Italy - The Dolomites

Dolomiti - Dolomites

UNESCO WORLD NATURAL HERITAGE

Sent by Chiara and family from Bolzano, Italy.

The site of the Dolomites comprises a mountain range in the northern Italian Alps, numbering 18 peaks which rise to above 3,000 metres and cover 141,903 ha. It features some of the most beautiful mountain landscapes anywhere, with vertical walls, sheer cliffs and a high density of narrow, deep and long valleys. A serial property of nine areas that present a diversity of spectacular landscapes of international significance for geomorphology marked by steeples, pinnacles and rock walls, the site also contains glacial landforms and karst systems. It is characterized by dynamic processes with frequent landslides, floods and avalanches. The property also features one of the best examples of the preservation of Mesozoic carbonate platform systems, with fossil records (read more).

Italy - Veneto - Carnival of Venice

Carnival of Venice (Carnevale di Venezia)

Sent by Monica from Verona in Veneto, Italy.

The Carnival of Venice (Italian: Carnevale di Venezia; Venetian: Carnaval de Venessia) is an annual festival held in Venice, Italy, famous throughout the world for its elaborate costumes and masks. The Carnival ends on Shrove Tuesday (Martedì Grasso or Mardi Gras), which is the day before the start of Lent on Ash Wednesday.

The Carnival traces its origins to the Middle Ages, existing for several centuries until it was abolished in 1797. The tradition was revived in 1979, and the modern event now attracts approximately 3 million visitors annually.

According to legend, the Carnival of Venice began after the military victory of the Venetian Republic over the patriarch of Aquileia, Ulrich II, in the year 1162. In honour of this, the people started to dance and gather in St Mark's Square. Apparently, this festival started in that period and became official during the Renaissance. In the 17th century, the Baroque Carnival preserved the prestigious image of Venice in the world. It was very famous during the 18th century. It encouraged licence and pleasure, but it was also used to protect Venetians from present and future anguish. However, under the rule of Emperor Francis II, the festival was outlawed entirely in 1797 and the use of masks became strictly forbidden. It reappeared gradually in the 19th century, but only for short periods and above all for private feasts, where it became an occasion for artistic creations (read more).

Italy - Veneto - Venice

VENEZIA
Punta della Dogana
Basilica Santa Maria della Salute

Sent by Raffaella from Italy.

Venice (English /ˈvɛnɪs/; Italian: Venezia [veˈnɛttsia] alternative obsolete form: Vinegia; Venetian: Venexia [veˈnɛsja];Latin: Venetia; Slovene: Benetke) is a city in northeastern Italy sited on a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by bridges. It is located in the marshy Venetian Lagoon which stretches along the shoreline, between the mouths of the Po and the Piave Rivers. Venice is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. The city in its entirety is listed as a World Heritage Site, along with its lagoon. (read further)

Italy - Venice and its Lagoon

Venice and its Lagoon

Sent by Theresa from Venice, Italy.

Venice is a unique artistic achievement. The city is built on 118 small islands and seems to float on the waters of the lagoon. The influence of Venice on the development of architecture and monumental arts has been considerable. Venice possesses an incomparable series of architectural ensembles illustrating the age of its splendour. It presents a complete typology whose exemplary value goes hand-in-hand with the outstanding character of an urban setting which had to adapt to the special requirements of the site.

In this lagoon, nature and history have been so closely linked since the 5th century AD when Venetian populations, to escape barbarian raids, found refuge on the sandy islands of Torcello, Iesolo and Malamocco. These temporary settlements gradually became permanent and the initial refuge of the land-dwelling peasants and fishermen became a maritime power. The small island of Rialto was chosen as the headquarters of the new city.

In AD 1000, Venice controlled the Dalmatian coast and in 1112 a trading market was founded in the Levantine port of Sidon. The year 1204 saw Venice allied with the Crusaders to capture Constantinople. The abundant booty brought back on that occasion, including the bronzes horses of St Mark's, is only the more spectacular part of the loot from Byzantium that the Doge Enrico Dàndolo shared with his allies.

Under the Doge, a maritime empire of unequalled power extended over the entire length of the shores around the eastern Mediterranean, to the islands of the Ionian Sea and to Crete. During the entire period of the expansion of Venice, over the centuries when it was obliged to defend its trading markets against the commercial undertakings of the Arabs, the Genoese and the Ottoman Turks,as well as those of the European monarchs who were envious of its power, Venice never ceased, in the literal sense of the term, to consolidate its position in the lagoon. The marriage with the sea, that sposalizio that since 1172 was symbolized by the ring of the Doge, who had replaced the Dux (elected for the first time in 697 by an assembly of the people), was never called into question.

In this inland sea that has continuously been under threat, rises amid a tiny archipelago at the very edge of the waves one of the most extraordinary built-up areas of the Middle Ages. From Torcello to the north to Chioggia to the south, almost every small island had its own settlement, town, fishing village and artisan village (Murano). However, at the heart of the lagoon, Venice itself stood as one of the greatest capitals in the medieval world. When a group of tiny islands were consolidated and merged into one, nothing remained of the primitive topography but what became canals, such as the Giudecca Canal, St Mark's Canal and the Great Canal, and a network of small rii that are the veritable arteries of a city on water. In this unreal space, where there is no notion of the concept of terra firma, masterpieces of one of the most extraordinary architectural museums on Earth have been accumulated for over 1,000 years. (Source)

Italy - Jesolo Lido

Jesolo Lido mapcard.

Sent by Gerald, a postcrosser from Hamburg, Germany.

This is from Wikipedia : The Lido di Jesolo, or Jesolo Lido, is the beach area of the comune of Jesolo in the province of Venice, Italy. The place's economy is mostly based on tourism, because of its 15 km-long beach. Each hotel surrounding the beach has its own private section of beach with tables, umbrellas and sun loungers for that hotel only.