Venice Hotels

The Basilica of San Giovanni in Laterano is perhaps the most ancient of Christian churches. It is held to be the most important after Saint Peter’s because it is the Cathedral of Rome. In the central space between the transepts is an altar where only the Pope, the bishop of Rome, can celebrate mass. As…

Venice Glassmakers’ Historical Artwork Shattered by Poor Demand, Taxes The glassmaker has sold his flat to maintain his factory going and now sleeps in the back room of his foundry in the tiny isle of Murano, a mile north of the Italian canal city of Venice. The 47-year old, who comes from a household of…

Rome, more than any other city, is full of obelisks, many of Egyptian origin. These enormous monoliths, either bare or covered in hieroglyphics, form focus points at the center of the great squares; but they are also symbols of the sun and immortality. There are thirteen obelisks in Rome. The most ancient and the highest…

We are in the center of ancient Rome. Here, Rome built after having dried up the marshlands its Forum where all the political, religious, and commercial activities were held, between the Palatine, the Capitol, and the Esquiline hills. It is not easy to move about these ruins without having some knowledge of the ten centuries…

Many other Fora were built when the Roman Forum became too small for the ever-increasing Roman population. Today, they are called Imperial Fora. Many of these Fora are now in ruins because during the Middle Ages they were used as quarries, using the old stones to build new buildings. Today, if you walk from the…

The David The work of Michelangelo Buonarroti ( 1504 ) formed from a huge block of marble sculpted originally by the sense Agostino di Duccio to make the Giant. Once the David was completed Michelangelo placed it in Piazza Della Signoria. In 1873, after showing signs of deterioration, the statue was moved into the Galleria…