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Abruzzo l Calabria l Campania l Emilia Romagna l Friuli-Venezia Giulia l Lazio l Liguria l Lombardia l Marche l Molise l Piemonte l Puglia l Repubblica di San Marino l Sardegna l Sicilia l Switzerland l Toscana l Trentino Alto-Adige l Umbria l Valle d'Aosta l Veneto |
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Information about Italy
and its regions and atractions. Taormina
in Sicily is a popular and fashionable tourist resort with famously
stunning views and a picturesque Greco-Roman theatre, high above the
sea and facing Etna. As an attractive and permanently-fashionable
destination, Taormina is known as a delightful but expensive place to
stay. Many of the town's hotels and restaurants are in the upper
price-bracket. Tuscany (which is one of the 20 regions of Italy) is
divided into 10 different Provinces which are listed on the left with
Florence the Capital. Tuscany
is a charmed land, equally blessed by the genius of man and nature,
and often by the combined efforts of both. Think of the vineyards:
rows of baby green vines that manage somehow to march in
arrow-straight formation up the gently rolling hillsides, bounded by
single files of darker green cypress trees, snaking sandy roads
leading to rust-colored farmhouses and moss-coated castles,
symmetrically rounded hilltops surmounted by towns so homogeneous as
to seem one single building.
With water, water everywhere,
Venice, Italy, is a small
and entrancing city, said to have more great art and architecture per
square inch than any other place in the world. Hot in July and
August, its weather is generally mild through the rest of the year,
though punctuated by thunder and rainstorms.
Founded more than a thousand years ago by refugees erecting houses on
stilts on mudflats, Venice has grown into a city of 117 painstakingly
constructed islands, connected by some 150 canals and 400 bridges.
Over the past 20 years a new type of tourism has grown strongly
throughout Italy, Agritourism
or Agriturismo as it is know in Italy. This type of tourism is
orientated around having a rural experience which you share with the
family who owns the farm or Agritourism on which you are staying.
Generally, these properties are vineyards or orchards and you are
able to enjoy the fruits of the farm and in many cases your meals are
prepared in traditional settings and dishes by the family itself. An
Agritourism or as they also known farm
stay, is any land based
farm or business that is open to the public.
These specialized farms generally offer things to see, things to do,
and produce or gifts to buy, and are open to the public at least some
parts of the year. Some are open 365 days, some only open for a few
weekends in the fall. All offer a unique farm experience and are
generally appealing to all members in a family.
Agritourisms
in Italy have been
developed as a valuable component of a business model to support many
agricultural entities when the farm products they produce are no
longer economically competitive otherwise. The miracle of Italy is
that all its treasures come packaged in a gorgeous country of
majestic mountains, placid lakes, idyllic islands, splendid cities
and wonderful walled villages. An ideal climate plus warm and
gracious people make Italy a perfect destination for an active
vacation, the art lover, the gourmand, the hedonist combined, why
not, with business. There is a place where you don't need words to be
understood, comparisons to feel you're just fine, strong sensations
to thrill with excitement. That place is the
Tuscan countryside, and you
are its guest. You will discover, on a farm, a vacation you have
never tried before, one that will put you at ease at once: the
vacation is Farm tourism and it transports you to a world you feel
yours at last.
Tuscany is exceptional in every regard, even by Italy's exalted
standards. In Florence, it has Europe's greatest Renaissance city, in
Siena and San Gimignano, two of its most perfect medieval towns, and,
in Lucca, Cortona and Pienza, historical gems of which any country
would be proud. As if these were not enough, it is also renowned for
its food and wine, its beaches, its villas and gardens, and for some
of the world's most beautiful and varied landscapes where you may
choose
to find an apartment. From
the Arab-Norman and Byzantine wonders of Palermo in Sicily to the
majestic peaks of the Dolomites, Italy is a movable feast of endless
courses, castles
and wines. No matter how much you gorge yourself on its splendours,
you always feel you haven't made it past the antipasti. Few countries
offer such variety and few visitors leave without a fervent desire to
return. The Italians are not joking when they call their home Il
Belpaese, the Beautiful Country.
