Curated playlist
World Heritage Sites in Italy
- Syracuse, SicilyArchimedes was born in Syracuse and died defending it against Roman legions. A Roman soldier killed him in 212 BC.
- HerculaneumHerculaneum's beach held hundreds of people the eruption caught.
- VeniceVenice has 472 bridges and no roads in its historic heart. The city sits on 126 islands in a shallow lagoon.
- PompeiiPompeii grew from five Oscan villages into a Roman colony over roughly seven centuries.
- RavennaEmperor Honorius moved his court to Ravenna in 402 partly because its marshes made siege difficult.
- GenoaGenoese bankers quietly financed the Spanish Empire for decades. The Italian port city ruled through credit, not armies.
- Mount EtnaIn 1992, engineers blasted a lava tube on Mount Etna to save a town. Lava then veered from Zafferana Etnea.
- TarquiniaUnder the Italian town of Tarquinia lie painted tombs of an Etruscan city. At least 200 still show banquets and dances.
- Villa Romana del CasaleA 12th-century landslide buried a Sicilian Roman villa and saved its mosaic floors. The colors stayed vivid.
- VicenzaVicenza, an Italian city, makes about one fifth of Italy's gold and jewelry. Its people are nicknamed cat eaters.
- ColosseumEmperor Vespasian drained Nero's private lake to build the Colosseum in its place. War spoils paid for it.
- Appian WayIn 312 BC, a Roman official began building the Appian Way without waiting for the Senate.
- RomeRome is the only city on earth that contains a sovereign nation entirely within its borders.