New technologies have enabled us to travel even by just moving a finger on our smartphones. Here tourism has become somewhat virtual. And we have noticed it in these two years of lockdown and pandemic. Enabling it was the innovation introduced in 2007, just 15 years ago, by Google, which after changing our lives with the Maps application, launched on the platform, the Street View option.

It was enough to choose a street, a monument, a place of interest, click and transport a little yellow man on the map, to reach that place immediately. To mark this momentous birthday, Google has made a special ranking of the most visited places in 2021 on Street View. In the top ten of the most visited sites in Italy, in first place is the Roman Forum, the cradle of Roman civilization and Italian culture, as well as a reference model for ancient Europe.

In second place is the lovers' home par excellence, that of Juliet in Verona, made eternal by William Shakespeare's immortal tragedy. In third place is Palazzo Pitti in Florence, a symbol of the Medici family's power and home to no fewer than four museums. In the next positions, we find the Doge's Palace in Venice, the Reggia di Caserta, the Historical Museum of Castello di Miramare in Trieste, the Uffizi Gallery, the Egyptian Museum in Turin, the Ferrari Museum in Maranello and again Palazzo Vecchio, again in Florence. Many illustrious absences are surprising, including that of the Colosseum, just to name one.

Fundamental is art and our wonderful historical and archaeological sites, but in the infinite beauty of the Bel Paese, Italians also love to fantasize with vacation spots, especially the seaside ones, where beaches are lost in the amazing colors of our seas and lakes. Google has also thought of this, releasing the top ten most visited beaches online. Here in first place, contrary to what one might imagine there are not Sardinia, Puglia and Sicily, but Marche, to be exact the Due Sorelle beach in Sirolo, a little gem rediscovered in recent years by national tourism.

Next comes the beach of Tuerredda in Teulada, in the province of Cagliari, a miracle for the eyes, while in third position, not a beach, but a lake, in the unspoiled beauty of Trentino Alto Adige, where Lake Carezza in Nova Levante, not far from Bolzano, stands out. But to continue daydreaming, Google reveals that also in the top ten are Cala Violina in Scarlino (Grosseto), Cala del Leone in Livorno, Lazzaretto beach in Alghero, Ghiaie beach inPortoferraio, on the island of Elba, and finally the coast of Tropea, in Calabria, the port of Civitavecchia and La Playa in Castellammare del Golfo (Trapani).