Italy. Ferrara, City of the Renaissance, and its Po Delta

Wild Horses in Delta del Po Date of Inscription: 1995
Extension: 1999
Criteria: (ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)
Property : 46712.0000 ha
Buffer zone: 117649.0000 ha
City and Province of Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna Region
N44 50 16 E11 37 10
Ref: 733bis  

 Ferrara, which grew up around a ford over the River Po, became an intellectual and artistic centre that attracted the greatest minds of the Italian Renaissance in the 15th and 16th centuries. Here, Piero della Francesca, Jacopo Bellini and Andrea Mantegna decorated the palaces of the House of Este. The humanist concept of the 'ideal city' came to life here in the neighbourhoods built from 1492 onwards by Biagio Rossetti according to the new principles of perspective. The completion of this project marked the birth of modern town planning and influenced its subsequent development.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/733

With many thanks to Katja again!

Italy. Historic Centre of Naples

Date of Inscription: 1995
Criteria: (ii)(iv)
City and Province of Naples, Campania
N40 51 05 E14 15 46
Ref: 726  
 
From the Neapolis founded by Greek settlers in 470 B.C. to the city of today, Naples has retained the imprint of the successive cultures that emerged in Europe and the Mediterranean basin. This makes it a unique site, with a wealth of outstanding monuments such as the Church of Santa Chiara and the Castel Nuovo.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/726

Thanks to Natalie!

Italy. Venice and its Lagoon

Date of Inscription: 1987
Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(v)(vi)
Province of Venezia, Veneto Region
N45 26 03.5 E12 20 20.2
Ref: 394

Founded in the 5th century and spread over 118 small islands, Venice became a major maritime power in the 10th century. The whole city is an extraordinary architectural masterpiece in which even the smallest building contains works by some of the world's greatest artists such as Giorgione, Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese and others.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/394

Thanks to Elisabeth and Rita!

Italy. City of Verona

Date of Inscription: 2000
Criteria: (ii)(iv)
Property : 452.9000 ha
Buffer zone: 431.4000 ha
City and Province of Verona, Veneto Region
N45 26 19 E10 59 38
Ref: 797rev  

The historic city of Verona was founded in the 1st century B.C. It particularly flourished under the rule of the Scaliger family in the 13th and 14th centuries and as part of the Republic of Venice from the 15th to 18th centuries. Verona has preserved a remarkable number of monuments from antiquity, the medieval and Renaissance periods, and represents an outstanding example of a military stronghold.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/797

Thanks to Katja!

Italy. Church and Dominican Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie with "The Last Supper" by Leonardo da Vinci

Date of Inscription: 1980
Criteria: (i)(ii)
Property : 1.5000 ha
Province of Milano, Lombardy
N45 27 57.2 E9 10 13.8
Ref: 93  


The refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie forms an integral part of this architectural complex, begun in Milan in 1463 and reworked at the end of the 15th century by Bramante. On the north wall is The Last Supper, the unrivalled masterpiece painted between 1495 and 1497 by Leonardo da Vinci, whose work was to herald a new era in the history of art.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/93

Many thanks to Chiara again!

Italy. Portovenere, Cinque Terre, and the Islands (Palmaria, Tino and Tinetto)

Corniglia

Manarola

Date of Inscription: 1997
Criteria: (ii)(iv)(v)
Property : 4689.2500 ha
Province of La Spezia, Liguria Region
N44 6 24.984 E9 43 45.012
Ref: 826  
 
The Ligurian coast between Cinque Terre and Portovenere is a cultural landscape of great scenic and cultural value. The layout and disposition of the small towns and the shaping of the surrounding landscape, overcoming the disadvantages of a steep, uneven terrain, encapsulate the continuous history of human settlement in this region over the past millennium.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/826

Thanks to Chiara!

Italy. Historic Centre of Rome

Italy
Date of Inscription: 1980
Extension: 1990
Criteria: (i)(ii)(iii)(iv)(vi)
Property : 1485.1000 ha
Province of Roma, Lazio region (IT) / Vatican City State (VA) 
N41 53 24.8 E12 29 32.3
Ref: 91bis

Founded, according to legend, by Romulus and Remus in 753 BC, Rome was first the centre of the Roman Republic, then of the Roman Empire, and it became the capital of the Christian world in the 4th century. The World Heritage site, extended in 1990 to the walls of Urban VIII, includes some of the major monuments of antiquity such as the Forums, the Mausoleum of Augustus, the Mausoleum of Hadrian, the Pantheon, Trajan’s Column and the Column of Marcus Aurelius, as well as the religious and public buildings of papal Rome.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/91

Thanks to Luca!

Italy. Sacri Monti of Piedmont and Lombardy

The Sacred Mount of Varallo

Date of Inscription: 2003
Criteria: (ii)(iv)
Property : 90.5000 ha
Buffer zone: 721.9000 ha
Regions of Lombardy and Piedmont
N45 58 28.4 E9 10 10.4 Multiple Locations
Ref: 1068rev

“The nine Sacred Mounts of Northern Italy are groups of chapels and other architectural edifices constructed in the 16th and 17th centuries, dedicated to different aspects of the Christian faith. In addition to their symbolic and spiritual significance, they also possess notable characteristics of beauty, virtue and pleasantness, and they are integrated in natural and scenic environments of hills, woods and lakes. They also contain very important artistic remains (frescoes an statues)”. With this motivation, in 2003 the UNESCO registered the site “Sacred Mounts of Piemonte and of Lombardia” in its World Heritage List.
The Sacred Mounts of Piemonte (Belmonte, Crea, Domodossola, Ghiffa, Oropa, Orta and Varallo) and the two of Lombardia (Ossuccio and Varese), highlighting the extraordinary wealth and the quality and the value of these jewels of history, of art and of nature.
The series of chapels, which, with statues, paintings and frescos recount episodes and mysteries of sacred life, merge with the welcoming environmental surroundings and contribute to define the features of each monumental complex. Valuable examples of landscape architecture, the Sacred Mounts are important meeting places for the faithful and for lovers of art.
From the ring of the western Alps, where the phenomenon originated more than five hundred years ago, the Sacred Mounts
 then inspired similar models that rose in many parts of Catholic Europe. The seven Sacred Mounts of Piemonte have been included  in the system of protected areas of the Piemonte Region, that cares for their historical and artistic preservation and maintains and safeguards the surrounding environment. (source: http://www.sacrimonti.net/)

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1068

Thanks to Chiara!