Italy Vacations: Arts Guide for your Italy Travel

Italian Tourism Italy vacations should include a visit to a museum oin Italy. Whether you are on a Italy cruise vacation or a Italy tour do make time to visit Italy's fabulous arts on your Italy vacation.



The following is a city-by-city guide to some of Italy's art exhibitions:



ALBA - Fondazione Ferrero: Giorgio Morandi, The Essence of Landscape; 70 works; until January 16.



BARLETTA - Palazza Marra: Giuseppe De Nittis, 43 engravings; until January 16.



FERRARA - Palazzo dei Diamanti: French 18th-century still-life master Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin; 50 loans from major international museums in first-ever Italian show; until January 13.



FLORENCE ART- Palazzo Strozzi: 'Bronzino, Painter and Poet at the Medici Court'; 90 works in world's first monographic show; to January 23.- Palazzo Pitti: Vinum Nostrum. The Art, Science and Myths of Wine in Civilisation; from prehistoric winegrowing to Dionysus cult, Etruscan, Roman use; show features oldest surviving wine container, on loan from Georgia; until April 30.- Bargello: Giovanfrancesco Rustici and Leonardo, first show examining links of 15th-century sculptor with da Vinci, Verrocchio and others; until January 10. For the best deals on Italy travel to Florence visit Italian Tourism for its Florence vacation packages.



FORLI' - Musei Civici di San Domenico: 400 ancient Egyptian artefacts gound by great Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli (1856-1928) including works from Queen Nefertari's tomb; until January 9.



MAMIANO DI TRAVERSETOLO (PARMA ARTS) - Fondazione Magnani Rocca: Renato Guttuso, Passion and Reality, 65 works until December 8. Visit WebVisionItaly Parma video and when ready for a vacation visit Italian Tourism to plan the perfect Italy vacation.



MILAN Travel - Palazzo Reale: 'Salvador Dali', The Dream Draws Near'; 50 works, until January 30.- Museo Poldi Pezzoli: Sandro Botticelli, all of his works in Lombardy museums brought together for first time; until February 28.



PADUA ART - Palazzo Zabarella: "From Canova to Modigliani, the Face of the 19th Century"; 100 portraits and sculptures; until February 27. Looking for vacation to Veneto and Venice then vist Italian Tourism Venice vacation packages or for a Italy cruise click Venice cruise.



PASSARIANO (UDINE) - Villa Manin: 'Edvard Munch and the Spirit of the North'; 122 works; until March 6.


PERUGIA - Galleria Nazionale: 'Theatre of Dreams from Chagall to Fellini', 100 works; until January 9. For more Umbria visit WebVisionItaly Umbria travel channel. Looking for a Umbra vacation check out Italian Tourism Umbria vacation packages.

RIMINI - Castel Sismondo: The Marvelous Years: Impressionism; 100 works from international museums including Monet and Pissarro, Sisley and Degas, Bazille and Renoir, Cezanne and Guillaumin, Morisot and Fantin-Latour, Gauguin and Van Gogh; until March 27.- same venue: Caravaggio's first religious painting, The Ecstasy of St Francis, back in Italy for first time in 25 years from Wadsworh Museum, Hartford, as well as several contemporaries; until March 27.



ROME ARTS - Palazzo Venezia: The Two Empires, The Eagle and the Dragon; more than 400 works on Roman (up to Trajan) and Chinese (Qin and Han) empires, spanning second century BC to fourth century AD; marks Year of Chinese Culture in Italy and is paired with other section at Roman Forum; until January 9.- Palazzo delle Esposizioni: The City of the Gods, 450 artefacts from ancient Mexican site of Teotihuacan (2nd-century BC to 5th-century AD), once the largest city in pre-Columbian Americas; until February 27.- Musei Capitolini: Michelangelo 'Two Wrestlers' loaned from Casa Buonarroti in Florence; until December 5.- Galleria Borghese: Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Other Renaissance; 45 works from major international museums; until February 13.- Chiostro del Bramante: Greats from the Veneto, 15th- 18th Century; Bellini, Lotto, Titian, Veronese, Tiepolo, Canaletto; 80 works from Accademia Carrara in Bergamo; until January 30.- Vittoriano: 'Vincent Van Gogh, Timeless Landscape, Modern City'; 110 masterpieces in first major Rome show in 22 years; until January 30.- Scuderie del Quirinale: '1861: The Painters of the Risorgimento', war scenes, Garibaldi's Red Shirts, leaders' portraits; to January 16.- Curia Iulia, Roman Forum: 'The Two Empires, The Eagle and the Dragon'; 450 works; until January 9.- Museo di Roma (Palazzo Braschi): The Risorgimento in Colour: Patriot Painters; to January 9.

SAN MARINO - Palazzo Sums: 25 Impressionist works including Monet, Cezanne and Renoir; until March 27, in tandem with Rimini show.

SAN SEVERINO MARCHE - Pinacoteca Civica, Palazzo Servanzi Confidati and Chiesa della Misericordia: 'Baroque Marvels', 90 works including Bernini, Guercino, Pomarancio, Orazio Gentileschi, Valentin de Boulogne, Baciccio: until December 12.

TURIN - Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Chiablese, Castello di Racconigi: "Vittorio Emanuele II: The Gentleman King"; new documents, pictures on life of Italy's first post-unification king; until March 13. Visit Turin with an Italian Tourism Italy vacation.

VENICE ARTS - Fondazione Cini: 'The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi - Architect, etcher, antiquarian, vedutista, designer'; 300 original prints plus 33 photos by Gabriele Basilico of Rome sites in 1960s; until November 21. Visit the arts of Venice like the Doge's Palace and the Basilica of St. Marks. Looking to visit Venice click for complete listing of cruises from Venice and click Venice vacation packages for a land-based Venice vacation by Italian Tourism discount Italy vacations.

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How to Ride the Italy Rail: Guide to Train Travel in Italy

Train travel in Italy is made easy in the Italy rail guide, one of WebVisionItaly.com's most popular videos. The Train Italy video is a guide to riding trains in Italy. So for Thanksgiving when many of are on trains, planes, and automobiles, we're publishing 10 Tips to riding the train in Italy.

Motorino Man's Top 10 Tips to ride Italy's rails from the big three like Rome trains, Florence trains, and Venice trains to tips for buying Italy rail tickets in small stations in towns outside Italy's big three that may not be manned at all times by ticket sellers.

Click to see the video how to buy a train ticket in Italy for important tips and tricks to navigating the Italy train ticket vending machine so you may buy a train ticket in Italy without hassle when traveling Italy. Motorino Man suggests buying train tickets in Italy as itineraries change and trains do get cancelled.

Click for a full listing of Italy train travel vacations by Italian Tourism.

Motorino Man's Top 10 Tips to Ride Train in Italy.

10. Save money by buying bread and prosciutto before arriving at station for food on train. If you don't bring food the dining car is a very nice place to have a snack.

9. Arrive 30 minutes before departure for stress-free travel.

8. Trains in Italy are used by Italian commuters at rush hour so try to plan your travel off rush-hour and do plan accordingly. Train ticket in Italy will be less expensive off rush hour.

7. In Italy's big three Rome, Florence, Venice and all Italy's big-city stations like Naples, Milan, Bari, Genoa etc. if standing on line or at vending machine to buy ticket beware of pick pockets and other thieves and do always keep an eye on your baggage by keeping it eyesight next to you.
6. Gather belongings before destination so exiting is smooth and efficient - especially important when exiting before end of line because Italian trains only stop long enough for exiting and entering passengers. Every time you stand up on train in Italy glance back to see what you left behind.

5. Carry change to buy ticket at vending machine in small stations where there is no attendant.

4. Carry-on bags: Keep your bag under your seat or between your legs. If you are going to place it in the overhead compartment, try to place it ahead of your seat location, so you can see whoever reaches into the compartment.

3. If catching the train outside major cities like Italy's big three Rome, Florence, and Venice be sure to check that the Italian train you get on is the one you want. Many travel same track.

2. ALWAYS validate Italy train ticket by stamping it in CONVALIDA yellow box in the station or along the track platform.

1. Keep an eye on things at all times in stations and on Italy's trains. YOU carry your luggage onto the bus, train, truck, or taxi with you. Don’t allow a porter or stranger to take your bag for you. You might not ever see it again.

And finally, when you buy a train ticket in Italy be sure you actually receive a ticket for a Italy train.

Buon Viaggio!

Now that you know how to ride the Italy rail check out these great Italy train travel vacations. Or click to see a full listing of cruises around Italy including cruises from Rome and cruises from Venice.

For more about riding trains in Italy visit WebVisionItaly's video how to train travel in Italy.

Italy Travel and Italy Tours: Rome's biggest temple reopens

Ancient Rome's most imposing shrine, the Temple of Venus and Rome, has reopened after a restoration lasting almost 30 years in welcome news for a government under pressure since last weekend's collapse of Pompeii's Gladiator School.

Facing East and West to symbolize the sweep of the empire, the temple was built in the second century AD by Hadrian on the vestibule of Nero's Golden House, shifting the Colossus of Nero close to the Flavian Amphitheatre so that it got its better-known name, the Colosseum.

"We have restored to Rome one of the most powerful symbols of the power and greatness of the Roman Empire," said restoration chief Claudia Del Monti, who has been on the job for all but three years of its 26-year duration.

"My project was aimed at reading the temple as far as possible in its entirety," she said, recalling that it had once been split in two and was used as a car park until the 1980s.

Rome's archeological superintendent, Anna Maria Moretti, said the revamped temple "affords an extraordinary view, walking up from the Colosseum".

With majestic pillars and soaring arches, the Temple of Venus Felix (Venus the Bringer of Good Fortune) and Aeterna Roma (Eternal Rome) was designed by Hadrian in 121 AD, inaugurated by him in 135, and finished by his successor Antoninus Pius in 141.

Damaged by fire in 307, it was restored with changes by Maxentius.

The temple restoration is part of the government's plans to open up more ancient sites, said Culture Undersecretary Franco Giro, deputising for Culture Minister Sandro Bondi who was fielding a fusillade of questions in parliament over Saturday's collapse of the school in Naples where gladiators trained. Giro noted that the pits under the Colosseum where gladiators prepared for mortal combat have recently been unveiled and other temples, such as that of Antoninus and Faustina, are set to be reopened within the next year.

"We are respecting the schedule we set for the Forum and we are proceeding with a restoration of an area that was in deep decay, having been abandoned by governments of all colors," Giro said.

He rejected criticism of Bondi's handling of Italy's artistic heritage which began with his allegedly supine acceptance of budget cuts that led to Italy's museums staging a mass closure Friday.

The undersecretary also defended the minister from what he described as "unfair" attacks over the situation in Pompeii, calling the center-left opposition "ill-informed".

Visit Rome travel video by WebVisionItaly.com for more about Rome.

To plan your vacation to Rome click for Rome holidays. Italian Tourism has the best pre-cruise and Italy post-cruise tours. Italian tourism also specializes in Italy cruise tours from Rome. For a Italy cruise from Rome click Rome cruise. If you'll be on a Rome cruise 2011 be sure to visit the Roman forum. Click for January Rome cruises 2011.

$999+ Air and 8-Day Rome, Florence, Venice Italy Travel Deal

$999+ 8-Day Independent Italian Tourism Italy travel package to 3 of Italy's enchanting cities Rome, Florence and Venice Italy vacation.

Visit Rome, Florence & Venice 2 nights in each city traveling by Italy rail between cities.

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Italy travelers also were interested in these Italy travel packages:

8 Day Venice, Florence & Rome by Rail
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Italy Travel Deal

This 8 day Italy rail package makes it easy to see three of Italy's most captivating cities on one trip. Explore independently or join an assortment of convenient and affordable optional tours such as an evening tour of illuminated Rome, a walking tour of the dazzling renaissance city of Florence, or a romantic gondola serenade along the canals of Venice. Whether it's your first trip to Italy or a return visit to old favorites, this tour offers an ideal opportunity to spend a great vacation in bella Italia while we take care of the details, with flights, hotels, and reserved rail seats all prearranged for you.

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Flights NYC – Rome, Venice – NYC. Other departure cities available
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6 nights accommodations in your choice of hotels
2 nights Rome
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Breakfast daily

Transportation between cities via First Class Italy rail (Plan A, B or C) or Standard Italy rail (Plans D,E) with reserved seats.

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Italian cinema legend De Laurentiis dies

Dino De Laurentiis, producer of some of Italy's best-known films including works by Federico Fellini and Roberto Rossellini, has died in Los Angeles aged 91, Italian media reported on Thursday.

The Oscar-winner also produced several famous films in the United States, including "Serpico" with Al Pacino in 1973, "Three Days of the Condor" with Robert Redford and Faye Dunaway in 1975 and Ridley Scott's "Hannibal" in 2001.

"Cinema has lost one of its greats," said Walter Veltroni, an Italian lawmaker and former mayor of Rome who founded the Rome Film Festival.

"The name of Dino De Laurentiis is tied to the history of cinema," he said.

De Laurentiis was born on August 8, 1919 in Torre Annunziata near Naples and moved to the United States in the late 1960s. His parents were pasta makers.

He started out in film aged 20 and became one of the leading producers of Italy's post-war cinema boom and the neo-realist genre.

De Laurentiis produced more than 500 films over his entire career.

One of the first films he produced was "Riso Amaro" ("Bitter Rice") by Giuseppe De Santis, a 1949 classic and one of the best examples of neo-realism.

In 1949, he married Silvana Mangano, the star of "Riso Amaro" and one of the beauties of her day. They had four children together and later divorced.

He won an Oscar in 1956 for Fellini's "La Strada" and was nominated 38 times. In 2001, he received the Irving G.Thalberg Memorial Award at the Oscars for demonstrating "a consistently high quality of motion picture production."

In 2003, he won a lifetime achievement award at the Venice Film Festival.

$899 Italy travel package: Tuscany: Luxury Vineyard Estate Vacation w/Car & Air

Italian Tourism Italy travel packages presents the ultimate in Italy travel with a Luxury Tuscany Italy travel package. This travel package includes roundtrip air to Italy, car rental and 6-nights is a Tuscany farmhouse. Enjoy Italy with this travel package by Italian Tourism. Don’t wait, this Italy travel deal will sell out early and there are limited spaces available.

Travel to Italy through March 31, 2011 to receive this Tuscany travel deal when you book by November 19 and while air seats and vineyard rooms last. Brag to friends about staying in Tuscany 5-star luxury for practically the price of airfare alone.


Live la dolce vita for six nights at the uber-luxurious Il Borro Estate for $899 per person including air and car.


Beautifully restored by the famous Ferragamo family of the Italian fashion world, this 1000-year-old authentic country estate typically commands rates of $400 per night for the room alone.

This Italy travel package, based on four travelers, consists of:


1) Roundtrip airfare to Pisa, Italy from New York City or Newark; +$30 Boston; +$150 Chicago 2) Six nights in a two-bedroom Tuscan farmhouse

3) Full-size weeklong car rental in Tuscany

4) Complimentary bottle of wine from the Il Borro Vineyard

This rate is available only while air seats and vineyard rooms last and with a departure Monday-Wednesday Nov. 1 - Feb. 20. Early spring departures are available for $50 more per person.

Il Borro's accommodations feature a mix of medieval and modern: antique furniture, marble bathrooms, flat-screen TVs, wireless Internet and original artwork. Wine tasting tours, cooking classes, fishing, archery and more are offered on-site.


Blackout dates: Dec. 18 - Jan. 2 Note: Pricing during Christmas Italy travel and New Years Italy travel holiday periods (i.e. Nov. 21- 28) is slightly higher.


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Upgrade to Medieval Village for $50 per person:
Enhance your Il Borro experience by upgrading to the cozy Medieval Village located right in the heart of Il Borro offering easy access to the restaurants and Spa.

Wine Tour & Tasting for $20 per person:
Enjoy a guided tour of the cellar for an illustration of the wine-making process from harvest to bottling concluding with a tasting of Il Borro's wines.

Tuscan Cooking Class for $99 per person:
Learn the art of traditional Tuscan cooking at a cookery course. For approximately 2 hours you will experience cooking with local ingredients and enjoy your prepared meal in the restaurant.

Add a 7th night stay from $79 per person: Spend an additional night with car rental at 5-star Il Borro Estate! Spa Treatment for $139 per person (Save 40%)

About Tuscany:

Tuscany is known for its beautiful landscapes, its rich artistic legacy and vast influence on high culture. Tuscany is widely regarded as the true birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and has been home to some of the most influential people in the history of arts and science, such as Petrarch, Dante, Botticelli, Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo Galilei, Amerigo Vespucci and Puccini. Due to this, the region has several museums (such as the Uffizi, the Pitti Palace and the Chianciano Museum of Art). Tuscany has a unique culinary tradition, and is famous for its wines (most famous of which are Chianti, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano, Morellino di Scansano and Brunello di Montalcino).


Six Tuscan localities have been designated World Heritage Sites: the historic centre of Florence (1982), the historical centre of Siena (1995), the square of the Cathedral of Pisa (1987), the historical centre of San Gimignano (1990), the historical centre of Pienza (1996) and the Val d'Orcia (2004). Furthermore, Tuscany has over 120 protected nature reserves. This makes Tuscany and its capital city Florence very popular tourist destinations, attracting millions of tourists every year. Florence itself receives an average of 10 million tourists a year by placing the city as one of the most visited in the world.

Experience the ultimate Tuscany vacation at an unbeatable price with this Italy travel deal. If you were to put this package together you’d pay over $1799. Save over $1000 on this Tuscany holiday by traveling to Italy with Italian Tourism Italy travel packages.

Italian Tourism: Italy Cruise and Italy Tour Italy Art Guide

Italy cruise travelers and Italy travel package Italian tourists who will be on an Italy tour in December here is the following is a city-by-city guide to some of Italy's art exhibitions:

ALBA - Fondazione Ferrero: Giorgio Morandi, The Essence of Landscape; 70 works; until January 16.

BARLETTA - Palazza Marra: Giuseppe De Nittis, 43 engravings; until January 16.

FERRARA - Palazzo dei Diamanti: French 18th-century still-life master Jean-Baptiste-Simeon Chardin; 50 loans from major international museums in first-ever Italian show; until January 13. Click for Emilia Romagna travel video.

FLORENCE ART - Palazzo Strozzi: 'Bronzino, Painter and Poet at the Medici Court'; 90 works in world's first monographic show; to January 23.- Palazzo Pitti: Vinum Nostrum. The Art, Science and Myths of Wine in Civilisation; from prehistoric winegrowing to Dionysus cult, Etruscan, Roman use; show features oldest surviving wine container, on loan from Georgia; until April 30.- Bargello: Giovanfrancesco Rustici and Leonardo, first show examining links of 15th-century sculptor with da Vinci, Verrocchio and others; until January 10. Click for Florence Italy cruise departures and Italy cruise itinerary through Florence Livorno cruise port and for a Italy tour by land click Florence vacation packages.

FORLI' - Musei Civici di San Domenico: 400 ancient Egyptian artefacts gound by great Egyptologist Ernesto Schiaparelli (1856-1928) including works from Queen Nefertari's tomb; until January 9.

MAMIANO DI TRAVERSETOLO (PARMA ART) - Fondazione Magnani Rocca: Renato Guttuso, Passion and Reality, 65 works until December 8. Click for Parma travel video. For a Parma vacation Call Italian Tourism 305.914.0220 who will plan a Italy tour that includes the beautiful city of Parma.

MILAN - Palazzo Reale: 'Salvador Dali', The Dream Draws Near'; 50 works, until January 30.

PADUA ARTS - Palazzo Zabarella: "From Canova to Modigliani, the Face of the 19th Century"; 100 portraits and sculptures; until February 27.

PASSARIANO (UDINE) - Villa Manin: 'Edvard Munch and the Spirit of the North'; 122 works; until March 6.

PERUGIA - Galleria Nazionale: 'Theatre of Dreams from Chagall to Fellini', 100 works; until January 9.

RIMINI - Castel Sismondo: The Marvelous Years: Impressionism; 100 works from international museums including Monet and Pissarro, Sisley and Degas, Bazille and Renoir, Cezanne and Guillaumin, Morisot and Fantin-Latour, Gauguin and Van Gogh; until March 27.- same venue: Caravaggio's first religious painting, The Ecstasy of St Francis, back in Italy for first time in 25 years from Wadsworh Museum, Hartford, as well as several contemporaries; until March 27.

ROME ARTS - Musei Capitolini: Michelangelo 'Two Wrestlers' loaned from Casa Buonarroti in Florence; until December 5.- Galleria Borghese: Lucas Cranach the Elder, The Other Renaissance; 45 works from major international museums; until February 13.- Chiostro del Bramante: Greats from the Veneto, 15th- 18th Century; Bellini, Lotto, Titian, Veronese, Tiepolo, Canaletto; 80 works from Accademia Carrara in Bergamo; until January 30.- Vittoriano: 'Vincent Van Gogh, Timeless Landscape, Modern City'; 110 masterpieces in first major Rome show in 22 years; until January 30.- Scuderie del Quirinale: '1861: The Painters of the Risorgimento', war scenes, Garibaldi's Red Shirts, leaders' portraits; to January 16.- Curia Iulia, Roman Forum: 'The Two Empires, The Eagle and the Dragon'; 450 works on Roman and Chinese empires; marks Year of Chinese Culture in Italy; until January 9.- Palazzo Barberini: permanent exhibition of ancient art back on show after long restoration; also at Galleria Corsini, Villa Farnesina Chigi and Orto Botanico.- Museo di Roma (Palazzo Braschi): The Risorgimento in Colour: Patriot Painters; to January 9. Click for Rome holiday travel packages and cruises from Rome.

SAN MARINO - Palazzo Sums: 25 Impressionist works including Monet, Cezanne and Renoir; until March 27, in tandem with Rimini show.

SAN SEVERINO MARCHE - Pinacoteca Civica, Palazzo Servanzi Confidati and Chiesa della Misericordia: 'Baroque Marvels', 90 works including Bernini, Guercino, Pomarancio, Orazio Gentileschi, Valentin de Boulogne, Baciccio: until December 12.

SIENA - Santa Maria della Scala: Life of Michelangelo; letters, poetry, working sketches; until November 14.

TRENTO - Buoncastiglio Castle; The Adventure of Glass: From the Renaissance to the 20th Century between Venice and Distant Worlds; brings together over 700 masterpieces celebrating glass production on the Venetian island of Murano; until November 7.

TURIN - Palazzo Reale, Palazzo Chiablese, Castello di Racconigi: "Vittorio Emanuele II: The Gentleman King"; new documents, pictures on life of Italy's first post-unification king; until March 13.

VENICE ARTS - Fondazione Cini: 'The Arts of Giambattista Piranesi - Architect, etcher, antiquarian, vedutista, designer'; 300 original prints plus 33 photos by Gabriele Basilico of Rome sites in 1960s; until November 21. Click for Venice tour packages and cruises from Venice.

Click Italy travel video for WebVisionItaly.com Italy arts video.

For a Italy art tour call Italian Tourism for Italy Art tours.

Italian Tourism also offers a variety of cruises around Italy with onboard workshops about the history of art in Italy. Call us 305.914.0220 or click Italy cruise 2011 for Rome cruise itinerary and Venice cruise itinerary.

Italy Cruise and Italy Tour Visitors to Florence Will See David Atop Il Duomo

On a Italy tour to Florence or a Italy cruise to Livorno next Friday? If so your Italy cruise and Italy tour will have unique opportunity to see Michelangelo's David standing atop Florence's Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral. Italy cruise and Italy tour travelers will see a fibreglass Michelangelo’s David copy erected on a pedestal high up by the Duomo's dome for one day as part of Florence 2010 culture week.

If your Italy cruise or Italy tour stops in Florence be sure to look up at the Duomo for a rare Italy tour and Italy cruise Italian tourism event.

Prior to Michelangelo's involvement, Overseers of the people of Office of Works of the Duomo (Operai), had plans to commission a series of twelve large Old Testament sculptures for the buttresses of the cathedral of Santa Maria Del Fiore. Two had been created independently by Donatello and his assistant, D'agostino di Duccio. Italy tour and Italy cruise travelers will find original works on the Duomo in the Operai Museum.

In 1464 Agostino was contracted to create a sculpture of Michelangelo’s David. A block of marble was provided from Carrara, close to the Italy cruise port Livorno, and popular Italy tour destination. Agostino began to shape the legs, feet and the figure. His association with the project ceased with the death of his master Donatello in 1466.

In 1500, an inventory of the cathedral workshops described the piece as "a certain figure of marble called Michelangelo’s David, badly blocked out and supine." Documents showed that the Operai were determined to find an artist who could take this large piece of marble and turn it into a finished work of art. They ordered the block of stone, which they called The Giant, "raised on its feet" so that a master experienced in this kind of work might examine it and express an opinion. Though Leonardo da Vinci and others were consulted, it was young Michelangelo, only twenty-six years old, who convinced the Operai that he deserved the commission.

When the sculpture was nearing completion, a committee of Florentine artists including Leonardo da Vinci and Botticelli met to decide on an appropriate site for Michelangelo’s David. The majority, led by Giuliano da Sangallo and supported by Leonardo and Piero di Cosimo, believed that due to the imperfections in the marble the sculpture should be placed under the roof of the Loggia dei Lanzi on Piazza della Signoria, favorite Italy cruise day tour and Italy tour destination in Florence. A few, supported by Botticelli, believed Michelangelo's David should be situated on or near the cathedral.

Michelangelo’s David was placed in front of the entrance to Italy tour and Italy cruise passenger favorite site the Palazzo Vecchio, also on Piazza della Signoria, replacing Donatello's bronze sculpture of Judith and Holofernes.

Italy cruise travelers to Venice and Italy tours to Venice may take a trip to Padua to visit Donatello's famous bronze horse sculpture.

Michelangelo's interpretation of the biblical figure was unveiled in Piazza della Signoria in 1504, seat of Florence civic government where Italy tour and Italy cruise travelers go to enter the Uffizi Gallery. To conserve Michelangelo’s David for Italy tour and Italy cruise passengers forever David was moved to the famous museum Galleria dell'Accademia where it is a must-see for Italy cruise travelers who day trip to Florence and Italy tours stream by daily to see.

Michelangelo’s David came to be seen as an emblem of the city republic's pride, its ability, despite its small size, to defend itself against giants like Rome, other cities on the Italian peninsula, and the Medici family. The eyes of Michelangelo’s David, with a warning glare, were turned towards Rome. Michelangelo’s David also represents the Renaissance ideal of manhood.

Msgr Timothy Verdon, American director of Florence's Diocesan Office for Fine Art and Cultural Heritage, argues today that faith, not politics, was at the forefront of the young Michelangelo's mind while he was chiselling the marble for three years, thus giving Italy tour and Italy cruise passengers the chance to see Michelangelo’s David on top of il Duomo.

''The special political situation of Florence in 1504 led to Michelangelo’s David being valued in a civic sense, transforming the biblical figure into a symbol of the republican freedom that at the time was under threat on many sides,'' Verdon wrote in an article in the weekly Toscana Oggi, available for Italy tour and Italy cruise information. ''But for Michelangelo, David was a religious figure both in the conceptual stage and for almost all of its creation - the shepherd-king who wanted to build the temple in Jerusalem that was physically constructed by his son Solomon; Jesus's ancestor''.

In 1873, after 469 years, the David was taken out of the elements and put in the Galleria dell'Accademia. A copy was erected to replace it in Piazza della Signoria - where many italy cruise and Itay tour travelers take it for the real thing. The new fibreglass copy will tour several Florence sites after its stint at the Duomo.

Click Italy travel for Italy tour and Italy cruise video.

And when you are ready for an Italy tour visit Italian Tourism for Italy travel packages including air and hotel italy tours, or click to see Italy cruise, Rome cruise and Venice cruise Italy cruise listings.