Name the most famous person in Italy
Lots of people say the most famous person in Italy is the Pope, the ruler of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. His papal “home” is in the Vatican, which is also home to the Vatican Museums and the Sistine Chapel, made famous by another Italian, Michelangelo. Already a rock star because of his 17-ft.-high marble statue of David, it took him four years to paint the amazing frescoes on the ceiling of the chapel and stories about how he did it abound! His fellow artist, Leonardo da Vinci, also spent four years working on one of his masterpieces, the Mona Lisa, and six years painting The Last Supper. Their paintings and statues are found in museums all over the world, including the Galleria dell’Accademia and the Galleria degli Uffizi in Florence and the Musée du Louvre in Paris, where the most famous painted face in the world lives today. Can you guess who it is?
Who are the superstars of French history?
Is it Vincent van Gogh, who crazily cut off one of his ears while he was living in Arles or Impressionist painter Claude Monet, whose home and gardens in Giverny look like his paintings and still look like he lived there? If you studied the Hundred Years’ War in France, you might vote for the medieval peasant girl who helped lead France to victory over England, Joan of Arc, especially if you explore Rouen, the town where she was burned at the stake. How about Marie Antoinette, one of history’s first teen idols whose outrageous spending habits eventually got her in so much trouble that she literally lost her head? She married the future King Louis XVI (grandson of the “Sun King” who built Versailles palace) when he was 15 and she was just 14! Tall tales tell that she had a fairy tale farm built on the grounds of the palace so she and her ladies-in-waiting could dress up in costumes and pretend to be milkmaids and shepherdesses! Seriously???
>Q[Q\ \PM 8WXM¼[ ¹PW][Mº Surrounded by Rome, the city-state that is Vatican City is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church, home to the Pope and the Vatican Museums. A special after-hours visit lets your family see the treasures it holds, without being rushed by crowds, including the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Italia Bella: Rome to Venice, page 44 The Sweet Life: Rome & Sorrento, page 46
Tour the $2 billion Palace of Versailles Learn what it was like to live in the very expensive Palace of Versailles on a guided tour – wait until you see the Hall of Mirrors! – when you visit Paris; its gardens are amazing too and it’s right next to Marie Antoinette’s fantasy farm!
Castles & Kings: London to Paris, page 48 Family Fun Along the Seine: Paris to Normandy, page 60
Call your travel agent or Tauck Bridges at 800-468-2825
tauckbridges.com
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