Italy

A long room with chandeliers, an arched ceiling and ornate decorations on walls and ceiling.

Genoa: Le Strade Nuove and the system of the Palazzi dei Rolli

A group of private Baroque palaces used by government in the 16th-17th-century to house visiting dignitaries.

A wide street that is a staircase, with each stair tread lined with colorful tiles.

Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto

Eight Sicilian towns that were rebuilt in a distinctive Late Baroque style after a 1693 earthquake.

Looking down a long water feature, with fountains at the near end.

Villa d’Este, Tivoli

A 16th-century villa with a garden that epitomizes the Renaissance aesthetic in garden design.

Simple buildings with tile roofs and several very tall square towers.

Historic Centre of San Gimignano

A charming medieval town known for its tall towers and Sienese Gothic artworks.

A room with some wall paintings still visible.

Archaeological Areas of Pompeii, Herculaneum and Torre Annunziata

The remarkably-preserved remains of ancient Roman cities destroyed in a sudden eruption of Mount Vesuvius.

A view along a building with two rows of arched porticos on the ground level and the level above that. A tall brick tower in the background.

City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto

A collection of 16th-century architecture designed by Andrea Palladio in what is now known as Palladian style.

View across a hilly terrain with a castle in the distance. The hills are covered with the stripes of vineyards.

Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monferrato

A region of northern Italy representing excellence in winegrowing and winemaking.

A ruin with walls intact and a very large interal arch, inside of which stand two almost complete pillars.

Villa Adriana (Tivoli)

A lavish retreat built for Roman emperor Hadrian in the 2nd century.

View down a long narrow room with stone walls and a glass roof. The floor is covered in a mosaic with images of people and animals.

Villa Romana del Casale

The ruins of a Roman villa with remarkably well-preserved mosaics.

On the left, the Leaning tower, with its rings of pillars on each level; next to that, the Cathedral.

Piazza del Duomo, Pisa

Four masterpieces of Pisan Romanesque architecture, including the world-famous Leaning Tower.

A pillared building with a shallow pool in front of it.

The Great Spa Towns of Europe

Towns in seven countries where an early tourism industry thrived around natural hot springs.

Seen across a broad flat area, a large palace, white and symmetrical.

Residences of the Royal House of Savoy

A series of palaces and estates in and around Turin that exemplify baroque architecture.

A view down a street of pretty 2-story buildings.

Syracuse and the Rocky Necropolis of Pantalica

A city with the traces of three thousand years of civilization.

The Sassi and the Park of the Rupestrian Churches of Matera

More than 1000 cave dwellings, churches and other rock-cut structures going back centuries.

A long portico stretching ahead, the end point not visible. Just a couple of people walk on it in the distance.

The Porticoes of Bologna

An architectural element that, over centuries, has become an integral part of life in Bologna and around the world.

Trulli of Alberobello: A row of whitewashed houses with conical grey slate roofs.

The Trulli of Alberobello

Picturesque whitewashed houses with conical roofs, built using age-old dry-stone techniques.

Archaeological Area of Agrigento

An exceptional collection of ancient Greek temples dating to the 5th century BC.

Gently rolling hills covered with rows of grapevines, very green, and a small village on one of the hills with a tall church spire.

Le Colline del Prosecco di Conegliano e Valdobbiadene

A uniquely beautiful landscape of hills and valleys, with vineyards and wineries producing world-famous Prosecco wines.

A view down onto a barren landscape with at least two craters visible, and a peak beyond them.

Mount Etna

An ancient and still active volcano, influential in the sciences of volcanology and geology.

Val d’Orcia

A beautiful agrarian landscape reflecting a Renaissance aesthetic.

A view of the Piazza del Plebiscito, with its elegant porticos, in the historic center of Naples.

Historic Centre of Naples

An ancient Italian city containing a wealth of elements – architecture, art, archeology – displaying its long history.

A view from the land over a section of the Amalfi Coast: clusters of houses on steep hills that drop into the sea.

Costiera Amalfitana (Amalfi Coast)

A scenic and dramatic landscape of rugged mountainous coastline and small towns crowding the slopes above the sea.

Su Nuraxi di Barumini

Ruins of a Bronze Age society that built unique circular defensive structures.

The front of the cathedral in Modena, with typical Romanesque rounded arches above the entry door and upper windows.

Cathedral, Torre Civica and Piazza Grande, Modena

Romanesque architecture and art in harmony, in a charming Italian city.

A view looking up the drive to the castle. It stands on a hill, and in this photo 4 of the octagonal towers show, with two of them framing the main entrance.

Castel del Monte

An unusual castle expressing Frederick II’s search for perfection, leading him to design the castle around the number 8.

A nighttime shot with, on the left, the wall of a building with 2 stories, each a row of rounded archways. Beyond that, a stately-lookng building: white with classical columns lining the front. Between the two, a lighted sculpture: a high arch, lit white, with a large white star where it touches the ground.

City of Verona

A city exemplifying 2000 years of uninterrupted artistic and architectural development.

St Mark's Basilica has grand arches across the front and numerous towers and turrets around its central dome. A large plaza in front of it with tourists.

Venice and its Lagoon

An immense collection of art and architecture in this “floating” city of canals and islands.