Italy Travel
Italy intoxicates, invigorates, and incites inimitably since it is home to many of the world's finest masterpieces of art, architecture, fashion, landscape, and food. This European powerhouse aches under the weight of its cultural cachet: Michelangelo's David and Sistine Chapel murals, Botticelli's Birth of Venus and Primavera, and da Vinci's The Last Supper, to name a few. Italy, in fact, has the most UNESCO World Heritage cultural sites of any country on the planet. Should you follow in the footsteps of the ancient Romans in Pompeii, marvel at Ravenna's gleaming Byzantine treasures, or gasp in awe at Giotto's revolutionary frescoes in Padua? It's an enthralling as well as a befuddling cultural quandary. But make no mistake; this may be the home of Dante, Titian, and Verdi, but it also houses Gucci, Prada, Massimo Bottura, and Renzo Piano. From neatly knotted ties and smooth espressos to the flirty smiles of stunning strangers, beauty, style, and flair pervade every facet of daily life.
Talking about landscape, the country is one of nature's masterpieces, with a natural diversity that few other countries can equal. From the frigid Alps and glacial lakes in the north to the fiery craters and turquoise grottoes in the south, this is a place where you can do as well as see. And when your feet give up exploring all of that, you are greeted with a culinary explosion powered by superb ingredients and well-calibrated know-how.
Through this series of articles, I intend to share our stories and experiences of traveling across Italy with our fellow photography and travel enthusiasts. I hope they help you plan your travels across this beautiful country!
The inverted letter ‘Y’ shaped (or ‘lambda’ for science students) lake of Como (also known as Lario) is a gorgeous glacial lake in the Lombardy region of Italy, 50 km north of Milan. After Lake Garda and Lake Maggiore, it is the third-largest lake in Italy with a surface area of 146 sq. km. With a depth of 425 m, it is the fifth-deepest lake in Europe. Home to picturesque villages, elegant villas, luscious green mountains, and sparkling blue shores, Lake Como is a place where gleaming red Ferraris glide through little lakeside towns and aristocrats, royals, and celebs vacation in neoclassical villas. Here the 2006 Bond film ‘Casino Royale’ was partly shot and many of the opulent lakeside hotels are priced like 007 properties. Hollywood star George Clooney is known to spend the summer months at his 25-room Villa Oleandra in Laglio on Lake Como.