Italy Travel Guide

The Colosseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre, is the enduring symbol of ancient Rome, inaugurated in AD 80 as an arena that held some 50,000 spectators. Gladiators and wild beasts fought here, and mock naval battles were once staged by flooding the floor. Its four-tier arcaded façade and mastery of concrete and vaulting shaped architecture for nearly two millennia. Today only a ruined shell remains, yet it is still majestic; the restored hypogeum of gladiator passages and a reconstructed arena floor let visitors step back into the empire's splendour and its cruelty.

The Pantheon is the most complete and greatest surviving building from ancient Rome. Famous for its huge dome and the oculus skylight, it has stood nearly two thousand years and remains a pinnacle symbol of Roman engineering, a stunning sight in Rome. The Pantheon stands in Rome's center, one of the most complete and best-preserved buildings from ancient Rome (standing and in use for nearly two millennia). Built in Roman times as a temple to all the gods (hence its name), later converted to a church, it survived. Most astonishing is its unparalleled huge dome: a perfect hemispherical concrete dome by the Romans, with a span so large (diameter equals height, over forty meters) that, nearly two thousand years on, it remains the world's largest unreinforced concrete dome, a pinnacle marvel of Roman engineering. More wondrous, at the dome's center is a circular oculus (eye), the only natural light source: a beam of light pours through, moving across the grand, solemn hall with the sun, solemn, sacred and poetic (on rainy days, rain also falls through). Entering, looking up at the perfect dome and the pouring light, one is stunned by Roman ingenuity. Raphael and others are buried here. Visiting Rome and admiring the intact, stunning Pantheon, looking up at the dome's light, is a stunning sight.

Florence Cathedral (the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore) is the symbol of Florence and a great masterpiece of the Renaissance. This church, famed for its huge red dome and pink-and-green marble facade, is the pride of the city of art and a stunning, beautiful sight in Florence. Standing in the center of Florence's old town, it is the most magnificent and iconic building and symbol of this Renaissance birthplace and city of art. The church is vast and exquisite: its exterior is inlaid with white, pink and dark-green marble in intricate, fine floral and geometric patterns, with an elaborately carved facade, gorgeous, bright and elegant, like a delicate work of art. The church's greatest, most stunning and historic feature is its world-famous huge red dome (designed and built by the master architect Brunelleschi): this towering, rounded, magnificent octagonal red dome, with its unprecedented span and innovative construction (a double-shell dome built without scaffolding), was a marvel of engineering and architecture and sounded the clarion of the Renaissance, still the undisputed landmark of Florence's skyline. Beside the cathedral stand the graceful Giotto's Campanile and the ancient Baptistery (famous for its Gates of Paradise bronze reliefs). Visitors can admire this gorgeous church, or climb the stunning dome (and campanile) for views of Florence's endless red-tiled panorama. Visiting Florence and admiring the gorgeous, stunning Florence Cathedral is a breathtaking sight.

The Uffizi Gallery is one of the world's greatest treasuries of Renaissance art. This gallery, rich with masterpieces by Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, is a temple for art lovers and a breathtaking sight in Florence. The Uffizi Gallery, near Piazza della Signoria in Florence's old town, is one of the world's most famous and important art museums and the richest, finest collection of Renaissance masterpieces, grown from the collection of the Medici family, the greatest patrons of the Renaissance. Walking through its long galleries, you encounter countless masterpieces by Renaissance giants, each a treasure of human art, dazzling and awe-inspiring: Botticelli's dreamy, graceful The Birth of Venus and Primavera (the crown jewels), Leonardo's Annunciation, Michelangelo's Doni Tondo, and works by Raphael, Titian, Caravaggio and more, like walking through a three-dimensional history of Renaissance art, feeling the brilliant artistic light and humanist spirit of that great age. Besides paintings, the museum displays classical sculptures and its riverside corridor overlooks the Ponte Vecchio and the Arno. This gallery is a true temple for art lovers. Visiting Florence and wandering the Uffizi's rare treasures to admire Renaissance masterpieces is a breathtaking sight.

Milan Cathedral is one of the world's most magnificent and gorgeous Gothic churches. This marble church, pure white and covered with countless spires and statues, took centuries to build, a symbol of Milan and a stunning, gorgeous sight. Milan Cathedral stands on the Cathedral Square in central Milan, one of the largest, most magnificent and gorgeous Gothic churches in Italy and the world, and Milan's undisputed symbol. Immense and ornate, built of white marble over centuries, its most astonishing feature is the dense, exquisite Gothic decoration: the top is covered with over 130 tall white spires (each topped with a statue), and the facade and walls are studded with over 3,000 fine marble statues, reliefs and windows, pure white, spire upon spire, statues everywhere, gorgeous and sacred, like a flawless white marble masterpiece. Atop the highest spire stands a golden statue of the Virgin (Milan's protector). A unique experience is climbing to the rooftop terrace, walking among the spires and statues, and overlooking the city. Visiting Milan and admiring the gorgeous, stunning Milan Cathedral is a stunning sight.

St Mark's Square was called by Napoleon 'the most beautiful drawing room in Europe'; it is enclosed by the Byzantine St Mark's Basilica, the soaring campanile, the majestic Doge's Palace and the Old Library, its floor laid in geometric marble. Pigeons and live music fill the air, and at high tide the square occasionally becomes a 'flooded salon'. It is Venice's religious, political and social heart and an essential, ornate stage for visitors.