Have a look at this interesting picture of Sestriere in Italy, posted by user calval:

Sestriere - Italian ski resort

Originally, Sestriere was a sheepherding community; in the 1930s it was developed into a ski resort by one of Fiat bosses and is used as such until today. Moreover, in 2006 during the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Sestriere hosted plenty of events. That is largely due to its location at snow-secure 2000 meters. What is really amazing is the type of architecture you can encounter there - it is quite unusual for these altitudes.

Related Links

Sestriere website

Web discounts for Sestriere hotels

Technorati Tags: history, photos, travel

We’re back to Italy again today thanks to our user calval and we are looking at one of Ferrara’s landmarks - the Aqueduct.  It is 37 meters high and made from concrete. Unlike many real aqueducts which you can find in Italy, and which date back to the Roman times, this one was built as late as the 1930s. It’s more ancient Roman than you probably think though - did you know that concrete was widely used by Romans (it was invented by Assyrians though)?

Aqueduct of Ferrara

The Ferrara aqueduct is located in the Garden District, a lovely area which is at the same time green, quiet, centrally located and full of nightspots such as bars and cafes (is that really possible?). All of that makes it a  popular meeting point, especially among the young part of the Ferrara population.

Ferrara aqueduct in 2008

Related links:

Wikipedia article on Ferrara

Ferrara hotels

Technorati Tags: architecture, history, photos, travel

It’s back to Italy again since our Italian user community has been very active recently. One of the pictures from Italy that was uploaded within the past few days was from the town of Gallipoli. Due to its location and climate, tourism has long been an important industry in Gallipoli; one of the attractions enjoyed by tourists have been the beaches, including the Spiaggia di Lido San Giovanni.

Have a look at people taking a rest on that beach some 69 years ago:

Spiaggia di Lido San Giovanni in 1940

It looks like not much has changed in the way people spend their time on the beach now, except that kayaks have been introduced since:

Spiaggia di Lido San Giovanni nowadays

Update (19 Mar 2009): after reading this post, user ledy2 who uploaded the first picture of Lido San Giovanni, added one more photo of the place, taken in 1955. In his own words (according to Google’s translation from Italian): “where there was wood, behold, cement …”

Lido di San Giovanni in 1955

Related links:

Wikipedia article on Gallipoli

Web discounts for Gallipoli hotels

Technorati Tags: history, holidays, photos, travel

We’re back from our snowboard holidays now, recovering from a broken finger and several other injuries:) What that also means is that we are back to writing posts for this blog. While we were away, user cityweb posted this picture of the Bagni Pancaldi baths in Livorno, with visible signs of the 1944 bombings:

Signs of 1944 bombings in Livorno

Compare that with this picture, available on the Bagni Pancaldi website, which shows how the baths are beautifully maintained nowadays:

Modern view of Pancaldi Acquaviva

Technorati Tags: history, holidays, photos, travel

Bologna in Italy, like so many places in the Mediterranean, has history dating back to the 6th century BC, if not longer. Home to the oldest existing university in Europe, which was built in 1088, it also prides itself with having one of Europe’s largest exhibition areas called the Fiera District as well as plenty of industrial activities.

Of course, there is plenty of old tourist attractions in Bologna, for example the Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca:

Sanctuary of the Madonna of San Luca - posted by jordilardin

Frequently visited by pilgrims, and once a year by a procession from the church of San Pietro in the center of Bologna, who use a 3.5 km path to get there. Until 1976 pilgrims could use a cable car that took them straight to the basilica. But that’s not all - in winter this car was also used by some inhabitants of Bologna for skiing!

Technorati Tags: history, photos, travel