The city was founded by people from the greater Veneto region as a refuge from the Barbarian invasions, when the Western Roman Empire fell. During the Middle Ages, Venice slowly grew to become an important commercial city. Around the year 1000 AD the Republic of Venice started to create an empire in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It lasted until 1797, when it was annexed by Napoleon's France. It then changed hands a few times, becoming a part of Austria two times, before becoming part of Italy during the Italian unification. Venice deeply influenced the Venetian, Istrian and Dalmatian coasts for one thousand years.
Venice started to lose population after its conquest by Napoleon, but with the unification of Italy the city returned to be an important city. It is actually one of the most visited places on Earth by tourists from all around the globe.
There are several ways to get around in Venice. The most common is walking and using the vaporetto, which is a water bus which carries lots of people around the city. The vaporetto goes around the City and on the Grand Canal, it does not enter the small canals of the city. To see Venice from the small canals, most tourists use the gondola. Taxi boats can also be used to move around the city and its lagoon. The Grand Canal is long and can be crossed only on a few bridges. A simple way to cross it is to take one of the traghetti (ferries). The streets, Vaporetti, and traghetti are used by the locals, it is important to remember that they are their ways to move around the city to go to school, work and do their errands.
Usually, the warmest month is July and the coolest month is January. The maximum average precipitation occurs in November. The season of the acqua alta, high waters, are generally November to February. During the acqua alta season, the city can be partially flooded for a couple of hours on certain days.
Venice has incredible crafts, culture, and tradition. Shopping for handmade goods such as masks, Murano glass jewels, etc. is a must. These days, however, mass tourism led Venice to be invaded by many shops selling low-quality souvenirs.
Buying from the authentic local businesses has never been more important as it is essential to the future of the Venetians and is also the only guarantee for you to get a quality product. It is not easy, though. Thankfully, there is a social enterprise based in Venice, which works closely with the Venetian business owners, shops, restaurants, and bars included. They have a certification process where the local artisan shops attest and commit to selling products that are both authentic and sustainable as well as to give a 10% discount to the customers carrying a "Venezia Autentica Friends' Pass" ( buyable online for only 10 euros). The shops are part of the program are easy to spot thanks to a sticker on their door.
Naples
Naples is a southern Italian city with a port. It faces the Mediterranean Sea and is near Mount Vesuvius. Its name in Italian is Napoli which came from its Greek name Neapolis, meaning "new city". It has a population of about 1 million. About 3 million live in the area around Naples (including Naples itself).
There is one airport in the city, Naples International Airport at Capodichino.
Ancient Greeks settled Naples in the 6th Century B.C. There were so many Greeks there, the Romans called it "Magna Graecia", which means "Greater Greece." Later the Romans conquered southern Italy and took Naples. When the Roman Empire fell to invaders in the west, Naples came under the rule of the Byzantine Empire, the Greek-speaking Eastern Roman Empire.
Naples became independent later and but was combined with the Kingdom of Sicily during the Middle Ages. By 1500 it was ruled by Aragón, which was a kingdom in eastern Spain. Later Naples became part of Spain when Aragon and the other kingdom in Spain called Castile became one country. Naples was part of this Kingdom of Spain until the Austrian Empire got it in the War of the Spanish Succession in 1714.
In the 19th century it was the capital of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. The Duchy of Savoy, or kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont, conquered Naples in 1861. That kingdom became the Kingdom of Italy. Naples was heavily bombed when Italy fought in World War Two and British/American armies tried to capture it.
Today Naples is the capital of Campania and the largest city in southern Italy.
The average temperature in the summer is 24°C. In the winter, the average can be as low as 8°C. There is usually around 40 inches of rain in the city every year.
Naples is Italy's fourth-largest economy, with a 2011 GDP of US$83.6 billion. The Port of Naples is one of the most important and busy ports in the Mediterranean. The city, however, still has a lot of organized crime and political corruption, but it is also famous for its musical, theatrical and cinematographic culture.
Naples is a popular city for tourists. It was rated the 166th-most-visited city in the world in 2008.
Recently, more people work in the service industry than in agriculture. In 2003, 31% of people worked in public services, 18% in manufacturing, 14% in commerce, 10% in construction, 8% in transportation, 7% in financial services, 5% in agriculture, 4% in the hotel business and 3% work in other fields.
Florence
Florence () is the capital city of the region of Tuscany ("Toscana"), in Italy. From 1865 to 1870 the city was also the capital of the Kingdom of Italy. Florence is on the Arno River. The city has a population of around 400,000 people, and a suburban population of over 2,000,000 persons. The greater area has some 956,000 people. The city was a center of medieval European trade and finance. It is often considered the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance and was long ruled by the Medici family. Florence is also famous for its fine art and architecture. It is said that, of the 1,000 most important European artists of the second millennium, 350 lived or worked in Florence.
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The football team of Florence is the Fiorentina.
The food of Florence is based more on peasant eating rather than expensive cooking. Most of foods are based on meat. The whole animal was usually eaten. Many kinds of tripe, (trippa) and (lampredotto) were commonly served. They are still sold at the food carts in the city. Antipasti include "crostini toscani", sliced bread topped with a chicken liver-based pâté. Also common are sliced meats (mainly prosciutto and salami). They are often served with melon when it is in season. Tuscan bread has no salt or butter. It is used often in Florentine meals. It is very common in the local soups, "ribollita" and "pappa al pomodoro", Both soups are usually served with local olive oil. The bread is also used in the salad of bread and fresh vegetables called "panzanella" that is served in summer. The most famous main course is the "bistecca alla fiorentina". It is a huge steak of Chianina beef that is cooked over hot charcoal. It is served very rare with the "tagliata", sliced rare beef served on a bed of arugula, often with slices of parmesan cheese on top.
Florence has a mixed Mediterranean climate and humid subtropical climate, with hot and humid summers and cool and damp winters. Florence is especially hot from June to August (surrounded by hills in a valley cut by the Arno river). Summer temperatures are higher than those along coastlines. Winter has some snow.
Milan
Milan (Italian: "Milano"; ancient "Medhelan" "Mediolanum" (City in the middle of the lands)) is a city in northern Italy. Milan is the capital of the Milano Provence and of the Lombardy Region. It is populated by 1,308,735 inhabitants.
It is the most populated province in Italy, and it is the second biggest city in Italy (after Rome).
Milan is the fashion capital of the world and its important influence on design, economics, opera, and the media make it amongst the world's top 18 Global cities, along with Moscow, Buenos Aires and Kuala Lumpur.