Villa La Colombaia Lacco Ameno - The Villa, surrounded by a superb park, was the residence of the movie director Luchino Visconti. It is now the seat of the cultural Institution dedicated to Visconti, which is involved in cultural activities promotion such as music, cinema, theatre, art exhibitions, work-shops, cinema reviews. A museum dedicated to Luchino Visconti will be open soon. The Villa and the the Park are accessible for public visits.
Villa La Mortella - San Francesco -
La Mortella Gardens - Forio d'Ischia
This wonderful park is located at Forio d’Ischia (busstop 41 on the CS or #1 bus route) and was originally the property of the English composer William Walton, who lived in the Villa next door with his wife. When the composer arrived on the island in 1946, he immediately called a botanical expert from England to lay out the garden, planting wonderful tropical and Mediterranean plants, some of which have now reached amazing proportions.
Il Torrione - It was built in 1480, has two floors: the ground floor had no access from outside and was used as weapons and munitions storage, there was also a rain-water tank; on the upper floor there was the Garisson’s accommodation (about 10 people) led by a “torriere” that had the task of promptly taking sight of any enemy ship and sounding the alarm. On the top , there was a terrace provided with four cannons. Historians notice that many similar towers were built in Forio until the XVIII century, although many of them were used as private residence of noble families. 16 similar fotresses have been counted in all between 1480 and 1700, plus five more towers built in the district of Panza, some with a squarred base and others with a circular base. Many of these towers can be observed still now and are mainly private houses. The “Torrione”, after it had been restored, became a municipal Museum, on the lower floor, while the upper floor was the house of the artist Giovanni Maltese from Forio and is now an art gallery hosting his pictures and sculptures collection.
The Soccorso's church - It is devoted to "Santa Maria della neve" (Saint Maria of the snow), and it was built on a steeply promontory that take its name. As the "Torrione" it is the symbol of the town of Forio and it is one of the most original architecture structues of the Island of Ischia. The Soccorso was founded as an augustinian convent on about 1350 but it was suppressed on 1653, anyway its actual form go up since the 1864. The church is accessible by 20 steps of piperno, then there is a little atrium with 5 crosses of pipernio too. This church is world famous not only for its position but specially for its singular facade, white and adorned by precious '700's majolicas representing saints and scenes of the Passion of Christ. The Soccorso's style is very original, it reassumes some architectures as Greek-byzantine, Moorish and Mediterranian in harmonic shapes. The inside is very interesting becouse of the many types of volta. In the left chapel there is a thaumaturgical cross, a sculpture of Catalan inspiration, surely made on the sec. XVI. Closed to this cross there are 2 marble medals, they was found in a medieval sarcophagus that was placed in the castel of the antique cathedral of Ischia. This church retains various arts as a shovel made by Cesare Calise that represents Saint Augustine, and a small basin of pipernio dated sec. IX-X.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Forio
Where To Stay & Best Hotels in Forio - updated Apr 2024
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Forio Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.
