I just got word about a great new website: Italy Guides. It offers free down-loadable audio guides, videos, virtual panoramas, photos, and travel tips for many of Italy's most popular cities including Rome, Florence, Venice, Naples, and Palermo.
It's a beautiful site and easy to use and navigate. You can download the guides and listen to them on your computer or I-Pod. You can view hundreds of photos and see panoramas of important sites.
For example, you can pan all over Florence's magnificent duomo, from Brunelleschi's dome, to the colorful mosaics, to the marble columns, and even to the street level where you'll see people strolling along.
Play around with the panoramic vistas a bit. It takes a little while to get the hang of the controls and the zoom. But it really is the closest thing to being there. Actually, you can get closer to the buildings, and higher up than you could if you were really there.
The audio guides are interesting and informative,too, and they are offered in several languages. I like to listen in Italian.
This kind of website makes me love technology. Check it out and tell you what you think.
