CAPITAL ROME - POPULATION 58.1 MILLION - AREA 301,230 SQ KM -OFFICIAL LANGUAGE ITALIAN
You'd think it would be difficult to discover anything new in Italy, perennial travel favorite that it is. But the past year has seen some significant historical finds – the House of the Surgeon in Rimini and the Palazzo Valentini Mosaics in Rome, for instance. New regions of the country are peeping from the economically challenged south to tempt visitors away from Tuscany or Venice: the subterranean towns of Basilicata (film set for Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ) are goodies. Most intriguingly, the latterly closed isle of Montecristo, made famous by Dumas's novel, is allowing 3000 visitors a year onto its mysterious, wildlife-rich shores for the first time in decades. |
