1473 Best Sights in Italy

Just across the road from the Porto Turistico, area fishermen set up stalls inside the commercial plaza every morning (even Sunday). Though it's much smaller and less chaotic than the Catania fish market, the quality of seafood is excellent, and you'll see prime examples of everything that swims or crawls in these local waters. And it has a very locals' market feel to it, with people buying fresh fish each morning for their daily meal prep (it's open until about noon).

In September 1943 the Nazi occupation established Italy's only concentration camp in this rice-processing factory outside Trieste. In April 1944 a crematorium was put into operation. The Nazis destroyed much of the evidence of their atrocities before their retreat, but a good deal of the horror of the place is still perceivable in the reconstructed museum (1975). The site, an Italian national monument since 1965, receives more than 100,000 visitors per year.

At this family-run and -operated establishment, you can do a simple wine tasting, or taste while eating lunch or dinner at the rather fine restaurant. It's also possible to stay on the estate in restored farmhouses.

If you want to see more of that quintessential Tuscan landscape, walk up to the Rocca di Montestaffoli, which sits at the highest point in San Gimignano. Built after the Florentine conquest to keep an eye on the town, and dismantled a few centuries later, it's now a public garden.

A labyrinth of little streets, alleys, and arches, this underground city was originally part of a fortress built at the behest of Pope Paul III between 1540 and 1543 to confirm papal dominion over the city. Parts of it were destroyed after the end of papal rule, but much still remains. Begin your visit by taking the escalators that descend through the subterranean ruins from Piazza Italia down to Via Masi. In summer, this is the coolest place in the city.

A good, accessible example of the new school of Barolo wine making (concrete tanks, blended wines) is this estate, about 6 km (4 miles) south of Barolo. Rocche dei Manzoni’s reds include Barolo, dolcetto, Langhe Rosso, and barbera. Visits take about two hours and include a guided tour of the wine cellar plus a tasting of three wines; reserve in advance online.

As suggested by the paths shaped like a menorah, this was once a Jewish cemetery. All but one tombstone was moved, and the space is now a municipal garden that is open during the few weeks in the warmer months when the roses are in bloom. The garden is laid out to reflect the history of roses from antiquity to the present day and features more than 1,000 varieties. Its location also offers sweeping views across the old chariot track of the Circus Maximus.

The footpaths that leave from Ruta, 4 km (2½ miles) east of Camogli, thread through rugged terrain and contain a multitude of plant species. Weary hikers are sustained by stunning views of the Riviera di Levante from various vantage points along the way.

One of the most important archaeological areas in Rome was only discovered in 1926 when construction around Teatro Argentina unearthed four Republican-age temples. The so-called Sacred Area was closed to the public for decades and was happily colonized by cats, who still roam the ruins. But now, a series of walkways allows up-close visits to the site, along with a small but smart collection of antiquities. The exact history of the temples is still being studied, but it is thought that the most ancient of the four (built in the 4th century BC) was dedicated to Feronia, a fertility goddess. While scholars continue to debate the origins of some of the temples here, they do agree that the large tuffa foundation behind the round temple was the Curia of Pompey, where senate sessions were once held—and the spot on which Julius Caesar was assassinated on the Ides of March (March 15) of 44 BC. 

An important requirement at this hermitage, founded by St. Romualdo in the 11th century for the reformed Benedictine order, was preserving an ascetic atmosphere: "If the hermits are to be true devotees of solitude, they must take the greatest care of the woods." When the flow of pilgrims began to threaten that solitude, Romualdo had a monastery and hospital built down the mountain to create some distance.

Today, you can view the hermitage—where the monks live in complete silence in 20 separate little cottages, each with its own walled garden—through gates and visit the church and original cell of Romualdo, the model for all the others. The church, rebuilt in the 13th century and transformed in the 18th to its present appearance, strikes an odd note in connection with such an austere order and the simplicity of the hermits' cells, because it's done up in gaudy baroque style, complete with gilt cherubs and a frescoed vault. Its most appealing artwork is the glazed terra-cotta relief Madonna and Child with Saints (including a large figure of Romualdo and a medallion depicting his fight with the devil) by Andrea della Robbia. The main entrance to the hermitage, the bronze Porta Speciosa (Beautiful Door) of 2013, by Claudio Parmiggiani (born in 1943), has an inscription on its inner side that likens the monks' spirits to the trees that they tend.

Within the Monastero di Camaldoli, 3 km (1 mile) away, is a church (repeatedly restructured) containing 14th-century frescoes by Spinello Aretino, seven 16th-century panel paintings by Giorgio Vasari, and a quietly lovely monastic choir. The choir has 18th-century walnut stalls, more Vasari paintings, and a serene fresco (by Santi Pacini) of St. Romualdo instructing his white-robed disciples. In a hospital built for sick villagers in 1046, the 1543 Antica Farmacia (Old Pharmacy) contains original carved walnut cabinets. Here you can buy herbal teas and infusions, liqueurs, honey products, and toiletries made by the monks from centuries-old recipes as part of their daily routine balancing prayer, work, and study (the monastery is entirely self-supporting). In the back room is an exhibit of the early pharmacy's alembics, mortars, and other equipment with which the monks made herbs into medicines. You can attend short spiritual retreats organized by the monks throughout the year; contact the foresteria (visitors lodge) for details.

During two weekends in mid-October, Caprese Michelangelo's very lively Sagra della Castagna takes place. Among the many other chestnut-based delights that feature in the fair, the freshly made castagnaccia (a typically Tuscan dessert made with chestnut flour, pine nuts, olive oil, and rosemary) is a must-try.

One of Florence's hidden treasures, a cool and composed Crucifixion by Perugino (circa 1445/50–1523), is in the chapter house of the monastery below Santa Maria Maddalena dei Pazzi. Here you can see the Virgin Mary and St. John the Evangelist with Mary Magdalene and saints Benedict and Bernard of Clairvaux posed against a simple but haunting landscape. The figure of Christ crucified occupies the center of this brilliantly hued fresco. Perugino's colors radiate—note the juxtaposition of the yellow-green cuff against the orange tones of Magdalene's robe. Entrance to this beauteous fresco is through the Liceo Michelangelo (a high school). Check on temporary closures, a possibility at this site, before visiting.

Three striking Saracenic pink domes mark this church, built in 1154 during the Norman occupation of Palermo. The church now belongs to the Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and has a spare but intense stone interior.

Dating from the 4th or 5th century, this might be Rome's first parish church. Its soaring medieval bell tower can best be seen from the little piazza flanking the church or from the other side of Viale di Trastevere. Inside, walk back to the sacristy (left of the apse) to gain access to the underground area, where you can explore the ruins of the ancient basilica, discovered in 1907 beneath the "new" 12th-century structure. The eerie space is astonishingly large and dotted with gems like 8th-century frescoes, ancient marble sarcophagi, and even a 6th-century marble altar.

Inside this rather nondescript 14th-century church, just outside Cortona's walls, is an altarpiece depicting the Coronation of the Virgin against a sparkling gold background by Lorenzo di Niccolò Gerini (active late 14th–early 15th centuries). Among the other works is a Madonna and Child by Luca Signorelli.

Although the Duomo is celebrated as a triumph of 13th-century Gothic architecture, this church, built at about the same time, turned out to be an oversize, hulking brick box that never merited a finishing coat in marble, let alone a graceful facade. Named for the founder of the Dominican order, the church is now more closely associated with St. Catherine of Siena. Just to the right of the entrance is the chapel in which she received the stigmata. On the wall is the only known contemporary portrait of the saint, made in the late 14th century by Andrea Vanni (circa 1332–1414). Farther down is the famous Cappella delle Santa Testa, the church's official shrine.

On either side of the chapel are well-known frescoes by Sodoma (aka Giovanni Antonio Bazzi, 1477–1549) of St. Catherine in Ecstasy. Don't miss the view of the Duomo and town center from the apse-side terrace.

Inside the northern city walls, this church was begun by Dominican friars in 1275 and completed in the 14th century. The walls were once completely frescoed and decorated with niches and chapels. Very little remains of the original works, but a famous 13th-century crucifix by Cimabue (circa 1240–1302) and frescoes by Spinello Aretino (1350–1410) still survive.

The tomb of St. Dominic, who died here in 1221, is called the Arca di San Domenico and is found in this church in the sixth chapel on the right. Many artists participated in its decoration, notably Niccolò di Bari, who was so proud of his 15th-century contribution that he changed his name to Niccolò dell'Arca to recall this famous work. The young Michelangelo (1475–1564) carved the angel on the right and the image of San Petronio. In the right transept of the church is a tablet marking the last resting place of hapless King Enzo, the Sardinian ruler imprisoned in the Palazzo Re Enzo. The attached museum contains religious relics.

If you really want to stretch your legs, walk 4 km (2½ miles) toward the center of Florence along Via Vecchia Fiesolana, a narrow lane in use since Etruscan times, to the church of San Domenico. Sheltered in the church is the Madonna and Child with Saints by Fra Angelico, who was a Dominican friar here before he moved to Florence.

One of the Centro Storico's largest churches, this Dominican house of worship was originally constructed by Charles I of Anjou in 1238. Legend has it that a painting of the crucifixion spoke to St. Thomas Aquinas when he was at prayer here. Three centuries later, a fire destroyed most of this early structure, and in 1850 a neo-Gothic edifice rose in its place, complete with a nave of awe-inspiring dimensions.

In the second chapel on the right (if you enter through the north door) are remnants of the earlier church—14th-century frescoes by Pietro Cavallini, a Roman predecessor of Giotto. Note the depiction of Mary Magdalene dressed in her own hair, and, in front, the crucifixion of Andrew as a devil strangles his judge, the Prefect Aegeas, just below. Along the side are some noted funerary monuments, including those of the Carafa family, whose chapel, to the left of Cosimo Fanzago's 17th-century altar, is a beautiful Renaissance-era set-piece.

The San Carlo Borromeo chapel features an excellent Baptism of Christ (1564), by Marco Pino, a Michelangelo protégé. Other interesting works are the unusual Madonna di Latte, in the Cappella di S. Maria Maddalena, and a beautiful Madonna by Agostino Tesauro in the Cappella San Giovanni. A Ribera painting in the San Bartolomeo chapel depicts the saint's martyrdom. Near the back of the church, looking like a giant gold peacock's tail, is the so-called Machine of 40 Hours, a devotional area that was, starting on Holy Thursday, brightly lit by candles for 40 hours, representing the time between Christ's burial and resurrection.

Adjacent to the church is its brilliantly restored Dominican monastery, where Saint Thomas Aquinas studied and taught. It now houses the Doma museum, for which you can buy tickets inside the church. Virtual photographs outside the Chapter Hall show how the monastery, parts of which date to the 13th century, would have looked before the suppression of monasteries under Napoleon. The hall itself contains a significant fresco of the Crucifixion by the late 17th-century Sicilian painter Michele Ragolia, and the ubiquitous Baroque master Fanzago is responsible for the stuccowork. Note the false windows, a work of optical illusion common to the period.

The standout work in the nearby Grand Refectory is Domenico Vaccaro's Last Supper mural, in which Christ comforts John while Judas, clutching a moneybag, glares at something else. Another mural in the Refectory depicts a famous incident from Saint Thomas Aquinas's life here. Christ is shown directing at Thomas the words “Bravo Tommaso che parlasti bene di me” (“Well done, Thomas, for speaking well of me”). Visible in the Refectory are the remains of the stations where the monks would wash their hands before eating, but more recently it served as a law court. Two Camorra bosses—Raffaele Cutolo and Pupetta Maresca—were sentenced here as late as the 1990s.

Also of note are the cloisters, originally for about a hundred monks; now less than five remain. It was here that Thomas Aquinas lived and studied and taught from 1272 to 1274. A magnificent doorway by Marco Bottiglieri marks his cell, now a chapel that can be visited as part of the guided tour.

Taranto's most important monument is the ancient church and monastery of San Domenico in the heart of the centro storico. Situated on the narrow strip of land that divides Taranto's two bays, Mare Piccolo and Mare Grande, the present, rather neglected church rises over the ancient Greek acropolis of Taranto where the city is considered to have originated. The statue of Our Lady of Sorrows, much venerated by the local people, stands in the last chapel on the left. Pop into the beautiful 13th-century cloister for a moment's respite from sightseeing.

At the heart of Como's medieval quarter, the city's first cathedral is well worth a peek. The apse walls and ceiling are completely frescoed, as are the ceilings above the altar.

The lovely baroque church of San Francesco is a study in understated elegance. It dates from the 1620s to 1660s, and, even though it was built during the peak years of the baroque, the only excess can be found in the twisting marble columns embellishing the altars.

Look inside the church for the celebrated early-15th-century frescoes of the Legend of the True Cross by a local artist. It traces the history of the wood used to make the cross upon which Christ was crucified. From Piazza San Giovanni, take Via Franceschini (which becomes Via San Lino) to the church.

In the mid-13th century, this Gothic-style church was built on the site of Etruscan and Roman baths. It is decorated with frescoes that date from 1382 and a 17th-century crucifix by Giuseppe Piamontini of Florence. It also houses a relic of Santa Croce, a vestige of the True Cross apparently given to Brother Elia when he served as an envoy for Federico II in Constantinople. The church's rather beautiful organ was unfortunately badly damaged during World War II.

This lovely hilltop church has a good view of Florence and the plain below from its terrace and benches. Off the little cloister is a small, eclectic museum containing, among other things, two Egyptian mummies. Halfway up the hill you'll see sloping steps to the right; they lead to a fragrant wooded park with trails that loop out and back to the church.

Alghero's cathedral on Via Manno hosts most of the town's official religious functions, but this 15th–16th-century church built in the Catalan-Gothic style is closest to the hearts of the algheresi and where you might come across the local dialect, used in some of the masses here. The simple interior holds a particularly emaciated-looking wooden Christ, while the crypt and cloister have an atmospheric charm, but the highlight of a visit is to climb the hexagonal bell tower—not too arduous—for some great views of the Old Town (open mornings: April and May, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday; June–October, daily; November–March, Tuesday and Friday). Evening concerts are held in the cloister in the summer months.

The dedication of this church, which is in a quiet area south of Viale di Trastevere, refers to the fact that St. Francis of Assisi stayed nearby during a visit to Rome. The medieval church was rebuilt in the 17th century and houses one of Bernini's last works, the Blessed Ludovica Albertoni. It is perhaps Bernini's most hallucinatory sculpture, a dramatically lighted figure ecstatic at the prospect of entering heaven as she expires on her deathbed. The cell in which Saint Francis is said to have stayed (Il Santuario di San Francesco) is often visitable. If you're a fan of the 20th-century metaphysical painter Giorgio de Chirico, call ahead and ask to visit his tomb in a chapel that contains three of his works.

Modeled after Rome's Pantheon, this circular basilica is the centerpiece of the Piazza Plebiscito and is one of Italy's most frigidly voluptuous examples of the Stile Empire, or Neoclassical style. Commissioned by Ferdinand I to fulfill a vow he had made when enlisting divine aid to be reinstated to the throne of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, it rose at one end of a vast parade ground built several years earlier by Joachim Murat. Completed in the late 1840s after 30 years of construction, the basilica transformed Murat's grandiose colonnade—clearly inspired by the colonnades of St. Peter's in Rome—into a setting for restored Bourbon glory.

Pietro Bianchi from Lugano in Switzerland won a competition to build the slightly smaller version of the Pantheon. Although it has a beautiful coffered dome and a splendid set of 34 Corinthian columns in gray marble, its overall lack of color (so different from the warm interior of the original Pantheon) and its severe geometrical forms create an almost defiantly cold space.

Art historians find the spectacle of the church to be the ultimate in Neoclassical grandezza (greatness); others think this Roman temple is only suitable to honor Jupiter, not Christ. In any event, the main altar, done in gold, lapis lazuli, and other precious stones by Anselmo Caggiano (1641), was taken from the destroyed Church of the Santi Apostoli and provides some relief from the oppressive perfection of the setting. On a hot summer day, the church's preponderance of marble guarantees sanctuary from the heat outside, with a temperature drop of 10 or more degrees.