Northern Italy 2

The prosperous city of Modena is a traditional town and they prefer to ride bycycles around in the city center. The winding streets are picturesque but they have the highest income in all of italy. Car racing dominates the area and there is a car racing test track. Ferrari is quartered in Modena. The museum has the biggest collection of ferrari cars in the world. Maybe if you are lucky you can get a go on the race track in a ferrari, but probably ask nicely.

Mantua is situated on a lake side and is old and quaint and was the home of the Gonzaga family. It was once the largest palace in Europe. Mantua is full of great art.

Verona is the city of love and is the setting for Romeo and Juliet by this dude william shakespeare. But the story is not true but a piece of romantic fiction. Hundreds of tourists get photographed on a balcony made in the nineteen twenties. It is good luck to touch Juliet's breast. People write letters to Juliet of Verona from all over the world and a group of ladies will respond to people's romantic questions. Italians other love affair is with food so go out and eat all you can. Every region has its own cuisine and they passionately feel theirs is the best. Real Italian food is delicious and make sure you have a nice wine with it from the region.

The Dolomites was part of Austria until world war 1. And many italians speak German in the sud-tyrol. Ski in the town of Cortina. There are 73 miles of ski runs or you can go off-piste. Go into the back country for some langlauf skiing and do some sick telemark turns. The Dolomite mountains are beautiful and you can climb the ice cliffs if you are brave enough. Use the ropes and picks and crampons to climb the ice cliff. Do not worry or be scared because you will be attached to a rope. The five towers are very impressive and stick up out of the snow and mountains like sentinels. Back country skiing is spectacular and exciting. The mountains are made out of limestone. At the top you can see for miles and there are huts at ten thousand feet that have been dug into the mountainside. At the top is a viewing platform to see the sun set.

Venice is beautiful with its canals and gondolas. It has rivers for roads. Venice foundations are not so secure. Venice is built on a bunch of muddy islands. People in love sail through the canals on a gondola. Venice is sinking and becoming polluted. Venice is where Casanova comes from and Venice was once the brothel of Europe. To go to the mask festival you have to get a mask and you can get one made at the mask makers who puts plaster of paris on your face to make a mould. In the Venice of old masks were worn to hide their identity so they could do whatever they wanted. St Marks Square is full of tourists with a very strange church. The Venetians stole the body of St Mark and brought it to Venice for their church. The festival has drummers and begun in 1094. The festival is held in February because the hotels were not full at that time of the year.

NOrthern Italy Resources

More Northern Italy towns to visit

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