Amici di Italy Magazine,
In Shakespeare's The Tempest, Prospero says that in Milan "they hurried us aboard a bark, and bore us some leagues to the sea". But Shakespeare was not mistakenly thinking that Milan was on the coast, he simply described a Milan at the centre of a canal system that provided the North of Italy with navigable waterways.
It is now possible to enjoy cruising along some of Northern Italy's canals gaining a real insight into the history of the country from Etruscan and Roman times to the Renaissance, that have influenced the arts, architecture and history of the area over many centuries. Heidi Fuller-love shared her experience of Cruising The Venetian Hinterland on an ancient grain barge converted to luxury vessel. A spectacular way to travel towards Venice.
While, of course, when talking about canals in Italy you immediately think about Venice, many people do not know that hundreds of years before its construction was even started, the city of Ravenna, with its canals, was already there. Lyn Funnell explained the interesting history of Ravenna's Lost Canals.
Finally, in the second part of a series of interviews with those whose job it is to explain Italy to the world, Carol King speaks to John Hooper about his life as a Rome correspondent, and his views on Italy.
A presto!
ITALY team
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