If you can’t take a plane to Italy, there are still ways to see the sights from where you are.
If you can’t take a plane to Italy, there are still ways to see the sights from where you are.
Museums and monuments sometimes have “virtual tours” that allow you to see 3D views of a place and (usually) click to navigate through it – like Google Street View but inside.
A group of Russian photographers has taken incredible 360-degree photographs around the world. You can probably get lost in their site, AirPano, for days. I’ve linked to some of the AirPano pages for Italian cities (below).
Skyline Webcams allows you to search for live camera feeds of public places by country or category (city views, landscapes, etc.) I’ve included a few live cams from Italy in the lists below, but there are lots more on their site.
Florence
- Uffizi Gallery virtual tour (museum of Renaissance art)
- Florence AirPano
- View from the cupola of Brunelleschi’s Dome
- Take a virtual selfie with Michelangelo’s David
Milan
Naples and Pompeii
- 360 views of sites in Naples
- Archaeological Museum virtual tour*
- Walk through Pompeii ruins
- Vesuvius webcam
Pisa
Rome and the Vatican
- Rome AirPano
- Colosseum webcam
- Quirinale Palace virtual tour
- Trevi Fountain webcam
- Vatican webcams
- St. Peter’s cupola webcam – view from Piazza Risorgimento
- Saint Peter’s Square webcam
- St. Peter’s Basilica virtual tour
Venice
- San Marco Square and Rialto Bridge webcams
- Teatro La Fenice virtual tour* (more about Teatro La Fenice)
- Exhibitions at the Peggy Guggenheim Museum*
- Venice AirPano
Where would you like to “travel” to without leaving home?
Happy virtual trails!
*Not mobile friendly.
Photo credits —
- Florence (Duomo): Petar Milošević • CC BY-SA 4.0
- Florence (David): La Galleria dell’Accademia di Firenze
- Naples: Italy Guides
- Rome: Vatican City State
- Venice: Regata Storica
I love this. I’ve been going to a bunch of water-based locations in my living room. Spinning around in the Google Expedition app so I can see everything. It is such a fantastic tool.
Have you heard about the new VR museum in NY? That is next on my list. I need to get up there.
What a neat idea! You could totally use those for webquests in the classroom, too. It could be a great way to check out places before you see them in person, too. This is where I wish we had smell-o-vision… :)
It’s such a unique thing. Seeing places without really having to travel. As I think about this more and more, I don’t know if I would really enjoy the virtual visit. What I love is though the concept and that there could be people who could benefit.
Thanks for this! I guess, I get to Italy this year, after all. :-)
Yeah!!!