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A big, capital city like Rome isn't comparable to a village like Venice, IMO. Two different scales and categories.
So, among big cities, just anything beats Rome, a millenary city, a place where heaven and hell meet, and the co-cradle of the Western civilization. Heck, even if the question was about Europe, i could only put Paris above Rome.
Then, Milano and Torino, both amazing cities and with a different flavour in comparison to the mainstream image of Italy. Also i think both are the best for discovering nice places while avoiding the touristic stampede.
Florence is nice (one of the finest italian historic centers) but needs to consolidate more.
Naples has great historic heritage, but wasted IMO and i think is the worst big city in Italy by far (and sadly the main reason of why the Italian south is depicted unfairly)
In other hand, cities like Palermo and Genoa are severly underrated.
Verona is small but as stunning as Venice, and it had one of the prettiest main squares in Europe.
Quote:
Originally Posted by bale002
But Venice is also unique, in my view mainly because it was the longest-lasting island-based purely Mediterranean Empire, even though that major epoch in history is long forgotten in the modern world and most people who go to Venice have little or no idea of what they are looking at and why.
So true. They think that they're in a romantic holiday destination for lovers and so on, and don't realize that in reality they're visiting the birthplace of the modern capitalism.
@ AUTUMN LEAVES : the authentic Venetians, like a cousin of mine, who know how to enjoy their city away from the throngs (and the neighbouring places , Venice for the Venetians is not only the city itself but the localities all around the Lagoon), would strongly disagree. Most native Venitians flee their hometown in July-August during the peak tourist season and peak heat anyway. The most well-to-do among them have country houses upcountry in the Veneto/Venezia Giulia region anyway. Or they go visit their relatives in Trieste, an undiscovered gem.
Also, Bologna is always forgotten despite being the 5th largest italian city or so, but it's a great place to live, and from a touristic standpoint it is pretty nice too. Did i mention the food also ?
Also, Bologna is always forgotten despite being the 5th largest italian city or so, but it's a great place to live, and from a touristic standpoint it is pretty nice too. Did i mention the food also ?
Saw a British food show on Bologna. It really peaked my interest, looks like a great place to visit.
A big, capital city like Rome isn't comparable to a village like Venice, IMO. Two different scales and categories.
So, among big cities, just anything beats Rome, a millenary city, a place where heaven and hell meet, and the co-cradle of the Western civilization. Heck, even if the question was about Europe, i could only put Paris above Rome.
Then, Milano and Torino, both amazing cities and with a different flavour in comparison to the mainstream image of Italy. Also i think both are the best for discovering nice places while avoiding the touristic stampede.
Florence is nice (one of the finest italian historic centers) but needs to consolidate more.
Naples has great historic heritage, but wasted IMO and i think is the worst big city in Italy by far (and sadly the main reason of why the Italian south is depicted unfairly)
In other hand, cities like Palermo and Genoa are severly underrated.
Verona is small but as stunning as Venice, and it had one of the prettiest main squares in Europe.
Venice isn't the city it once used to be but calling it a village would be exaggerated. There's still about 90k inhabitants living in the lagoon and twice as much living within the section of the municipality on the mainland and one million in the whole metropolitan area
I really want to see Urbino, I don't really know this part of Italy
Out of all the bigger cities, Rome is probably my favourite.
Emilia's mid sized cities are all lovely (except Piacenza). Ferrara, Reggio Emilia, Parma, Modena are all lovely places and probably are the least troubled area when it comes to living standards, unemployment, ecc. Trieste is another city i thought of as brilliant, you feel that it is and was the cradle between Slavic, Germanic and Latin areas of influence and the influence of te Hasburgs in the city made it different from the rest from an architectural point of view
Urbino is a little college city. Nowhere near the size of other ones
Quote:
Originally Posted by forgotten username
1. Rovigo
2. Foggia
3. Piacenza
You clearly forgot Latina The most exciting and progressive city ever so much that it was once named after a wildly popular man who once ruled the country for 20 years (we don't talk about him)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Warszawa
Haven't been in Italy yet but here are my top 10 cities that I want to visit
Capri and Amalfi aren't cities. They are and feel like towns and even that is stretching it in the case of Amalfi. That said, they sure are lovely places.
I have been to Rome, Milan, Florence, Venice, Bologna, Verona, Rimini.
But somehow I can't fall in love with any of them. Yes they are nice and have their advantage, but looks like Italy is just not "my" country.
But if I had to choose one city, I would pick Rome.
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