Italy - travel video, HD stock travel footage and photography

Italy

If you have to pick only one country in Europe to visit this should be Italy with no second thoughts. Somebody once said that Italy is great because everybody who lived there had to build a monument. So people died and the monuments remained. It may be or not the case but Italy is overwhelmingly filled up with monuments. Wherever you go there are mansions, palazzos , loggias, statues, fountains, stadiums, arches, temples, museums and galleries, masterpieces of humanity, a remarkable collection that you cannot find elsewhere in the world. We traveled in Italy many times till now and still counting. From the hectic North where the pace is relatively similar with the one in Northern Europe, to the paced life style of the South and especially in Sicily, Italy is inviting you to stay and enjoy the atmosphere, the food and its heritage.

We strolled the banks of the canals of the Serenisima Venice, a place that shocks you, no matter how many pictures or videos you watched about it, we visited Padova with the amazing church of San Antonio, Palladio's Vicenza, Verona, Parma and the hectic but very fashionable Milan. We continued to the mosaic covered churches of Ravenna, dual capital of the Roman Empire and to Bologna.

From San Pietro, to the Pantheon, to Fontana di Trevi and Piazza Navona, to Coliseum and Piazza de Spagna wherever you go around Rome there are reminders of the famous long gone Roman Empire but also of the more present and the most widespread empire ever existed, the Vatican. A little north of Rome you cannot avoid stopping in the medieval hill top town of Orvietto, with a charming old quarter and a basilica paring with the Duomo of Siena.

Tuscany stays at the heart of Italy and not only geographically. Siena is one of the most beautiful cities of Italy having a medieval town center where is still run in July and August the Palio, a traditional horse race competition dating from the old times. From Siena you go to San Gimignano de Belle Torre, a small romantic city, where not many of the Belle Torre are left but they still enchant you. Florence is a must, with its museums, squares and basilicas where the shadow of Michelangelo is as present as ever was. Near Florence is Pisa with its Torre Pendente and the exquisitely sculpted baptistery and Lucca with its beautiful architecture. We visited also the enchanting small cities of Tuscany of Pienza. Montepulciano, Volterra and Certaldo. From there we enjoyed a day trip in the beautiful landscaped fingers into the sea of Cinque Terre.

Going south of Rome you visit to the vibrant Napoli, with its magnificent museums containing the art collected by the Farnese cardinals, becoming in time famous and influential popes, and with the mosaics and artifacts found in Pompei. Visiting Pompei is a must, to see how the misfortune of history can preserve for our knowledge a mode of life that otherwise would have been completely lost. South of Napoli is located Paestum that has the best preserved Greek temples from Magna Grecia.
Also, south of Naples, is one of the most beautiful roads of Europe, Costiera Amalfitana, a 50km asphalt belt cut in the mountain winding through the beautiful cities of Sorrento, Positano, Amalfi, Ravello and Salerno. From Sorento you can board a boat to the Island of Capri, where you can visit the towns of Capri and Anacapri with its Villa de la San Michele, famous from the world renowned novel Storia de San Michele by Axel Munthe. If you go all the way down South, in Basilicata, you visit the interesting the city of Matera, a city dug in stone, where 20000 people lived in caves till 1956. Close by are the beautiful towns of Puglia, with the impressive romanesque cathedrals of Barletta and Trani and the pilgrimage places of Promotorio Gargano, San Giovanni Rotondo and Monte San Angelo. South of Bari you visit Lecce with its astonishing baroque architecture and the pointed "trulli" houses of Alberobello, a reason in itself to visit visit Puglia.

Come and see our travel video about Southern Italy, from Matera to Napoli, and you will never forget.