The unforgettable Milan,Naples, and Venice
Milan, Italy — Following Rome in grandeur and marvel are Milan, Naples and Venice in that same order. Milan, the financial center and fashion capital of Italy, is the second largest city in the entire country, (population 3.3 million) next only to Rome, but is richer than Rome in terms of financial and business prosperity. Located in the northern Italy, Milan is the capital of the region of Lombardy. It is the home of the whole country's stock exchange, the Borsa Italiana. It is considered the leading alpha global city in the entire Europe, in terms of arts, designs, fashion, modern architecture, media, entertainment, and finance, health care services and many others. Milan has the third largest economy and business center in the entire Europe, next only to Paris, France and London, UK.
Naples, population 3.1 million, is the third largest city in Italy, next to Rome and Milan. It is known as the city of a thousand faces, and is the capital of the region of Campania, associated with Pompeii, Capri and Sorrento. It is considered the pizza capital of the world and has the distinction of being the largest site of UNESCO's World Heritage sites in the whole world. It has the distinctions of having the mildest climate, an excellent location and most picturesque nooks and crannies. The thirteenth century Cathedral of Saint Gennaro dominates its landscape, rivaled only by the San Lorenzo Maggiore Basilica also of the thirteenth century. The Maschio Angioino, built in 1280, was a dungeon, and is now a great tourist site, containing treasures of history, art and culture.
Venice or Venezzia, associated with Murrano and Tortillo, is widely known for its grand canals and its gondolas with serenaded boat rides for honeymooning couples and romantic pairs of lovers regardless of genders. It is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the Veneto region, and is actually a group of 118 small islands separated by canals and linked by 260 bridges. It has been romanticized by poets and songwriters as the “Queen of the Adriatic,” the "Floating City'' and the "City of Canals''. It is also listed as one of the UNESCO's World Heritage sites. It is part of the PATREVE or the triumvirate of Padua, Trevese and Venezzia. Its beautiful sites include the Santa Maria dela Salute Cathedral and the Piazza de San Marco where thousands doves are often fed by tourists in front of the cathedral.
If I were to summarize our insights from this Italy sojourn, I would say that Rome is for faith and for history, Milan is for commerce and fashion, Naples is for its food and wine, and Venice for love and romance. There are thousands of historical and religious relics in Rome. Museums, cathedrals, basilicas, monasteries and old castles, palaces and great monuments. But Milan has the money, the business and the trade, bustling economy, people focused on building wealth. Naples has the exquisite cuisines and the finest wines, and pizzas of all shapes and tastes. Venice is for lovers, for honeymoons and for those renewing their vows of fidelity and romances. Italy has everything, from the most trivial to the most sublime, billionaires and beggars, politicians and pickpockets.
Perhaps, God wants Italy to be the total showcase of the world, where kings and paupers used to live, and now statesmen and rascals living in the same cities of sins and salvation put together. I can only think of our country as the small counterpart in Asia and Pacific. When God wanted to play a joke on mankind, He allowed Italy and the Philippines to come into being, exemplified respectively by Rome in the west, and Manila in the east. Maybe.
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