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Torre dell’Orologio
The two hardest-working men in Venice stand duty on a rooftop around the clock, and wear no pants. No need to file workers complaints: the Do Mori (Two Moors) exposed to the elements atop the Torre dellOrologio are made of bronze, and their bell-hammering mechanism runs like, well,
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Parco Nazionale dellArcipelago di La Maddalena
A national park since 1996, Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago di La Maddalena consists of seven main islands and 40 granite islets, as well as several small islands to the south. The seven principal islands are the high points of a valley, now underwater, that once joined Sardinia an
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Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva
Built on the site of three pagan temples, including one to the goddess Minerva, the Dominican Basilica di Santa Maria Sopra Minerva is Rome’s only Gothic church. However, little remains of the original 13th-century structure and these days the main drawcard is a minor Michelangelo
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Piazza della Santissima Annunziata
Giambolognas equestrian statue of Grand Duke Ferdinando I de Medici commands the scene from the centre of this majestic square, dominated by the facades of Chiesa della Santissima Annunziata (1250), rebuilt by Michelozzo et al in the mid-15th century, and the Ospedale degli Innocen
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Basilica di San Paolo Fuori le Mura
The largest church in Rome after St Peter’s (and the world’s third-largest), this magnificent basilica stands on the site where St Paul was buried after being decapitated in AD 67. Built by Constantine in the 4th century, it was largely destroyed by fire in 1823 and much of what yo
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Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo
The extraordinary Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo is an architectural Kinder Surprise. Its shell is the 15th-century, Giuseppe Valeriani–designed facade of Palazzo Sanseverino, converted to create the 16th-century church. Inside, piperno-stone sobriety gives way to a gob-smacking blast of ba
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Museo del Merletto
Buranos Lace Museum tells the story of a craft that cut across social boundaries, endured for centuries and evoked the epitome of civilisation reached during the Republics heyday. From the triple-petalled corollas on the fringes of the Madonna’s mantle in Torcello’s 12th-century mo
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Rocca di Angera
The chunky medieval Rocca di Angera fortress lords it over the town of Angera in no uncertain terms. From a distance, it is the first thing one sees. Inside is the 12-room Museo della Bambola , displaying the Borromeo family’s priceless collection of dolls. What better place for th
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Chiesa San Giovanni a Carbonara
Sumptuous sculpture makes this Gothic church worth a detour. Andrea de Firenze, Tuscan sculptors and northern-Italian artists collaborated on the Gothic-Renaissance mausoleum of King Ladislas, soaring 18m behind the main altar. Behind it, the circular Cappella Caracciolo del Sole u
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Nuraghe Santu Antine
One of the largest nuraghic sites in Sardinia, the Nuraghe Santu Antine sits 4km south of Torralba. The complex is focused on a central tower, which now stands at 17.5m but which originally rose to a height of 25m. Around this, walls link three bastions to enclose a triangular comp
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Museo Nazionale Romano: Palazzo Altemps
Just north of Piazza Navona, Palazzo Altemps is a beautiful late-15th-century palazzo, housing the best of the Museo Nazionale Romano’s formidable collection of classical sculpture. Many pieces come from the celebrated Ludovisi collection, amassed by Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi in t
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Grotta di Ispinigoli
A short drive north of Dorgali, the fairy-tale-like Grotta di Ispinigoli is a veritable forest of glittering stalagmites, including the worlds second-tallest (the highest is in Mexico and stands at 40m). Unlike most caves of this type, which you enter from the side, here you descen
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Santuario Santa Vittoria
Beyond the small village of Serri, the Santuario Santa Vittoria is one of Sardinias most important nuraghic settlements, which was first studied in 1907 and later excavated in 1962. What you see today is divided roughly into three zones. The central area, the Recinto delle Riunioni
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Mozia
Located on the tiny island of San Pantaleo, ancient Mozia (also known as Motya or Mothia) was one of the Mediterraneans most important Phoenician settlements. Established in the 8th century BC and coveted for its strategic position, Mozia is today the worlds best-preserved Phoenici
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Imperial Forums
The forums of Trajan, Augustus, Nerva and Caesar are known collectively as the Imperial Forums. These were largely buried when Mussolini bulldozed Via dei Fori Imperiali through the area in 1933, but excavations have since unearthed much of them. The standout sights are the Mercati
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Chiesa di San Giorgio dei Greci
Greek Orthodox refugees who fled to Venice from Turkey with the rise of the Ottoman Empire built a church here in 1536, with the aid of a special dispensation from Venice to collect taxes on incoming Greek ships. Nicknamed ‘St George of the Greeks, the little church has an impressi
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Cupola
One of the Renaissances great masterpieces, the Duomos cupola was built between 1420 and 1436. Filippo Brunelleschi, taking inspiration from the Pantheon in Rome, designed a distinctive octagonal form of inner and outer concentric domes that rests on the drum of the cathedral rathe
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Lungomare
When you need a break from Naples hyperactive tendencies, take a deep breath on its pedestrianised seafront strip. Stretching 2.5km along Via Partenope and Via Francesco Carrociolo, its views are nothing short of exquisite, taking in the bay, Mt Vesuvius, two castles and Vomeros Li
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Duomo di Orvieto
Nothing can prepare you for the visual feast that is Orvietos soul-stirring Gothic cathedral. Dating to 1290, it sports a black-and-white banded exterior fronted by what is perhaps the most astonishing facade to grace any Italian church, a mesmerising display of rainbow frescoes, j
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Chiesa di San Francesco della Vigna
Designed and built by Jacopo Sansovino, with a facade by Palladio, this enchanting Franciscan church is one of Venice’s most underappreciated attractions. The Madonna positively glows in Bellini’s 1507 Madonna and Saints in the Cappella Santa , just off the flower-carpeted cloister
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