Seeing Architecture On Your Italy Vacation

During your Italy vacation you will find that architecture here has had strong ties to religion through the ages. Many of the great architectural pieces are religious buildings such as churches and chapels. Just walking around the tourist attractions and in the country side you will come across several chapels and churches with great and unique architectural design. There are numerous other pieces to see in the architectural center of the world. But as with many things when you are on vacation you will draw more out of a tour if you have a guide. You guide will be able to provide you with the history surrounding what you are seeing and its significance. He or she will be able to accurately describe the architectural style and point out important details.

Although a lot of architecture is surrounded by religion in Italy, nothing says a great piece of ancient architecture like the Colosseum. This is one of the most popular destinations for tourists on vacation in Italy and also the world but the name of its architect is unknown. It is the huge stadium that was built for sporting events and is now infamous for the gladiator games that took place here. It could seat 50,000 people and had 80 entrances! During your Italy vacation you can enter the Colosseum by yourself or with a group for an unlimited time but you can take a guided 45 minutes tour which will only cost you a few dollars more. You will probably get more out of your visit by taking the guided tour option.

An excellent piece of architecture that you may be able to see if you are in Venice while in Italy for vacation is the Il Teatro del Mondo. This translates to "The Theatre of the World." It is a more modern piece of architecture designed by Aldo Rossi that opened in 1979. Modeled after the floating theatres that were in Venice in the 18th century, it was constructed in a shipyard and then carefully towed across town. Using steel beams for support the builders welded the beams together to create a raft that now sits on the water. The architect Aldo Rossi had a dream to recompose Venice and as you will see during your Italy vacation here he managed to bring old Venice into the new.

If you are in Florence, Italy on vacation, you should probably see the Pallazo Vecchio. It is huge gothic town hall with a famous copy of Michelangelo's David statue. At one point in Italy's history, this building was the seat of the government around 1865. It is now where Florence's city council holds its offices. Each room, courtyard and entrance features beautiful architectural designs. There are private rooms and studies and each room is named after an architectural feature in the room. During your Italy vacation, you can take a guided tour of this huge building or you can walk through it at your leisure to marvel at the amazing ceilings and beautiful designs.