zew825 asked:
I am planning a trip to italy and I was wondering what some places I could visit that were built before 500 AD ( Don’t say Colosseum, Pantheon, Trajan’s market, or leaning tower of pisa because I have already planned to go there)
I am planning a trip to italy and I was wondering what some places I could visit that were built before 500 AD ( Don’t say Colosseum, Pantheon, Trajan’s market, or leaning tower of pisa because I have already planned to go there)
The Roman Forum and Pompeii
Head out to Pompeii. You can wander around by yourself or you can get a tour. Another spot near Rome is Ostica Antica, an ancient port city.
The Cathedral of Monreale was built in the Norman times…circa 1100AD. It’s a marvel of Byzantine art, especially inside where every square inch of space is covered in 1in. square mosaics. Unfortunately, the golden ones were ripped out many many years ago, but one can still see the fine artistic representations of many Biblical stories and Patriarchs. Not far from there you’ll find the ruins of a Norman castle on top of Mt. St.Bernardino. It’s a good stretch of the legs, but well worth the effort. This castle was also built in the 1100′s AD and from the ramparts, one can see the Mediterranean.
There are many ancient castles, ruins and cathedrals in Sicily. Find out more here
You can visit Verona:
there’s the Arena, an ancient anphitheatre, like Colosseo, but smaller.. in summer there are many Opera, by Shakespeare, Verdi and others..
there’s the Juliet’s balcony, who Shakespeare wrote in his famous novel romeo and Juliet..
There is also Borghetto, a small town near Verona, a middle age town, very caracteristic..
Verona is an old city.. if people could dig it, they would find more ancient monument under the basement
Italy is full of those places.
There are roman archaeological sites, greek ones, etrurian ones, and many others.
Roman archaeological sites are everywhere. The main ones are in Rome of course but there are beautiful ones in any italian region. Pompei and Ercolano are very interesting (Popmei is bigger, Ercolano better conserved).
Same is for greek sites, tough the majority are in South. Paestum in Campania and the Valley of the Temples in Sicily are two of the most beautiful.
Etrurian sites are in Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria and Lazio. The main ones are in Tuscany (Volterra, Populonia, Vetulonia, Sovana) and Lazio (Cerveteri, Tarquinia, Vulci)
Sites of other ancient peoples are everywhere (Italy has been crossed by hundreds of peoples across the centuries), I’d suggest the Mausoleum of Theodoric (the king of the Ostrogoths) in Ravenna (Emilia-Romagna).
The main italian archaeological museum is the National Archaelogical Museum of Naples, then it comes the Egyptian Museum in Turin, the National Archaeological Museum in Florence and Musei Capitolini in Roma.
Theres always Pompeii…
But a more little know, but just as good place to go is down in Sicily. In Siracusa there is a greek teatre, the second biggest ever built, and a few other roman and greek sites. around Agrigento, theres the ‘valley of temples’, there are like 20 greek temples, still standing and set in fields of brightly coloured flowers…very pretty…
andyway…pompeii is a popular place to go, but in sicily there are loads of great aincent greek and roman ruins, that are much less touristy…but just as great…
Looking at your plane I see you will stay in Rome and Pisa, right?
So…yes I think you can go in Popeii that is near Naples (Naples is 2 hours by train) if you have time but since you are in Rome you can visit Hadrian’s Villa:
It is an UNESCO World Heritage Site.
It’s located in Tivoli near Rome (you can go there also by bus (it stops in front the villa)
If you go in Tivoli you can also visit Villa d’Este another UNESCO world heritage site, it is a masterpiece of Italian architecture and especially garden design.
I hope you’ll enjoy my country and expecially you’ll like Rome, that is my city.