Italy by Gunilla Leuterio

Angels from the sky watches down from this grand city built on stilts. One of the only places in the world that is built on a river, has become one of the most popular places in Europe, Italy. Italy is one of the most romantic countries to visit because of the beautiful lagoons and canals. Also, this place is the home of the pope who resides in Vatican City. This country is highly religious. Come grab a rowboat, and ride under bridges and into the dephs of this marvelous, labyrinth country of pasta.

Currency

The currency for Italy is the euro. 1,000 U.S. dollars = 732.2 euros.

Cities

Pompeii

Remember your old history teacher telling you the story of Pompeii? It is indeed the site of the great Mount Vesuvius erupted in A.D.79. This major event in history buried the whole town in ashes preserving their bodies to the posture to where they died. Even the paintings, gratti, and art on the walls remain fresh as if the eruption occured yesterday. The museum there displays Pompeii's tragic victims in glass containers. Time seems to be frozen in this once prosperous city of Pompeii.

Venice

Experince the city of canals, having the buildings sit on stilts in low mud banks creating constant flooding and overflow. Why would they even plan to build this city? There are several regrets in the poor building engineering, but that what makes this place unique. This is what makes Venice special from any place on Earth. It is the gateway to the Orient. Venice is divided into six districts Cannaregio, Castello, San Marco, Dorsoduro, San Polo. and Santa Croce. Riding on the water buses allows you to visit the little islands around Venice. To travel around, you need gondolas which has a slim hull and flat underside to row across in slim canals. There is nothing much to say to which place you'll be going, but the best way is to go by gondola. Most of the buildings are resting on the bank of the river, so you could simply get a small joyride on a boat and still see what makes Italy different.

Florence

Florence is a place that most painters from Italy start out. There are several artists in the Renaissance Period that lived in this town. You could still see their art in museums and art galleries found there as you wander down the streets. Perhaps maybe the reason why there are so many artists that come to live in this place is because the place is very inspirational. If you love to look at realistic paints from periods of the Renaissance, come to this lovely city.

Art

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa

Many of the world famous painters come from Italy. Leonardo da Vinci, Michaelanglo, Picasso, and many others became an artist.

Sites to See

Colosseum

This is one example of the most smartest architecture. The Colosseum has many doors, so that the people can walk in and exit much faster. Hundreds of people would come bustling in and in a few couple of minutes, the audience chanbers are full. Another breakthrough is the advancements of earthquake engineering. Though the Colosseum is eroded due to earthquakes and stonerobbers. it is still standing today as a proud icon of Rome. The Romans loves watching sports, you may say that they are major sport fans. In the Colosseum, there are games such as chariot-racing and gladiators fighting. an estimated 500,000 people and wild animals died in the Colosseum games. This Colosseum is found in Rome.

Car Rental

Our next stop is Athens, Greece.

It is 1489.78 miles to travel to Rome, Italy to Athens, Greece by car; the average time to get there is 22 hours and one minute.

The economy car is the cheapest with a daily rate of $47.66, the total price going to Athens, Greece is 4,589.01 U.S. dollars.

The most expensive is a premiun van which is $202.66, the total price going to Athens, Greece is 5,236.34 U.S. dollars.

If you want to travel around Italy for one day, these prices is what you would expect.

The economy 2-door car's daily rate is $103.24 which is the cheapest.

The midsize wagon is the most expensive with a daily rate of $231.40.