337 Best Sights in Italy

This church is adjacent to the confraternity founded in 1765 to organize Amalfi's Good Friday celebrations, a short stroll up the Salita Brancia behind the Duomo. The entrance gate bears a late-Gothic bas-relief of the Crucifixion, once belonging to nobility from the nearby village of Scala and identified by its coat of arms at the foot of the cross. The interior is Neoclassical, with a coffered ceiling and a harmonious scale; note the 16th-century marble Madonna and Child in the sacristy. Opening times for this church are erratic, but Mass is held on Saturday afternoon.

The exterior of this church may seem a bit run-down, but take a step to see the intricate details and explosions of excessive ornamentation. The old monastery dates back to 1450 and is a testament to the wealth derived from the lands and agricultural wealth of Polizzi Generosa. The church is filled with elaborate stonework and intriguing canvases, most strikingly San Benedetto in trono fra i Santi Mauro e Placido by Giuseppe Salerno (1573--1633). Of particular note is the exquisite floral ironwork in the upper choir, a 15th-century statue of Santa Margherita replete with dragon's tail by Domenico Gagini, and a well-preserved and vibrant majolica tile floor.

The Umiliati owned this architectural hodgepodge of a church before the Franciscans took it over in the mid-16th century. Beyond the fanciful baroque facade by Matteo Nigetti (1560–1649) are a couple of wonderful 15th-century gems. On the right in the nave is the Madonna della Misericordia by Ghirlandaio; a little farther down is Botticelli's St. Augustine in His Study. A companion piece, directly across the way, is Ghirlandaio's St. Jerome. Also worth seeing is the wooden crucifix by Giotto: the colors dazzle. Pass through the rather dreadfully frescoed cloister to view Ghirlandaio's superb Last Supper.

Despite its grand facade and airy interior, the church of San Domenico itself holds little interest for anyone who isn’t excited by the tombs of Sicilian notables, but the eponymous oratory, located behind the church, constitutes one of Palermo’s great unsung treasures. The private chapel is generously adorned with sumptuous, creamy white stuccos, exquisitely crafted by Giacomo Serpotta (1656­­–1732) and depicting figures representing Patience, Obedience, Humility, Liberty, Justice, and more. Unusually, these allegorical figures take the form of elegant society ladies—something which would never have been possible in a public place of worship like a church. A QR code shown at the ticket office will allow you to download an app that provides background information on what you're looking at, such as the numerous symbols incorporated into each of the sculptures, including the gold-colored lizard on Fortitude’s column, a puny reference to the artist himself, whose name resembles the Sicilian dialect word for “lizard.” Around the allegorical figures cavort a host of playful putti (cherubs), some of them playing musical instruments, while the 1628 painting above the altarpiece, Madonna and Saints, is the work of Anthony van Dyck.

Hidden behind high walls and accessed through a courtyard, the oratory—or private chapel—of Saint Cita boasts one of the finest collections of the graceful white stuccos for which their creator, Giacomo Serpotta (1656–1732), is famous. The centerpiece is an amazingly elaborate rendering of the Battle of Lepanto, at which the Ottoman Turkish fleet was defeated by combined Christian forces in 1571. The walls are inset with a series of Biblical scenes from the life of Jesus. To leaven the solemnity of such scenes, however, Serpotta has introduced some of his most fetching portrayals of the ordinary people of Palermo, from street urchins to wizened old men and sophisticated ladies, while an army of mischievous putti (cherubs) interweaves among them. Fans of Serpotta can find more of his works in the Oratorio di San Lorenzo in nearby Via Immacolatella.

This structure has served multiple purposes. Built in the 8th century as an oratory, in 1290, it was turned into an open-air loggia for selling grain. Destroyed by fire in 1304, it was rebuilt as a loggia-market. Between 1367 and 1380, its arcades were closed and two stories were added above. Finally, at century's end, it was turned into a church.

Although the interior contains a beautifully detailed 14th-century Gothic tabernacle by Andrea Orcagna (1308–68), it's the exterior that is most interesting. Niches contain sculptures (all copies) dating from the early 1400s to the early 1600s by Donatello and Verrocchio (1435–88), among others, which were paid for by the guilds.

Ancient even by Chianti standards, this hilltop church probably dates from the 10th century, but it was completely rebuilt in the Romanesque style sometime in the 13th century. It has a 14th-century cloister worth seeing. The 16th-century terra-cotta tabernacles are attributed to Giovanni della Robbia, and there's also a remarkable triptych (attributed to the Master of Panzano) that was executed sometime in the mid-14th century. Open days and hours are unpredictable; check with the tourist office in Greve in Chianti for the latest information.

This church dates from the 12th century, though the interior was redone in the 18th century and most of the art inside is from that period.

Just inside Porta Trapani, the western entrance that most people use to access Erice, the first sight that confronts visitors to the town is the dramatic ensemble of the Real Duomo, Erice's main church, and its detached bell tower, the Torre di Re Fernando. Both are battlemented and retain a formidable Gothic appearance. The church, dating from around 1314, contains traces of a fresco of an angel dating from its original construction, visible in the sanctuary on the left-hand side of the nave. The bell tower was orignally built by the Aragonese as a lookout tower in the late 13th century, and its 108 steps can be climbed for splendid bird's-eye views.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A 14th-century mosaic decorates the facade of this church just steps from the anfiteatro. Inside are works by Jacopo della Quercia and Matteo Civitali (1436–1501), as well as the lace-clad mummy of St. Zita (circa 1218–78), the patron saint of household servants.

Officially titled San Giacomo Apostolo, but affectionately nicknamed San Giacometto ("Little Saint James"), this is one of the three oldest churches in Venice. Legend says its establishment coincides with the mythic date of Venice's founding on March 25, 421, but in fact it was first mentioned in documents in 1152. It's a tiny Romanesque jewel in Greek-cross form that miraculously survived the conflagration that leveled much of the Rialto area in 1514. The porch (15th century) is supported by five Veneto-Byzantine columns of Greek marble dating from when the church was built. The impressive clock (mid-15th century) above the entrance, marked in 24 hours, governed the market's opening and closing times. The bell gable (1792) was installed to replace the tower damaged in the disastrous fire of 1514; its economical but perfectly functional style is seen on several other churches in Venice. Concerts are often given here.

This small church, sitting on a ridge above Portofino, is said to contain the relics of its namesake, brought back from the Holy Land by the Crusaders. Portofino enthusiastically celebrates St. George's Day every April 23.

The history of this engaging complex of Renaissance architecture and sculpture begins in 1339, when the Neapolitan nobleman Gualtiero Galeota donated a few houses and a vegetable garden to the Augustinian monks who ministered to the poor neighborhood nearby. The church’s name is a nod to its location near the city’s medieval trash dump, where refuse was burned and, hence, carbonized.

Because San Giovanni is off the path of tour groups, you can absorb its ordered beauty in relative peace. The drama begins with an elliptical, double-run, piperno-stone staircase, which was modeled after a 1707 design by Ferdinando Sanfelice and which is similar to such impressive stairways as the Spanish Steps in Rome. Cross the courtyard to the left of the main entrance and enter the rectangular nave. The first thing you see is the chapel monument to the Miroballo family, which was finished by Tommaso Malvito and his workshop in 1519 for the Marchese Braciglian. Magnificent statues in a semicircular arch set the tone for this repository of first-class Renaissance sculpture.

Dominating the main altar, which has been stripped of its 18th-century Baroque elements, is the 59-foot-tall funerary monument to King Ladislaus and Joan II, finished by Marco and Andrea da Firenze in 1428. A gate underneath it leads to the Ser Caracciolo del Sole chapel, with its rare and beautiful original majolica pavement. The oldest produced in Italy, from a workshop in Campania, it shows the influence of Arab motifs and glazing technique.

The dating of the circular Caracciolo di Vico chapel, to the left of the altar, is the subject of debate. Usually given as 1517, with the sculptural decor complete by 1557, the design (often attributed to Tommaso Malvito) may go back to 1499 and thus precede the much more famous Tempietto in Rome, by Bramante, which it so resembles. Here, impressive 16th-century elements include a splendidly restored Crucifixion by Giorgio Vasari, colorful frescoes by an anonymous master, and an intriguing sculpture of a knight taking a nap in his armor.

Considered a jewel of medieval architecture, the 13th-century Romanesque church of San Giovanni Battista was restored to its pre-Baroque simplicity in 1926. The elaborately carved portal is a riot of entwining stone vines, flowers, leaves, human figures, and allegorical creatures. Inside, the three naves are flanked by columns crowned with capitals, each one decorated with symbolic animal forms and other images—no two are alike.