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Chiesa di San Nicolò dei Mendicoli
This striking brick Veneto-Gothic church dedicated to serving the poor hasn’t changed much since the 12th century, when its cloisters functioned as a women’s refuge and its portico sheltered mendicoli (beggars). The tiny, picturesque campo out front is Venice in miniature, surround
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Fondazione Giorgio Cini
A defunct naval academy has been cleverly converted into a shipshape contemporary art gallery for the Fondazione Giorgio Cini, preserving the original double-height timber ceiling and going for a weatherbeaten-high-design look with luminous stairs in glass and rusted iron. Behind P
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Basilica di Sant’Antonio
Il Santo is the soul of Padua, a key pilgrimage site and the burial place of patron saint St Anthony of Padua (1193–1231). Begun in 1232, its polyglot style incorporates rising eastern domes atop a Gothic brick structure crammed with Renaissance treasures. Behind the high altar nin
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Giardino Torrigiani
Astonishing. Behind the unassuming facades of Via de Serragli lies a vast, secret garden – Europe’s largest privately owned green space within a historic centre, owned by the Torrigiani Malaspina and Torrigiani di Santa Cristina families. Well-kept and loved, it’s possible to visit
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Palazzo Querini Stampalia
In 1869 Conte Giovanni Querini Stampalia made a gift of his ancestral palazzo to the city on the forward-thinking condition that its 700-year-old library operate late-night openings. Downstairs, savvy drinkers take their aperitivi with a twist of high modernism in the Carlo Scarpa–
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Grotta Azzurra
Although it doesn’t have the hype of its Capri counterpart, Palinuro’s Grotta Azzurra is similarly spectacular, with a Technicolour play of light and hue. It owes its name to the extraordinary effect produced by the sunlight that filters inside from an underground passage lying at
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Complesso Monumentale di San Lorenzo Maggiore
Architecture and history buffs shouldnt miss this richly layered religious complex, its commanding basilica deemed one of Naples finest medieval buildings. Aside from Ferdinando Sanfelices petite facade, the Cappella al Rosario and the Cappellone di SantAntonio, its baroque makeove
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Reggia di Venaria Reale
OK, it may not enjoy the weighty publicity of its French counterpart, but this is one of the largest royal residences in the world, rescued from ruin by a €235 million 10-year-long restoration project. Humungous, ostentatious, regal, yet strangely under-publicised, this Unesco-list
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Corso Repubblica
WWII, the creation of the atomic bomb, the miners strikes of the Iglesiente, the evils of capitalism, women’s liberation – Orgosolo is a giant canvas for emotionally-charged graffiti. The majority of murals line the main thoroughfare, Corso Repubblica , initiated by Professor Franc
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Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia
Never mind the doge: insatiable curiosity rules Venice, and inside the Museo di Storia Naturale (Museum of Natural History) it runs wild. The adventure begins upstairs with dinosaurs and prehistoric crocodiles, then dashes through evolution to Venices great age of exploration, when
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Museo Diocesano di Napoli
What was once a baroque place of prayer is now a repository for religious paintings, triptychs and sculptures, many hailing from defunct churches. Notable works include Luca Giordanos final canvases (either side of the main altar), Paolo De Matteis St Sebastian Healed by St Irene ,
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Ca’ Pesaro
Like a Carnevale costume built for two, the stately exterior of this Baldassare Longhena–designed 1710 palazzo hides two intriguing museums: Galleria Internazionale d’Arte Moderna and Museo d’Arte Orientale . While the former includes art showcased at the Venice Biennale, the latte
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Spaccanapoli
Following the path of the ancient Roman decumanus inferior (minor road), Via San Biagio dei Librai (becoming Via Benedetto Croce to the west and Via Vicaria Vecchia to the east) is affectionately known as Spaccanapoli (Break Naples). Seen from above, it cuts right through the heart
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Castello Sforzesco
Originally a Visconti fortress, this iconic red-brick castle was later home to the mighty Sforza dynasty, who ruled Renaissance Milan. The castles defences were designed by the multitalented da Vinci; Napoleon later drained the moat and removed the drawbridges. Today, it houses sev
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Domus Aurea
Nero had his Domus Aurea constructed after the fire of AD 64 (which its rumoured he had started to clear the area). Named after the gold that lined its facade and interiors, it was a huge complex covering up to a third of the city. The excavated part of the site has been repeatedly
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Piazza del Duomo & Around
Pictures dont do justice to the exterior of Florences Gothic Duomo . While they reproduce the startling colours of the tiered red, green and white marble facade and the beautiful symmetry of the dome, they fail to give any sense of its monumental size. Officially known as the Catte
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Santissima Annunziata
The most engrossing site at this 14th-century religious complex is its infamous ruota (wheel), set in the orphanage wall to the left of the basilica. As late as the 1980s, unwanted children were placed in a hollow in the wheel. On the other side of the wall sat a nun ready to take
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Centro Storico
A leisurely stroll around Alghero’s animated centro storico is a good way of tuning in to the city’s laid-back rhythms. The dark, medieval lanes come to life in the early evening when crowds swell the alleyways to parade their tans and browse the shop windows.The entire city centre
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Piazza dei Miracoli
Pisans claim that Campo dei Miracoli is among the most beautiful urban spaces in the world. Certainly, the immaculate walled lawns provide a gorgeous setting for the Cathedral, Baptistry and Tower; on the other hand, few places boast so many tat-waving hawkers.Forming the centrepie
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Roman Criptoportico
Six metres below modern Vicenza lies one of the citys lesser-known historical treasures - a first-century Roman cryptoportico. Discovered during post-war reconstruction in 1954, its the only private cryptoportico uncovered in northern Italy to date. The three-sided semi-subterranea
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