Across the rolling hills and mountains of western Sicily, the ruins of Segesta occupy one of the most beautiful archaeological landscapes in the Mediterranean. Set on and around Monte Barbaro, near the modern town of Calatafimi-Segesta in the province of Trapani, ancient Segesta was one of the principal cities of the Elymians, an indigenous people…
Across the fertile plain of southern Campania, not far from the waters of the Tyrrhenian Sea, three immense Greek temples rise with an almost startling completeness from the landscape. This is Paestum, one of the most remarkable archaeological sites in Italy and one of the finest surviving remnants of Magna Graecia, the Greek world that…
Hidden away from the crowds that flow through the historic centre of Rome, the Orto Botanico di Roma, the Botanical Garden of Rome, occupies a wonderfully secluded corner of Trastevere beneath the slopes of the Janiculum Hill. It is one of those places that seems almost improbable in a city as intensely visited as Rome….
Rome is a city where the past is rarely far beneath the surface. Ancient temples rise beside apartment buildings, fragments of aqueduct stride across suburban fields, and Renaissance palaces occupy streets first laid out two thousand years ago. Yet several kilometres south of the historic centre lies another Rome altogether: monumental, ordered and strangely theatrical….
On the southern coast of Sicily, where a long ridge rises above fertile countryside and looks towards the Mediterranean, stands one of the great surviving landscapes of the ancient Greek world. Below the modern city of Agrigento, which sits on the hills beyond, lies the vast archaeological area of ancient Akragas, now more famously known…
I have travelled to Caserta several times from Rome, taking the high-speed train south for a full day exploring one of Italy’s most extraordinary royal landscapes. There is something wonderfully convenient for the journey: Caserta railway station stands almost directly opposite the palace, and within minutes of arriving, the immense facade of the Reggia di…
Providing a breathtaking illusion of antiquity, the ancient city of Pompeii lies near the Bay of Naples in the southern Italian region of Campania, still and forever shadowed by its tormentor, Mount Vesuvius. Few archaeological sites bring the ancient world so vividly to life. Pompeii has temples, theatres, and grand houses, but its fascination reaches…
Hadrian’s Villa near Tivoli, Italy, exemplifies the ambitious architectural vision of Emperor Hadrian, incorporating diverse Mediterranean influences. The expansive estate features elaborate gardens, pools, and buildings reflecting Hadrian’s extensive travels and cultural appreciation, highlighting the intersection of beauty and practicality in ancient imperial life.
Around 30 kilometres east of Rome, the historic hill town of Tivoli rises above the countryside of Lazio, surrounded by wooded slopes, olive groves and the deep valley carved by the River Aniene. Known to the Romans as Tibur, the town had been celebrated for its landscape and waters long before the Renaissance. Roman emperors,…
Few ancient cities in Sicily occupy a setting as memorable as Selinunte. Spread across a wide plateau overlooking the Mediterranean, olive trees, palms, wildflowers and open sky surround its Doric columns, ruined walls and vast fields of fallen stone. The Greeks knew the ancient city as Selinous. Colonists from Megara Hyblaea, a Greek settlement on…