Mole Antonelliana

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The Mole Antonelliana is a major landmark of the Italian city of Turin. It is named for the architect who built it, Alessandro Antonelli. In Italian "Mole" (literally, "size") indicates a building of monumental proportions. Construction began in 1863, soon after Italian unification and was completed 26 years later, after the architect's death. Today it houses the National Museum of Cinema, and it is believed to be the tallest museum in the world.

Wikipedis - Mole Antonelliana

Piazza del Campo

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Piazza del Campo is the principal public space of the historic center of Siena, Tuscany, Italy and is one of Europe's greatest medieval squares. It is renowned worldwide for its beauty and architectural integrity. The Palazzo Pubblico and its Torre del Mangia, as well as various palazzi signorili surround the shell-shaped piazza. At the northwest edge is the Fonte Gaia.
The twice-a-year horse-race, Palio di Siena, is held around the edges of the piazza.

Source: Wikipedia - Piazza del Campo

Pompeii

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Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, its sister city, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning two days in 79 AD. The eruption buried Pompeii under 4 to 6 meters of ash and pumice, and it was lost for over 1,500 years before its accidental rediscovery in 1599. Since then, its excavation has provided an extraordinarily detailed insight into the life of a city at the height of the Roman Empire. Today, this UNESCO World Heritage Site is one of the most popular tourist attractions of Italy, w

ith approximately 2,500,000 visitors every year.

Source: Wikipedia - Pompeii

Positano

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Positano is a small town and comune on the Amalfi Coast (Costiera Amalfitana), in Campania, Italy. The main part of the city sits in an enclave in the hills leading down to the coast.

Source: Positano - Wikipedia

Turin Cathedral

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Turin Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Torino) is the major Roman Catholic church of Turin, northern Italy. Dedicated to Saint John the Baptist (Italian: San Giovanni Battista), it was built during 1491-1498 and it is adjacent to an earlier campanile (1470). The Chapel of the Holy Shroud, the current resting place of the Shroud of Turin, was added to the structure in 1668-1694.

Source: Turin Cathedral - Wikipedia

Mont Blanc

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Mont Blanc or Monte Bianco (French and Italian, respectively, meaning white mountain) is the highest mountain in the Alps and in Western Europe.[1] It rises 4,810 m (15,781 ft) above sea level and is ranked 11th in the world in topographic prominence. It is also sometimes known as "La Dame Blanche" (French, the white lady).

The mountain lies between the regions of Aosta Valley, Italy, and Haute-Savoie, France. The location of the summit is on the French-Italian border but French and Swiss cartographers place it within France's boundaries on maps. Lately, at the end of his studies of many different maps and with auxiliary of Istituto Cartografico dell’Esercito, Antonio Napolitano, the Italian leader of a mixed commission, claimed exclusive Italian ownership of the summit.[2][3]

The two most famous towns near Mont Blanc are Courmayeur, in Aosta Valley, Italy, and Chamonix, in Haute-Savoie, France — the site of the first Winter Olympics. A cable car ascends and crosses the mountain from Chamonix to Courmayeur.

Begun in 1957 and completed in 1965, the 11.6 km (7¼ mi) Mont Blanc Tunnel runs beneath the mountain between these two countries and is one of the major trans-Alpine transport routes.

The Mont Blanc Massif is popular for mountaineering, hiking, skiing and snowboarding.

Source: Mont Blanc - Wikipedia

Trevi Fountain (Fontana di Trevi)

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The Trevi Fountain (Italian: Fontana di Trevi) is a fountain in the Trevi rione in Rome, Italy. Standing 25.9 meters (85 feet) high and 19.8 meters (65 feet) wide, it is the largest Baroque fountain in the city.

from: Trevi Fountain - Wikipedia

Milan Cathedral (Duomo di Milano)

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Milan Cathedral (Italian: Duomo di Milano; Milanese: Domm de Milan) is the cathedral church of Milan in Lombardy, northern Italy. It is the seat of the Archbishop of Milan, currently Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi.

Milan Cathedral@Wikipedia

Fiorano Circuit - Ferrari private track in Maranello

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Fiorano Circuit is the private track owned by Ferrari for development and testing purposes. It is located near the Italian town of Maranello.

Built in 1972, it's 8.4 metres (27.6 ft) wide and 3,021 metres (1.9 mi) long. Average F1 lap speed is over 160 km/h (99 mph) and top speed is 290 km/h (180 mph). Because it's a testing track, it has many different kinds of turns and corners, with corner diameters between 13 metres (42.7 ft) and 0.3 metres (1.0 ft). All in all it has a lot of similarities with most European Grand Prix circuits.

It's equipped with telemetry and a large steering pad for tyre testing.

When Scuderia Ferrari are testing the F1 car at the track it's common to see Tifosi watching the test from the roadside, which is the closest point at which the track is viewable to the public.

It's also used to allow Ferrari customers to test drive new cars.

The Ferrari 599 GTB Fiorano is named after this track.

from Wikipedia


FERRARI F2008 FIORANO

Piazza Navona, Rome

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Piazza Navona is a city square in Rome, Italy. It follows the plan of an ancient Roman circus, the 1st century Stadium of Domitian,[1] where the Romans came to watch the agones ("games"): It was known as 'Circus Agonalis' (competition arena). It is believed that over time the name changed to 'in agone' to 'navone' and eventually to 'navona'.

Defined as a public space in the last years of 15th century, when the city market was transferred to it from the Campidoglio, the Piazza Navona is now the pride of Baroque Roman art history. It features sculptural and architectural creations by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, whose famous Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi (Fountain of the Four Rivers, 1651) stands in the center; by Francesco Borromini and Girolamo Rainaldi, who designed the church of Sant'Agnese in Agone; and by Pietro da Cortona, who painted the galleria in the Pamphilj palace.
The Piazza looking south

The market was again moved in 1869 to the Campo de' Fiori. The piazza long hosted theatrical shows and horse races. From 1652 until 1866, when the festival was suppressed, it was flooded on every August Saturday and Sunday for elaborate celebrations of the Pamphilj family.

The Piazza Navona contains two additional fountains, sculpted by Giacomo della Porta: the Fontana di Nettuno (1574), located at the northern area of the piazza; and the Fontana del Moro (1576), located at the southern end.

source: Wikipedia

The Colosseum, Rome

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The Colosseum or Roman Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the center of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering.

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Ancient Rome is visible in 3-D as Google Earth puts it online
By Ariel David
Associated Press
Published: Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008 12:08 a.m. MST

ROME — Obviously, there were no satellites to snap pictures of Rome two millennia ago. But that hasn't stopped experts from giving Web surfers a bird's-eye view of the ancient city.

Google Earth has added to its software a 3-D simulation that painstakingly reconstructs nearly 7,000 buildings of ancient Rome, including the Colosseum, the Forum and the Circus Maximus, officials said Wednesday.

The program, which gives users access to maps and global satellite imagery, now hosts a new layer that allows surfers to see how Rome might have looked in A.D. 320, a bustling city of about 1 million people under Emperor Constantine.

Pop-up windows provide information on the monuments and visitors also can enter some of the most important sites, including the Senate and the Colosseum, to observe the architecture and marble decorations, Google Italia and the city of Rome said in a joint statement.

Google Earth's "Ancient Rome 3-D," which was unveiled Wednesday at a news conference in city hall, is based on a simulation created by an international team led by the University of Virginia and the University of California.

Using laser scans of today's ruined monuments and advice from archaeologists, experts worked for about a decade to reconstruct ancient Rome within its 13-mile-long (21-kilometer-long) walls, said Bernard Frischer, who heads Virginia's Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities.

from Deseret News | Ancient Rome is visible in 3-D as Google Earth puts it online

Ancient Rome 3D


Discover Ancient Rome in Google Earth

Download Google Earth - See Ancient Rome in 3D

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Bridge of Sighs in Venice, Italy

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The Bridge of Sighs (Italian: Ponte dei Sospiri) is one of many bridges in Venice. The enclosed bridge is made of white limestone and has windows with stone bars. It passes over the Rio di Palazzo and connects the old prisons to the interrogation rooms in the Doge's Palace. It was designed by Antoni Contino (whose uncle Antonio da Ponte had designed the Rialto Bridge), and built between 1600 and 1603.

The view from the Bridge of Sighs was the last view of Venice that convicts saw before their imprisonment. The bridge name, given by Lord Byron in the 19th century, comes from the suggestion that prisoners would sigh at their final view of beautiful Venice out the window before being taken down to their cells. In reality, the days of inquisitions and summary executions were over by the time the bridge was built, and the cells under the palace roof were occupied mostly by small-time criminals[1].

A local legend says that lovers will be assured eternal love if they kiss on a gondola at sunset under the bridge. This legend played a key part in the 1979 film A Little Romance.

A little romance - movie trailer


from Wikipedia

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Venice
Serenading gondaliers, picture-perfect ski runs, elegant centres of high fashion, grand architecture, renaissance cities are just some of the attractions which entice visitors for there is so much to experience in Venice and the other cities in Northern Italy. Narrow streets and meandering canals characterise Venice - the ‘city of love’. What better way to experience this romantic city of Venice than a gondola ride on the Grand Canal.

Firenze Italy

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Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore