The City Built on Seven Hills
By Douglas Scott
Cagliari is the capital of Sardinia, and the largest city on the island. The city was built on seven hills, and can trace its origins back to Phoenician-Punic times. It is the main commercial and industrial centre of the island, with many major Italian factories. With its working port and fishing boats this is a lively, buzzing town.
The old part of the city lies on top of a hill, with a wonderful view of the Gulf of Cagliari. The old walled town is built up on the hill, and has a maze of narrow streets with tall buildings. The city walls are flanked by two Pisan towers, a hangover of the era when Pisa and Genoa fought to control the strategically vital outpost of Sardinia.
From the town, the Cagliari-Elmas airport is far 10 minutes. It's the biggest air-station of Sardinia. It has several means of transport such as taxis, car for hire and ARST bus transport. The Tirrenia's ships daily connect Cagliari with Civitavecchia. Ferry boat's connections from and to Arbatax, Livorno, Napoli, Genova, Palermo and Tunis.
The city has many bars and cafes. The restaurants are open late, and most people hang out in the squares. Cagliari can offer a wide and diversified choice of quality restaurants. Quality olive oils, cheeses pecorino, fiore sardo and inevitably seasonal pasta dishes are the key foundations of many meals.
Cagliari has one of the longest beaches in an Italian town. The Poetto beach stretches for 13 km. and was famous for its white fine-grained sand. It is an ideal location for sailing, hiking and out door sports. It has a mild climate, often refreshed by northern-west winds.
The Citadel of Museums complex is in the centre of Cagliari. Here is sited the the National Picture Gallery, National Archaeological Museum, the Cardu Siamese Museum and a collection of anatomical waxes by Florentine sculptor, Clemente Susini. The Archaeological Museum houses artefacts from all the ancient cultures of the island, including Punic jewellery, ceramics from Phoenician tombs, and Nuragic bronzes. The Picture Gallery contains a collection of contemporary art and sculpture, while the Siamese museum exhibits fascinating items from the east. The unique Collection of Waxes consists of 23 models of parts of the human body created by Clemente Susini, from waxes, resin, tallow, pitch and balsam.
The Palazzo Boyl used to belong to one of the richest families of the city and was built in the neoclassicistic style. The facade is decorated with four marble statues representing the four seasons. You will be able to detect three cannon balls in the facade that are said to be cannon balls from attacks against Cagliari in the years 1708, 1717 and 1793.
About the author
Douglas Scott writes for The Car Hire Rental. and The Self Catering Breaks from http://www.FreeArticlesAndContent.com
|
|
Copy This Article
For FREE!!!
You can use this article and copy it on your own website
for free! All you have to do is make sure the article
is copied with no changes and includes the "About
The Author" text. Also please ensure that all url's
are hyperlinked according. Thank you. |
Link To This Article - And We'll
Link Back To Your Website!
You are more then welcome to link to this article! All
you have to do is copy this webpage address from the
address bar and create a link on your website. Please
use the title of this article for your link text. Please
get in contact once you have linked to this article
and we'll link back to you! Thank you. |
|
|
|
Other great articles from this category...
|
Related Sites
|
|
