Lazio

It is really a delight to visit the Abbey of Monte Cassino to admire some of its beautiful architecture splendor and remember its history. The Abbey was founded by St. Benedict and built over the site of the Apollo pagan temple where the sculpture of Apollo was destroyed along with the altar. Due to its significant location, this place has always been a target of historical attacks and different wars including the costliest Battle of Monte Cassino fought during the Second World War.

Visiting Northern Lazio

  Farfa Abbey  and Sabina Visiting Villages: A Sunday between the Sabina’s Green Hills

Just outside the chaos of the city, 40 kilometers north-east of Rome, caught between Umbria and Lazio, a jewel of greenery and nature, history, ancient monuments, rural and culinary traditions.

It is Sabina, a land that derives its name from the Sabini people, who settled there and founded the city as Reate and Cures Sabini.

Visiting Ancient Jewish Settlements in Italy

The Jewish Community of Rome is the oldest Jewish community in the Diaspora.

Jews first came to Rome from Jerusalem in 161 BCE during Chanukah, asking for protection from the Romans against the Syrian king Antiochus. Since then, they have never left the city. They are neither Ashkenazim nor Sephardim, they are Roman. On this tour you will have the chance to discover the customs of the Roman Jews who are, as someone described them, "Orthodox in structure, Conservative in philosophy, Reform in behavior and Catholic in religion."

Wines of the Roman Castle (Vini dei Castelli  Romani)

Visiting the Castelli Romani, you can't absolutely miss the local wine production. If you are wine amateur you will surely enjoy the aromatic taste and the fragrance, if you are a non drinker... a glass won't kill you. Its a local tradition. Just about every rural family has a vineyard which produces wine for its own use, and, if the amount satisfies the households needs, its sold - by the litre - for a very reasonable price.

Besides the articles I wrote on the local wines and pork meat, or 'porchetta', I would not, absolutely miss the local king of the forests: the mushroom.

'VILLE TUSCOLANE'

PART 4

VILLA TUSCOLANA  -  (Frascati)

Also known as 'Villa Rufinella', named after cardinal Ruffini, who created the estate, in 1587.
Going through many owner, the villa changed its looks, becoming in 1773 an estate belonging to the 'Camera Apostolica', an equivalent, at the times, of the Vatican Bank. The way it looks today, its thanks to architect Luigi Vanvitelli, who was commissioned, for the job, by the Jesuit Order.

'VILLE TUSCOLANE'

PART 2

VILLA BORGHESE - (Frascati)

A very modest villa, compared to the others. It belonged to cardinal Ferdinando Taverna who, in return sold it, in 1614, to cardinal Scipione Borghese. In 1869, the surrounding area containing, the gardens and the building was owned by Saverio Parisi while the rest was absorbed by villa Mondragone, owned, at the time, by the Jesuits Priests.

Beautiful, Romanic Sights in the Villa D' Este a Tivoli

Nearly 500 years of myth and history have done nothing to dull the magic and mystery of the glorious Villa d'Este at Tivoli, the famed Tivoli water-and-wind garden, a haven for princes and lovers of the humanities, and arguably the most beautiful villa in all of Italy.

If you observe it from a distance as it clings to the edge of the precipice which seems to be attacking it from all sides, the village of Civita di Bagnoregio seems like a ghost town, something that could exist only in the mind of a visionary or in a dream remembered.