One of the best preserved and maintained monuments is a fortress Talao (Torre Talao). It offers a great view of miles of beaches and cliffs.

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In the historical center of town you can see a Norman castle from 11th century, monastery, ruins of Judas tower, Palazzo dei Principi from 13th century, Church of San Nicola in Plateis from the 8th century, Palazzetto Normanno from 12th century, a former prison Cimalonga tower from 15th century and many more.

You can see here a lot of exotic plants. For example, cedar. The whole region was named right after this slow-growing tree as Cedar Riviera. The tree grows up to a height of 40 to 60 meters with a trunk diameter of 80-200 centimetres.

If you don’t find something you are looking for right in Scalea, then go to the neighboring national park – Parco Nazionale del Pollino. Here you can see another amount of plants as well as protected animals, caves and several gorges, such as Argentino River Valley, the gap in Lao or Romito cave with the pre-historic graffiti.

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Luxury villas in Tuscany
If you would like to enjoy your staying in this great region to the maximum, try Luxury villas in Tuscany. Stay at traditional stone farmhouse in the Chianti region and the Tuscan countryside, furnished in rustic Tuscan style or in comfortable apartments in villas with private pools offering unforgettable views over the surrounding landscape.

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Discover Ponte Vecchio (Old Bridge), Michelangelo’s statue of David, the Gothic church of Santa Croce or gallery Uffuzzi with the largest collection of Italian Renaissance Art in Florence. Pisa city is world-famous thanks to its Square of Miracles (Campo dei Miracoli) and its 4 buildings – Leaning tower, the Cathedral, Baptistery and Camposanto. Versilia and its surroundings is located in the northwestern part of Tuscany in the region of Lucca, between Alpi Apuane mountains and Tyrrhenian Sea. The historical part of “vera Versilia” includes resorts like Pietrasanta, Forte dei Marmi, Seravezza and Stazzema. Resorts Camaiore, Viareggio and Massarosa are peripheral centers.

Viareggio is a renowned seaside resort, known as the “Pearl of the Tyrrhenian Sea”. It is located in the territory between two pine forests and a beautiful lake Massaciuccoli. Among the most famous events is undoubtedly “Puccini Opera Festival”, which is held in Torre del Lago, where Giacomo Puccini lived and composed much of his known works.

The climate of Tuscany is pleasant and mild also during the hot summer since it is influenced by the nearby mountains, and mild in winters influenced by the nearby sea.

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The main characteristic feature of the landscape Nebrodi is a great diversity of landforms, rich vegetation and wetlands. The Arabs called Nebrodi as “Island in the Island” and the reason was the richness of forests, green pastures, quiet lakes and bubbling streams – the country so different from the image of dry and sun-scorched Sicily.

Nature Reserve (Parco naturale) Nebrodi was founded in 1993 and covers the most important and largest forested area of Sicily (about 50,000 ha). Despite of the deteriorating conditions of environmental, Nebrodi still offers the greatest wealth of fauna from all over Sicily. Some species have disappeared, unfortunately – the last wolves were killed at the end of twentieth century, the population of vultures extinct during the 60′s due to poisoned baits for foxes. Among the current, often scarce inhabitants of Nebrodi are porcupine, wild cat, pine marten, greenish turtle, mud turtle, frog, and colorful green jumper. Area of Nebrodi includes 150 bird species, many of them are endemic.

The hiking trails lead through the protected area from the west to the east. In the ridge you can find the only wetland in Sicily, which offers also the beautiful natural scenery.

The highest peak of Nebrodi is the Monte Soro (1,817 m).

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Elba is located between Liguria Sea and Tyrrhenian Sea and is often called as The Pearl of the Tuscan Archipelago.

Elba offers wonderful natural sceneries and beautiful mountains. Sandy beaches are very popular here and many tourists prefer to visit Portoferraio for its National Park activities. The island of Elba is about 150km long and covers the area of 224 km2. The Monte Cappane – the highest mountain on Elba (1019m) is very popular for hiking and it is also called “roof of the Tuscan Archipelago”.

Since Portoferraio has the historical value, many scholars are doing research in the island. About thirty thousand people are living in this island and about eleven thousand persons are staying in Portoferraio city. On Elba you can find lots of monuments.

You can enjoy here the sunbathing, fishing, the pirate ship battle, hiking, visiting Napoleon’s palace (Napoleon was here in exile as governor), or even sitting in pubs and tasting excellent local cuisine.

Regular boat services are available from Piombino. Our tip is to rent a boat and discover the coast of Elba where you can find lots of unknown and empty wonderful beaches.

Tourists visiting Italy should not miss to visit Elba, as we think it is one of few places, which have to be visited, at least once in a life.

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Stromboli, Sicily, Italy by Steven W. Dengler

Because of its continuous activity, the island of Stromboli is home to less than a thousand people. The most recent major eruption of the volcano was back in 2009. However, because there is a constant stream of minor eruptions that occur on a regular basis, the island has become known locally as the Mediterranean Lighthouse. There are three different craters in the peak of the volcano which currently rises 926 meters above the sea.

For more than 2,000 years, Stromboli has been erupting and has maintained a fairly recognizable pattern. Since lava does not tend to flow during the eruptions, there have been very few explosive occurrences. However, there have been a number of exceptions to this.

Today there are three villages located on the island. The villages of San Vincenzo and San Bartolo can be found along the north-eastern shorelines while the village of Ginostra can be found along the south-western shores.

Back in the early 1900s, the population of the island was quite large. It was home to several thousand people. However, by the 1950s as a result of multiple migrations, the population of the island dropped to only a few hundred. Coupled with the recent increase of volcanic activity over the past few decades, the population of Stromboli never reached more than a thousand inhabitants.

Most people who plan on visiting Stromboli chose to take the ferry to the island in order to spend the day marveling at the volcano before returning to Sicily by nightfall.

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