Tourism in Italy

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With more than 38.9 million tourists a year, Italy is the fourth most visited country in the world, behind France (77 million), Spain (51.7 million) and United States (41.9 million).

[edit] Ancient resorts

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Italy has some of the world's most ancient tourist resorts, dating back to the time of the Roman Republic, when destinations such as Pompeii, Naples Ischia, Capri and especially Baiae were popular with the rich of Roman society.

[edit] Popular destinations

Rome, Venice, and Florence are the top three destinations for tourism in Italy. Other major tourist locations include Turin, Milan, Naples, Bologna, Perugia, Genoa, Sicily, Sardinia, and Cinque Terre. Two factors in each of these locations is history and geography. The Roman Empire, middle ages, and renaissance have left many cultural artifacts for the Italian tourist industry to use. Many northern cities are also able to use the Alps as an attraction for winter sports, while coastal southern cities have the Mediterranean Sea to draw tourists looking for sun.

Italy is home to forty one UNESCO World Heritage Sites, more than any other country, including many entire cities such as Verona, Siena, Vicenza, San Gimignano, and Urbino. Ravenna hosts an unprecedented eight different internationally recognized sites.