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To visit
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Ancient as an old city. Servius wrote that the Teuti, or Pelopes, the king of the Pisei, founded the town thirteen centuries before the birth of Christ. Strabo referred Pisa's origins to the mythical Nestor, king of Pylos, after the fall of Troy. Virgil in his Aeneid states that Pisa was already a great and developed centre by the times described; foundation of the city in the 'Etruscan lands' credited to settlers from Alpheus coast.
The power of Pisa as a mighty maritime nation began to grow on and reached its apex in the 11th century when it acquired traditional fame as one of the four main historical Marine Republics of Italy
While the Leaning Tower is the most famous image of the city, it is one of many works of art and architecture in the city's Piazza dei |
Miracoli or "Square of Miracles", to the north of the old town center. The Piazza dei Miracoli also houses the Duomo (the Cathedral), the Baptistry and the Camposanto (the monumental cemetery). |
Siena [ 1 hour] |
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Siena like other Tuscan hill towns, was first settled in the time of the Etruscans (c. 900 BC to 400 BC) when it was inhabited by a tribe called the Saina. The Etruscans were an advanced people who changed the face of central Italy through their use of irrigation to reclaim previously unfarmable land, and their custom of building their settlements in well-defended hill-forts. Then, at the time of the Emperor Augustus, a Roman town called Saena Julia was founded in the site. The first document mentioning it dates from 70 AD. Some archaeologists assert it was controlled for a period by a Gaulish tribe called the Saenones. |
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| Florence is an open-air exhibition of art and culture. It is famous worldwide, the heart of the Renaissance period and the home of the fine arts and literature. Florence has powerful symbols of Italian and European culture in every nook and cranny, to the extent that it is hard to identify this city with just one symbol. It may be the sculpture of David by Michelangelo, or perhaps the romantic Ponte Vecchio, or Giotto's bell tower, but Florence could also be represented by famous people such as Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo or Dante Alighieri, to name but a few. |
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