Architecture sights in Italy
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Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista
This 13th-century church is an interesting example of Romanesque architecture. Entry is through the side door as the original entrance and façade were incorporated into adjacent buildings during the 17th-century baroque additions and alterations. In 1926 the church was restored to its Romanesque simplicity. It was closed for restoration at the time of research.
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San Francesco di Paola
Tucked in among sprawling temples to fashion in the Quadrilatero d'Oro, this little gem of a church outshines Armani's glittering megastore across the street. Although commissioned by the Minimi order in 1728, it's hardly minimalist, but tricked out in Baroque pomp with gilt galore, a graceful 1890 neoclassical façade, and a chapel altarpiece by Guerini.
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Rocca Maggiore
Dominating the city is the massive 14th-century Rocca Maggiore, an oft-expanded, pillaged and rebuilt hill-fortress offering 360-degree views of Perugia to the north and the surrounding valleys below. Walk up windy staircases and claustrophobic passageways to reach the archer slots that served Assisians as they went medieval on Perugia.
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Cathedral
In the small historic quarter, the sand-coloured cathedral was built in the 11th century but then substantially remodelled about 700 years later. You can see how it may have looked from the nearby Porta dei Cavalieri Templari, a fanciful portico with pointy arches – all that remains of the Knights Templar’s main church.
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Church of San Giovanni
The recessed Church of San Giovanni in Monterrone is richly decorated with frescoes dating from the 12th to the 17th centuries. San Giovanni in Monterrone was originally used as a baptistery, later as a crypt, and until a few years ago contained human bones clothed in rotting rags. A narrow corridor communicates with Chiesa di Santa Maria de Idris.
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Sant'Eustorgio
Like Milan's fusion restaurants, this façade is a mish-mash of styles that somehow works. Sant'Eustorgio was built in the 9th century, updated in the 11th, boosted with Bramante's baptistery in the 15th, and given a neo-Romanesque look in the 19th; today, its harmonious exterior belies its rabble-rousing past as Milan's Inquisition centre.
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Stazione Centrale
Some call it mighty, others call it mighty ugly, but the 1931 Central Station is certainly the most unavoidable monument in Milan. Nearly 100 million people every year pass through these hulking portals, up escalators past Fascist mosaics extolling the virtues of Lombardy (mostly culinary), and onward to train platforms and parts unknown.
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Chiesa Russa Ortodossa
Rising incongruously above the smart palazzi north of the centre are five graceful onion domes belonging to the Russian Orthodox Church, built and decorated by Russian architects and artists in 1902. Florence was a popular 19th-century winter retreat for wealthy Russians - Tchaikovsky and Dostoevsky among them.
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Porta dei Cavalieri Templari
After the Romans, the next big event to hit Brindisi was the Crusades during the 12th and 13th centuries. The Porta dei Cavalieri Templari, an exotic-looking portico with pointy arches, is all that remains of the Knights Templar's main church. It stands beside the cathedral in the heart of the small historic quarter.
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Chiesa di Santa Maria della Steccata
Behind the Palazzo del Governatore in the Chiesa di Santa Maria della Steccata, you’ll find some of Parmigianino’s most extraordinary work, notably the stunning, if rather faded, frescoes on the arches above the altar. Many members of the ruling Farnese and Bourbon families lie buried here.
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Palazzo Zenobio
A gilded 1690 palace that formerly housed a school for Venice’s Armenian community recently opened its doors to scholars and guests for a nominal fee. Accommodation is spare but the palace’s trompe l’œil frescoed ceilings are splendid, and its overgrown formal garden among Venice’s largest and loveliest.
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Piazza IV Novembre
The centre of Perugia - and therefore the centre of Umbria - is Piazza IV Novembre. For thousands of years, it was the meeting point for the ancient Etruscan and Roman civilisations. In the medieval period, it was the political centre of Perugia. Now students and tourists gather here to eat gelato.
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Monasterio di Sant'Agostino
The monumental church and monastic complex of Monasterio di Sant'Agostino, built in the 16th century, served time as a military barracks and a home for the elderly. The church was built above the underground church of Saint William and is impressively situated on the edge of the Gravina.
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Cathedral
The gleaming white facade of the cathedral gives no hint of the exuberance housed within. There's a particularly striking Crucifixion above the main altar. The triple-tiered bell tower rests on an archway into which three classical columns and a number of other fragments have been set.
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Chiesa di SS Michele e Gaetano
Even if you're not big on Baroque, the harmonious interior of this rare, intact example of the style is worth a visit (especially if you want to escape the crowds). It was built in the 11th century and completely overhauled in the 17th century according to a design by Buontalenti.
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Convincio di San Antonio
Built around the 12th or 13th century, the Convincio di San Antonio is a complex of four rock churches grouped around a central courtyard. There are many frescoes in the churches but look for the wine spouts in the altars that tell of their 18th-century conversion into cellars.
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Via Fillungo
Threading its way through the medieval heart of the old city is Lucca's busiest street, Via Fillungo. It's a fascinating mix of smart boutiques, restaurants and buildings of great charm and antiquity - often occupying the same space; just look up, above the street-level bustle.
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Sala dei Notari
The Sala dei Notari was built from 1293 to 1297 and is where the nobility met. The arches supporting the vaults are Romanesque, covered with frescoes depicting biblical scenes and Aesop’s fables. To reach the hall, walk up the steps from Piazza IV Novembre.
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Santuario di San Michele
Look out for 17th-century pilgrims’ graffiti as you descend the steps to the Santuario di San Michele. St Michael is said to have left a footprint in stone inside the grotto, so it became customary for pilgrims to carve outlines of their feet and hands.
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Sala del Conclave
On the northern side of Piazza San Lorenzo, the 13th-century Palazzo dei Papi was built to entice the papacy away from Rome. Head up the stairs to the graceful Gothic loggia (colonnade) to peer into the Sala del Conclave, the hall where five popes were elected.
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San Lorenzo Columns
The freestanding row of 16 Corinthian columns from Milan’s Mediolanum heyday were salvaged from a crumbling Roman residence and lined up here to form the portico of the new church. Their pagan spirit lingers; welcome to the site of many an evening’s beery indulgence.
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Loggia del Consiglio
Occupying the north side of Piazza dei Signori is the 15th-century Loggia del Consiglio, the former city council building and Verona's finest Renaissance structure. It is attached to the Palazzo degli Scaligeri, once the main residence of the Della Scala clan.
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Certosa di Pavia
One of the Italian Renaissance’s most notable buildings is the splendid Certosa di Pavia. Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan founded the monastery, 10km north of Pavia, in 1396 as a private chapel for the Visconti family and a home for 12 monks.
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Santuario dell’Annunziata
Trapani’s major sight is the 14th-century Santuario dell’Annunziata, 4km east of the centre. The Cappella della Madonna, behind the high altar, contains the venerated Madonna di Trapani, thought to have been carved by Nino Pisano.
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Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra
To the west, not far from the Basilica di San Vitale, the 6th-century floor mosaics at the Domus dei Tappeti di Pietra were unearthed in the early 1990s. Of considerable artistic merit, they are decorated with geometric and floral designs.
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