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Background: Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL II. An era of parliamentary government came to a close in the early 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Nazi Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II. A democratic republic replaced the monarchy in 1946 and economic revival followed. Italy was a charter member of NATO and the European Economic Community (EEC). It has been at the forefront of European economic and political unification, joining the Economic and Monetary Union in 1999. Persistent problems include illegal immigration, organized crime, corruption, high unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and the low incomes and technical standards of southern Italy compared with the prosperous north.

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By Whiskers
October 14th 2009

Pompei - A city excavated Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

Inside the excated city of Pompei

Wednesday 14th October Pompei - A city excavated It is not such a beautifully fine morning but it is still dry and we hold out hope that the partly overcast sky will clear for our trip to Pompei. After yesterdays running of the gauntlet,now to be known as “How to avoid oncoming Italian drivers on narrow roads”Gretchen has relented and said she would drive RR out of Sorrento to visit nearby Pompei rather than dismantle the car & remove it from the area piece by piece. The short drive off the peninsula went without a hitch and we didn’t even meet [View Full Entry]

Vesuvious looking on from the background

By Snap Shot Stacey
October 2nd 2009

Pompeii Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

Pompeii 8

What can I say about this amazing place? After nearly 2000 years it's amazing to be able to see a city where people lived and worked. Sadly most of the items found in Pompeii have actually been sent to a museum in Naples (Napoli) so you can't see the houses as they were found, but the buildings themselves are fantastic. In some cases there are also still fresco's on the walls and fantastically tiles floors. The Amphitheatre was particularly interesting as there had been a riot there and it was closed down for around a decade. (I can't remember what caused [View Full Entry]

By RPR
September 23rd 2009

Pompeii Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

WOW! Thats the only way to describe Pompeii, was truly amazing, the whole city is almost perfectly preserved after 2000 years. Have never seen anything quite like it, and was fascinating to see how many of the ideas and techniques used to build a city all those years ago are still used today, another one of my "highly reccommended" places to visit. [View Full Entry]

By gasiorr
September 8th 2009

Buried Alive Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

Frozen in time

Mt. Vesuvius towers over the skyscrapers of Naples and is the only active volcano in mainland Europe. If it were to erupt, many lives would be lost along with their homes. The Italian government has tried to persuade residence to move away from the vicinity of the volcano with a relocation incentive of 30,000 Euros, but these incentives have not been successful. An eruption would be catastrophic for the 600,000 people residing within seven kilometers of the volcano. The last eruption occurred in 1944 and the current lull, the longest in the past 500 years, has scientists worried. Grace and [View Full Entry]

Pompeii with Mt. Vesuvius in the background

By SDaniels
September 1st 2009

Amalfi drive and Pompei Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

We had to get up really really early to make the 3 hour drive to Pompei so I didn't do anything the night before. The drive there was really boring, it was similar to driving to IU, nothing really to look at, but once we got there it was amazing. It was so hot as usual, I did not expect it to be this hot at all! Once we got into Pompei it was so weird to see houses and building from over a thousand years ago and to imagine what it was like to live in that time. Everything used [View Full Entry]

By LostHunters
May 16th 2009

Pompei Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

the villa borghese

For our last day in Rome, we decided to get some more culture and enjoy the Borghese Park. We had to wake up early in order to make it our shcheduled reservation time for the Borghese Galleria in the Park. *You have to have reservation to enter the museum and they only admit 200 people five times daily. We opted for the earliest time, so there would be less vistors. The Galleria was simply amazing, they organize each room, so you are bombared with so much art, that you don't have time to take it all in. I was amazed by [View Full Entry]

By GS arcs
April 26th 2009

Al among the Ruins Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

Above the Ruins

12th day - Wednesday We had planned on going into Napoli today but instead went to Pompeii. Sam & Terri went to Pompeii and we went to Ercolano. Beth & I hopped on the Circumvesuviana shuttle and headed to Ercolano/Herculaneum. The two sites are approximately 10 minutes apart by shuttle. Parking however is far easier at Pompeii than at Ercolano. Access to the autostrada is also easier from the parking lots at Pompeii. If you are up for it, you could see both sites because Ercolano can be easily seen in about an hour. Pompeii is a different story. At a [View Full Entry]

By Bruce and Jac
April 21st 2009

April 19th-21st - Pompeii Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

Pompeii

Soon after leaving Rome it started to rain and rained off and on most of the way down the coast, but by the time we reached Naples it had backed right off. We got to Pompeii and encountered some of the roughest and most poorly maintained roads ever and they seemed to suit the neighbourhood. Dorothy was also confused as to the campsite location and had us driving the backroads, so we put in the GPS coordinates from the book but they turned out to be wrong as well. We were just about to flag Pompeii altogether when we spotted the [View Full Entry]

By The Joy Family
March 28th 2009

Herculaneum and Pompeii Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

Viewing the stadium

This morning was sunny, despite the calls for rain. Our plan today is to visit the ruins of the two cities that were destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius: Herculaneum and Pompeii. On the way to the train station, we stopped on the bridge again and were able to get our email and confirm the booking of an apartment in Rome. It is always a relief when the next part of the accommodation puzzle falls in place. We planned to visit the travel agent this morning to buy bus tickets for Rome, but they never turn up, despite having told [View Full Entry]

By bally10
March 5th 2009

Pompeii Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei

The Forum

Pompeii was pretty high on our list of sights for this trip, so we were looking forward to the trip. Unfortunately the weather did not appear to want to cooperate with us today. We got up fairly early, and due to the pouring rain outside, decided to take a cab to Termini station, where we could catch our train. We chose to take the 2.5 hour regional train for about 14 Euro, rather than the 1.5 hour Eurostar for like 35 Euro, so it was a bit of a slower trip. To get to the actual ruins of Pompeii site, you [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Italy » Campania » Pompei