Italy UNESCO World Heritage Sites - Central Italy

World Heritage Sites in Rome, Tuscany, Umbria, Lazio, and the Marche

Rome's historic center was chosen as a world heritage site primarily for its ancient Roman monuments. Rome is full of ancient monuments including the Colosseum, Roman forum, ancient markets, and Roman baths. The UNESCO inscription also includes the religious and public buildings of papal Rome, or the Holy See, in Vatican City.

Rome and Vatican City Pictures | Vatican City Travel Guide

Florence's compact historic center holds many important Renaissance monuments and art works. The huge Gothic cathedral is famous for Brunelleschi's Dome, a masterpiece of construction. Also in Piazza del Duomo are the 11th century Baptistery and the campanile or bell tower, partially designed by Giotto. Florence's museums hold art works of many famous artists including Michelangelo, Giotto, Botticelli, Leonardo da Vinci, Perugino, and Raphael.

Florence pictures

Piazza del Duomo, also called Campo dei Miracoli or Field of Miracles, holds one of Europe's greatest groups of Romanesque buildings. Here you'll find the most famous monuments of Pisa including the leaning tower, the impressive Duomoo, and the 12th - 13th century Baptistery.

Pisa Travel Guide | Pisa Pictures

San Gimignano, a walled medieval hill town in Tuscany, is often called the city of beautiful towers for its 14 surviving medieval towers that can be seen from a long distance away. San Gimignano has retained its medieval atmosphere and appearance. During the middle ages, the town was an important center for trade and for pilgrims traveling to or from Rome on the Via Francigena pilgrimage route.

San Gimignano pictures

Siena is a classic medieval city in Tuscany. Much of the city's Gothic appearance from the 12th - 15th centuries, when Siena was one of the wealthiest cities in Europe, has been preserved. Its large fan-shaped piazza, Piazza del Campo, is the heart of Siena and the home of Siena's famous summer horse-race, the Palio of Siena. UNESCO says, "The whole city of Siena, built around the Piazza del Campo, was devised as a work of art that blends into the surrounding landscape".

Siena Pictures

Tarquinia, in northern Lazio, is one of the best places to see Etruscan tombs. About 6000 Etruscan tombs, dug into the soft tufa, are on a hilltop just outside the main town. Some of the tombs were painted inside with colorful frescoes dating from the 7th to 2nd centuries BC. Tarquinia also has an excellent Etruscan museum. The necropolis near Cerveteri, also north of Rome, has thousands of tombs organized like a city with various types of tombs.

Northern Lazio Map | Tarquinia Painted Tomb Pictures