Theme Week Lombardy – Brescia

26 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  9 minutes

Brescia Panorama © Luca Giarelli/cc-by-sa-3.0

Brescia Panorama © Luca Giarelli/cc-by-sa-3.0

Brescia is situated at the foot of the Alps, between the Mella River and the Naviglio, a few kilometres from the lakes Garda and Iseo. With a population of around 194,000, it is the second largest city in the region and the fourth of northwest Italy. The urban area of Brescia extends beyond the administrative city limits and has a population of 673,000, while over 1.5 million people live in its metropolitan area. The city is the administrative capital of the Province of Brescia, one of the largest in Italy, with over 1,200,000 inhabitants.   read more…

Theme Week Lombardy – Varese

25 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  5 minutes

Palazzo Estense and gardens - Town Hall © Docfra/cc-by-sa-3.0

Palazzo Estense and gardens – Town Hall © Docfra/cc-by-sa-3.0

Vares is a city and comune in north-western Lombardy, northern Italy, 55 kilometres (34 mi) north of Milan. It is the capital of the Province of Varese. The hinterland or urban part of the city is called Varesotto. The city also looks over Lake Varese.   read more…

Theme Week Lombardy

24 November 2014 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Bon voyage, Theme Weeks Reading Time:  7 minutes

Villa Isola del Garda © Luca Capuccini

Villa Isola del Garda © Luca Capuccini

Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. A sixth of Italy’s population lives in Lombardy and about a fifth of Italy’s GDP is produced in the region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country. It is also the region with the most Unesco World Heritage Sites in Italy. Although Lombardy is often identified as merely an economic and industrial powerhouse, it has a rich and diverse cultural heritage. The many examples range from prehistory to the present day, through the Roman period and the Renaissance and can be found both in museums and churches that enrich cities and towns around the region. Lombardy contains numerous museums (over 330) of different types: ethnographic, historical, technical-scientific, artistic and naturalistic which testify to the historical-cultural and artistic development of the region.   read more…

Como in Lombardy

26 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General Reading Time:  8 minutes

Como Panorama © Nicolago

Como Panorama © Nicolago

Como is a city and comune in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps has made Como a popular tourist destination and the city contains numerous works of art, churches, gardens, museums, theatres, parks and palaces: the Duomo (seat of Diocese of Como), the Basilica of Sant’Abbondio, the Villa Olmo, the public gardens with the Tempio Voltiano, the Teatro Sociale, the Broletto (the city’s medieval town hall) and the 20th century Casa del Fascio. Como was the birthplace of a good number of historically notable figures, including the (somewhat obscure) poet Caecilius who is mentioned by Catullus in the 1st century BCE, the far more substantial literary figures of Pliny the Elder and the Younger, Pope Innocent XI, the scientist Alessandro Volta, and Cosima Liszt, second wife of Richard Wagner and long-term director of the Bayreuth Festival.   read more…

The Lago Maggiore

14 October 2011 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, UNESCO World Heritage Reading Time:  7 minutes

Isola Bella - Borromean Islands © Mbdortmund

Isola Bella – Borromean Islands © Mbdortmund

Lake Maggiore is a large lake located on the south side of the Alps. It is the second largest of Italy and largest of southern Switzerland. Lake Maggiore is the most westerly of the three great prealpine lakes of Italy, it extends for about 70 km between Locarno and Arona. The climate is mild in both summer and winter, producing Mediterranean vegetation, with beautiful gardens growing rare and exotic plants. Well-known gardens include those of the Isola Madre, Isola Bella and the Isole di Brissago, that of the Villa Taranto in Verbania, and the Alpinia botanical garden above Stresa.   read more…

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