Attractions in Italy

If a holiday for you means more than just visiting a place where you can sit back and relax, it means coming out of your routine life and exploring new places and forgetting yourself in the rich culture, beauty, history and art of the destination, then you are an avid vacationer at heart. Though there are many places around the world that offer a great blend of a gorgeous settings, rich and tasteful culture, glorious history with interesting art and architecture and modern facilities, Italy is one of the places that have made people absolutely awestruck. Anyone who has visited Italy wishes to return again to explore the country which has so much to offer.

It is not without any reason that Italy is the fifth country to receive the highest number of visitors every year. While ravishing coastline and beaches, mountains and treasured monuments, make it a beautiful location, the art, history, fashion and cuisine give it the charm it possesses that entices people to visit Italy. Rome and Milan are two of the most visited cities in the country. A number of churches and museums adorn the city of Rome which is the capital of Rome. Some of the most visited sights are the Colosseum and the Vatican Museums, the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Villa Borghese, Piazza Navona, St. Peter's Basilica, the Roman Forum, Castle Sant'Angelo among several other sights.

Milan is another popular city, that is known for its fashion and is called The Fashion Capital of the country. There are many other great cities and many locations in the country.

While Bologna is known for its rich history, culture, and technology, Florence, which has important ties with the Renaissance, has rich architecture and art. Michelangelo's famous statue of David is also in Florence and it is home to a number of great museums. Naples, located near the famous volcano Vesuvius is one of the oldest cities in Europe. Located near to the city are the ruins of ancient Roman towns of Pompeii and Ercolano. it was one of the most important medieval maritime republic. Genoa is another important city that is very rich and diverse. Pisa is a significant city that has gained worldwide recognition for its Leaning Tower of Pisa, which remains an architectural wonder till today. Venice is a beautiful and romantic city, that is famous for its history, art and world famous canals. Turin, which was the first capital of Italy is an important industrial city where the company FIAT is based giving it an important industrial base.

The Roman Empire, middle ages and renaissance have left deep cultural impacts on many of these cities in their art and architecture. In fact, UNESCO has declared forty four of the sites in Italy as World Heritage Sites, which is more than the number of sites in any other country. It includes many entire cities like Sienna, Verona, Vicenza, San Gimignano, Ferrara and Urbino. The cuisine and fashion of Italy, are popular worldwide. With so much to see, experience and explore, there will not be a moment that you would regret your decision to choose to travel Italy for your holiday. You are going to fall in love with this beautiful, rich country.

One of the twenty regions that make up the country of Italy, Veneto is also one of the most renowned winemaking regions in both Italy and around the world. The Veneto region includes some of the most beautiful and historic cities in the country. This article looks at the Veneto wine region and shows why many wine of the month club members find this area and the wines produced there so intriguing.

The Cities Of The Veneto Region
Venezia, a city built into the sea, is like no other, haunted by the princes and poets of its noble past and by centuries of tourists. The cities of Padova, Vicenza, and Verona were originally frontier posts on the Roman trade route between Venezia and Genova. These cities eventually grew into Renaissance splendor and are wonders in their own right. The rich history of this area adds to the interest of the wines produced here for wine clubs.

In the 16th century, the region's great architect Andrea Palladio worked throughout the area. His buildings are everywhere, in the cities and in the countryside. Nature exhibits it own marvels in the region, including the spectacular Dolomite mountains in the north, the rolling Euganean hills in the south, vast Lake Garda, Italy's largest lake, on the eastern border, and to the west, the Adriatic with its beaches and ports.

DOC
Today, Veneto is a thriving agricultural center, a lush land of vines, ranking third after Apulia and Sicily in wine volume but the first with classified DOC wines. Established in 1963 as a law in Italy applying only to Italian bottled wines, DOC stands for Denominazione di Origine Controllata. This law determines the areas where wineries can produce certain wines, including factors such as the grapes or the blend of grapes, the soil, the vineyard arrangements, cultivation methods, vineyard yields, vinification, length of maturation, and the blending of different vintages. Labels, bottles, winery names, and even the names of wines are also regulated under the DOC.

Areas Of Production In Veneto
There are three general areas of premium wine production in the Veneto region: the western province of Verona in the hills between Lake Garda and the town of Soave, the central hills in the provinces of Vincenza, Padova, and Treviso, and the eastern plains of the Piave and Tagliamento river basins along the Adriatic coast northeast of Venezia. Wine clubs usually feature wines from all of these areas.

Vernoa is the leader in classified DOC wines and the site of Vinitaly, the largest wine trade fair in the world. Major parts of the DOC wines in the region are Soave, Bardolino, and Valpolicella, a blend of Corvina, Rondinella, and Molinara. When young, Valpolicella is a full, fruity red, but when the grapes are partly dried, they are made into Amarone, one of Italy's most noble wines adored by wine of the month club members. Bardolino is made from the same grapes as Valpolicella but is a lighter version. Similar to Soave, Bianco di Custoza is another DOC white as is Lessini Durello, a steely dry wine, usually sparkling.

The central hills produce white wines similar to Soave as well as Tocai, the Pinots, Merlot, and Cabernet, eternal wine of the month club favorites. Prosecco, a dry to lightly sweet white wine, is produced in the area, as is the renowned Venegazzu, both usually sparkling. Merlot and Cabernet Franc have dominated the eastern plains for decades, but the local red wine Raboso and white wine Verduzzo still have admirers amongst wine clubs. Pinot Grigio, Sauvignon, and Chardonnay wines are also gaining ground. Rich in beauty, history, fertile land, and delicious wines, the winemaking region of Veneto, Italy is sure to remain an eternal favorite of wine clubs, wine connoisseurs, and the people who live there alike.