Ventotene is one of the Pontine Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, 46 kilometres (25 nautical miles) off the coast of Gaeta right at the border between Lazio and Campania, Italy. The municipality of Ventotene, of the province of Latina (Lazio) had 708 permanent residents as of 2008. The island, the remains of an ancient volcano, is elongated, with a length of 3 kilometres (2 miles) and a maximum width of about 800 metres (2,600 feet). The municipality includes the small ancillary island of Santo Stefano, located 2 km (1 1⁄4 mi) to the east, which was the site of a massive prison, now closed. Further islands are Ponza, Palmarola and Zannone, located 40 km (25 mi) to the west. The island is connected by a daily ferry and hydrofoil service to Formia provided by the ferry company Laziomar. This is supplemented by summer services to Anzio and Terracina on the mainland, and the nearby island Ponza. During the summer months, SNAV also operates routes between Ventotene and Naples, as well as the island of Ischia. read more…
Trapani is a city and comune on the west coast of Sicily in Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Trapani. Founded by Elymians, the city is still an important fishing port and the main gateway to the nearby Aegadian Islands. The city was badly damaged during World War II, when it was subjected to intense Allied bombardments. It has grown greatly since the end of the war, sprawling out virtually to the foot of Monte San Giuliano. Tourism has grown in recent years due to the city’s proximity to popular destinations such as Erice, Segesta, and the Aegadian Islands. read more…
Reggio di Calabria, commonly known as Reggio Calabria or simply Reggiois the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria in Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Reggio Calabria and the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria. As a major functional pole in the region, it has strong historical, cultural and economic ties with the city of Messina, which lies across the strait in Sicily, forming a metro city of less than 1 million people. The beaches of the city have become a popular tourist destination. Tourism is distributed between the Ionian coast (Costa Jonica), the Tyrrhenian coast (the Costa Viola, Purple Coast) and the Aspromonte mountain behind the city, containing the natural reserve of the Aspromonte National Park where, at 1,300–1,950 metres above sea level, there is a panoramic view of the Strait of Messina from the snowy mount Etna to the Aeolian Islands. Reggio is the oldest city in the region, and despite its ancient foundation. It was an important and flourishing colony of Magna Graecia – it boasts a modern urban system, set up after the catastrophic earthquake on 28 December 1908, which destroyed most of the city. read more…
Porto Santo Stefano is a seaport town on the west coast of Italy, in the municipality of Monte Argentario, in the Province of Grosseto, Tuscany. It is the municipal seat of Monte Argentario and one of the two major towns that form the township, along with Porto Ercole. The region is on the slopes of Mount Argentario, which dominates the whole area. Porto Santo Stefano is 150 kilometres (95 miles) northwest of Rome. read more…
Olbia is a city and comune of 58,000 inhabitants in northeastern Sardinia, in the Gallura sub-region. Called Olbia in the Roman age, Civita in the Middle Ages (Giudicati period) and Terranova Pausania before the 1940s, Olbia was again the official name of the city during the period of Fascism. read more…
Sardinia is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus) and an autonomous region of Italy, which goes by the official name of Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna (Autonomous Region of Sardinia). Taken as a whole, Sardinia’s economic conditions are such that the island is in the best position among Italian regions located south of Rome. The greatest economic development had taken place inland, in the provinces of Cagliari and Sassari, characterized by a certain amount of enterprise. The Sardinian economy is, however, constrained due to the high costs of the transportation of goods and electricity, which is twice that of the continental Italian regions, and triple that of the EU average. Sardinia is the only Italian region that produces a surplus of electricity, and exports electricity to Corsica and the Italian mainland. Today Sardinia is phasing in as an EU region, with a diversified economy focused on tourism and the tertiary sector. The economic efforts of the last twenty years have reduced the handicap of insularity, especially in the fields of low-cost air travel and advanced information technology. read more…
Cagliari is an Italian municipality and the capital of the island of Sardinia, an Autonomous Region of Italy. Cagliari’s Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has nearly 150,000 inhabitants, while its metropolitan area has more than 480,000 inhabitants. It is also the seat of the University of Cagliari. read more…
Grosseto is a city and comune in the central Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of the Province of Grosseto. The city lies 14 kilometres (9 miles) from the Tyrrhenian Sea, in the Maremma, at the centre of an alluvial plain on the Ombrone river. It is the most populous city in Maremma, with 83,000 inhabitants. read more…
Tropea is a municipality located within the province of Vibo Valentia, in Calabria. The town is a famous bathing place, situated on a reef, in the gulf of St. Euphemia connected with the mainland by a narrow strip in the Tyrrhenian Sea, toward the south with respect to Vibo Valentia and northward with respect to Ricadi and Capo Vaticano. read more…
