Bridge in Pisa

Firenze Part I: City of Art

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November 8th 2007
The weekend was made to order, as if the gods and goddesses themselves had commanded the great Italian painters to create these days for us. Swaths of bright blue sky outline grand, ornate buildings. Splashes of sunshine turned everything golden and shimmery. Meanwhile, Mother Nature continued her march towards winter, showing brilliant reds and yellows in the leaves fluttering down in our wake ... read more

Europe » Italy » Tuscany » Florence

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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 establis... ... read more