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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 txubergeek
October 26th 2009

A Masterpiece of Italian Engineering Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

The duomo
The duomo with the tower in the background

Florence, Italy Monday, October 26, 2009 As I sat on the steps of the Duomo in Pisa and watched the people milling about the leaning tower, I started thinking about engineering. You see, the leaning tower of Pisa wasn't designed to sit at that angle, but through a series of engineering mishaps and miracles it has ended up that way. What started out as a simple bell tower for the town's church turned into the symbol of a town that you probably would have never heard of without it, as well as one of the most popular sights in Italy. What [View Full Entry]

By Driving Vacation
October 26th 2009

My Driving-Vacation to Tuscany Part 2 Europe » Italy » Tuscany

My Driving-Vacation at Tuscany, Italy

SR 222 The morning sun did not shine on my face. The roasters did not wake me up. It was my intrusive alarm from my mobile phone that did it. This place was just too tranquil to do anything this early. But we were on a mission; to enjoy the driving vacation under the Tuscan sun. SR 222 goes through the wine region of Tuscany. No wonder the Italian loves to make sports cars. Roads like this are their source of inspiration. The mesmerizing rolling hills, the fast switch backs, and the occasional exhilarating hairpins are all can be found here [View Full Entry]

By Driving Vacation
October 25th 2009

My Driving-Vacation to Tuscany Part 1 Europe » Italy » Tuscany

My Driving-Vacation at Tuscany, Italy

Many people visit this Northern Italy region named Emilia-Romagna for many world-famed attractions. The genius of man and the mystery of nature gave birth to the Renaissance movement here. Legends such as Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo Buonarroti, Giovanni Da Verrazzano, Dante Alighieri, Giovanni Boccaccio, Niccolò Machiavelli, Antonio Meucci, and Amerigo Vespucci shaped our sciences, peotries, arts, politics, and exploring spirits. For car enthusiasts, this region has another importance. Some say that the babies born here are very special. They are born with the need for speed. It is hard [View Full Entry]

By Tsunami Sara
October 25th 2009

More bloody meat Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

In action up the alps

We've been in Florence for the last few days, and I'm sad to leave this morning because it means biking every day again. Not that the biking itself is bad, just that our lack of planning causes a panic every day at 4pm about where we're going to stay that night. It always seems to work itself out though. Florence was really nice, though it rained yesterday. We visited the statue of David (what a teeny weiner!) and went to the Uffizi art gallery yesterday. Wish I was more into art because the guidebook said it would take a whole day [View Full Entry]

By Joe Blo
October 23rd 2009

Florence Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

DSCN0831 2

Florence - This album is a combination of photos from two of my different stays/trips in Florence. The first was from from August, my first month in Italy when I lived in Florence while I was taking the certification course to become an English Teacher in Italy. I didn't take a whole lot of pictures during this time because I was too busy with the class. The second set of pictures is from when Marilyn, Andy, and I stopped in Florence for a day before flying up to Munich for Oktoberfest opening weekend. Marilyn and I managed to do a little [View Full Entry]

By ShazDiet
October 21st 2009

Arrived in Florence Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

So I think I've got this thing figured out but still need to work on how to get pictures loaded up. Haven't really taken a lot yet, but I plan on taking a bunch this weekend. Arrived safely, although without my iPod, I left it on the plane from Phillie to Amsterdam. Ridiculous thing was before I got on the plane I bought a charger/speaker for it! Anyway, I'm in class most of the day. I should be fairly fluent after 6 hours a day, five days a week! Still scoping out the good places to grab a latte, found a [View Full Entry]

By LSL09
October 21st 2009

Florence - the Belco girls get kultcha'd Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

From Shell: Florence was yet another surprise. Very clean, very easy to walk around the historical centre, not too packed this time of year and some great museums if you time it right. Timing it right requires what you might expect: checking the opening hours and the standard days of closure. But it also requires investigating additional things like: are there alternating closure times and dates depending on the season/alignment of the planets/what the staff have on that week; are the key Caravaggio pieces you came to see currently offline for restoration; are two whole floors of the [View Full Entry]

By Whiskers
October 21st 2009

An Italian beach resort..........in the rain Europe » Italy » Tuscany

The beach at Marina di Grossetto
Our only photo of the day because of the rain

Wednesday 21st October An Italian beach resort....in the rain Places with shutters do keep the light out exceptionally well and our unit in ‘the ghost village’near Grossetto certainly did that.All the same it didn’t take us long to shower and have breakfast and prepare for the road trip further north up the western coast of Italy.We had only brought in our backpacks and food as we have been doing for one night stays so we can’t spread ourselves too far and wide. We had told the guy when we checked in that we would be ready to leave at 10am and [View Full Entry]

By Tsunami Sara
October 21st 2009

Meat, the mountains, and more biking Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Pisa

The last week has been so crazy! Kuba and I have been biking almost every day. After Ferrara we went to Bologna, which was nice but pretty uneventful. Besides all the meat! So much meat! Their speciality is ham, and we spared no little piggies. We also visited a place that strangely reminded me of an Italian Horseshoe. This bar has served only alcohol, no water or food (people brought their own), since the 1300s. It was also slightly trashy, so we fit right in! From Bologna we went through Modena and Parma, where we continued to eat like beasts. Modena [View Full Entry]

By ShiraGreenbaum
October 18th 2009

Florence Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

Florence Sorry for the delay in updates! Its been a while since Ive stayed at a hostel with free internet and the internet cafés in Italy were really expensive. Got a little bit of catching up to do, so here are some of the highlights from my first trip to Tuscany... Markets As soon as we (Katie, 2 guys we met in Rome that have become our travel buddies and me) dropped our stuff at the hostel in Florence, we wandered to try and find a little food. We wandered straight into the huge outdoor market area where people tried to [View Full Entry]

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