noted that ‘though Queen Caroline anglicised part of the grounds, the main lines of the Renaissance garden still exist’. Since 1873, the complex has been a luxury hotel.   read more…

Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan

11 October 2022 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Giovanni Dall'Orto

© Giovanni Dall’Orto

Santa Maria delle Grazie (“Holy Mary of Grace”) is a church and Dominican convent in Milan, northern Italy, and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The church contains the mural of The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, which is in the refectory of the convent. Duke of Milan Francesco I Sforza ordered the construction of a Dominican convent and church at the site of a prior chapel dedicated to the Marian devotion of St Mary of the Graces. The main architect, Guiniforte Solari, designed the convent (the Gothic nave), which was completed by 1469. Construction of the church took decades. Duke Ludovico Sforza decided to have the church serve as the Sforza family burial site, and rebuilt the cloister and the apse, both completed after 1490. Ludovico’s wife Beatrice was buried in the church in 1497.   read more…

Milan Cathedral

2 October 2019 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  17 minutes

Milan Cathedral from Piazza del Duomo © Øyvind Holmstad/cc-by-sa-4.0

Milan Cathedral from Piazza del Duomo © Øyvind Holmstad/cc-by-sa-4.0

Milan Cathedral is the cathedral church of Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Dedicated to the Nativity of St Mary (Santa Maria Nascente), it is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Archbishop Mario Delpini. The cathedral took nearly six centuries to complete. It is the largest church in Italy (the larger St. Peter’s Basilica is in the State of Vatican City), the third largest in Europe and the fourth largest in the world.   read more…

The Lake Garda

17 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Category: General Reading Time:  7 minutes

Old town of Malcesine with the Scaliger Castle and the northern part of Lake Garda © Ezeew

Old town of Malcesine with the Scaliger Castle and the northern part of Lake Garda © Ezeew

Lake Garda is the largest lake in Italy. It is located in Northern Italy, about half-way between Brescia and Verona, and between Venice and Milan. Glaciers formed this alpine region at the end of the last ice age. The lake and its shoreline are divided between the provinces of Verona (to the southeast), Brescia (southwest), and Trentino (north). Being easily accessible from the north via the Brenner Pass, the lake is a major tourist destination, including a number of exclusive hotels and resorts along its shore.   read more…

The Lake Como

7 February 2015 | Author/Destination: | Category: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  6 minutes

Villa d'Este © GhePeU

Villa d’Este © GhePeU

Lake Como (Lago di Como in Italian) is a lake of glacial origin in Lombardy, Italy. It has an area of 146 km², making it the third largest lake in Italy, after Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore. At over 400 m (1320 ft) deep it is one of the deepest lakes in Europe and the bottom of the lake is more than 200 metres (656 ft) below sea-level. Lake Como has been a popular retreat for aristocrats and wealthy people since Roman times, and a very popular tourist attraction with many artistic and cultural gems. It has many villas and palaces (such as Villa Olmo, Villa Serbelloni and Villa Carlotta). Lake Como is widely regarded as being one of the most beautiful lakes in Italy.   read more…

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