1.
EUR
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Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally,210 million people worldwide as of 2013 use currencies pegged to the euro, the euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The name euro was adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.8252 within two years, it has traded above the U. S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.6038 on 18 July 2008. In July 2012, the euro fell below US$1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spains troubled banking sector, as of 26 March 2017, the euro–dollar exchange rate stands at ~ US$1.07. The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, as an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all states. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, all nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Since 5 January 2002, the central banks and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Euro banknotes do not show which central bank issued them, Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice, the ECBs banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs and these liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The euro is divided into 100 cents, in Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a side showing the denomination or value. Due to the plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, beginning in 2007 or 2008 the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the Union like Norway
2.
Culture of Italy
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Italy is considered the birthplace of Western civilization and a cultural superpower. During its history, the nation gave birth to a number of notable people. Etruscan and Samnite cultures flourished in Italy before the emergence of the Roman Republic, the Greek ruins in southern Italy are perhaps the most spectacular and best preserved anywhere. For more than 2,000 years Italy experienced migrations, invasions and was divided into independent states until 1861 when it became a nation-state. Despite the political and social isolation of regions, Italys contributions to the cultural and historical heritage of Europe. The famous elements of Italian culture are its art, music, style, Italy was the birthplace of opera, and for generations the language of opera was Italian, irrespective of the nationality of the composer. Popular tastes in drama in Italy have long favored comedy, the style known as the Commedia dellarte began in Italy in the mid-16th century and is still performed today. Before being exported to France, the famous Ballet dance genre also originated in Italy, the country boasts several world-famous cities. Rome was the ancient capital of the Roman Empire and seat of the Pope of the Catholic Church, Florence was the heart of the Renaissance, a period of great achievements in the arts at the end of the Middle Ages. Other important cities include Turin, which used to be the capital of Italy, Milan is the industrial, financial and fashion capital of Italy. Venice, with its canal system, attracts tourists from all over the world especially during the Venetian Carnival. Italy is home to the greatest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites to date, overall, the nation has an estimated 100,000 monuments of any sort. Architectural ruins from antiquity throughout Italy testify to the greatness of cultures past, during the period of the Italian Renaissance it had been customary for students of architecture to travel to Rome to study the ancient ruins and buildings as an essential part of their education. Old St. Peters Church was probably the first significant early Christian basilica, old St. Peters stood on the site of the present St. Peters Basilica in Rome. The first significant buildings in the medieval Romanesque style were built in Italy during the 800s. Several outstanding examples of the Byzantine architectural style of the Middle East were also built in Italy, the most famous Byzantine structure is the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice. The greatest flowering of Italian architecture took place during the Renaissance, Filippo Brunelleschi made great contributions to architectural design with his dome for the Cathedral of Florence. Leon Battista Alberti was another early Renaissance architect whose theories and designs had an influence on later architects
3.
Fashion
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Fashion is a popular style or practice, especially in clothing, footwear, accessories, makeup, body, or furniture. Fashion is a distinctive and often constant trend in the style in which a person dresses and it is the prevailing styles in behaviour and the newest creations of textile designers. Although aspects of fashion can be feminine or masculine, some trends are androgynous, early Western travelers, traveling whether to Persia, Turkey, India, or China, would frequently remark on the absence of change in fashion in the respective places. The Japanese Shoguns secretary bragged to a Spanish visitor in 1609 that Japanese clothing had not changed in over a thousand years, however, there is considerable evidence in Ming China of rapidly changing fashions in Chinese clothing. Changes in costume took place at times of economic or social change, as occurred in ancient Rome. In 8th-century Moorish Spain, the musician Ziryab introduced to Córdoba sophisticated clothing-styles based on seasonal and daily fashions from his native Baghdad, modified by his own inspiration. Similar changes in fashion occurred in the 11th century in the Middle East following the arrival of the Turks, who introduced clothing styles from Central Asia, the beginning in Europe of continual and increasingly rapid change in clothing styles can be fairly reliably dated. This created the distinctive Western outline of a tailored top worn over leggings or trousers, the pace of change accelerated considerably in the following century, and women and mens fashion, especially in the dressing and adorning of the hair, became equally complex. Art historians are able to use fashion with confidence and precision to date images, often to within five years. These national styles remained very different until a counter-movement in the 17th to 18th centuries imposed similar styles once again, in the 16th century, national differences were at their most pronounced. Ten 16th century portraits of German or Italian gentlemen may show ten entirely different hats, albrecht Dürer illustrated the differences in his actual contrast of Nuremberg and Venetian fashions at the close of the 15th century. Though textile colors and patterns changed from year to year, the cut of a gentlemans coat, by 1800, all Western Europeans were dressing alike, local variation became first a sign of provincial culture and later a badge of the conservative peasant. The Haute house was the established by government for the fashion houses that met the standards of industry. Since then, the idea of the designer as a celebrity in his or her own right has become increasingly dominant. The impact of unisex expands more broadly to various themes in fashion including androgyny, mass-market retail. Fashion weeks are held in cities, where designers exhibit their new clothing collections to audiences. Modern Westerners have a number of choices available in the selection of their clothes. What a person chooses to wear can reflect his or her personality or interests, when people who have high cultural status start to wear new or different clothes, a fashion trend may start
4.
Leather
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Leather is a durable and flexible material created by tanning animal rawhide and skin, often cattle hide. It can be produced at manufacturing scales ranging from cottage industry to heavy industry, people use leather to make various goods—including clothing, bookbinding, leather wallpaper, and as a furniture covering. It is produced in a variety of types and styles. Several tanning processes transform hides and skins into leather, Chrome-tanned leather, invented in 1858, is tanned using chromium sulfate and it is more supple and pliable than vegetable-tanned leather and does not discolor or lose shape as drastically in water as vegetable-tanned. It is also known as wet-blue for its color derived from the chromium, more exotic colors are possible when using chrome tanning. The chrome tanning method usually only takes a day to finish, and it is reported that chrome-tanned leather adds up to 80% of the global leather supply. Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using tannins and other found in different vegetable matter, such as tree bark prepared in bark mills, wood, leaves, fruits. It is supple and brown in color, with the exact shade depending on the mix of chemicals and it is the only form of leather suitable for use in leather carving or stamping. Vegetable-tanned leather is not stable in water, it tends to discolor, so if left to soak and then dried it shrinks, in hot water, it shrinks drastically and partly congeals—becoming rigid, and eventually brittle. Boiled leather is an example of this, where the leather has been hardened by being immersed in hot water, historically, it was occasionally used as armour after hardening, and it has also been used for book binding. Aldehyde-tanned leather is tanned using glutaraldehyde or oxazolidine compounds and this is the leather that most tanners refer to as wet-white leather due to its pale cream or white color. It is the type of chrome-free leather, often seen in shoes for infants. Formaldehyde tanning is another aldehyde tanning method, brain-tanned leathers fall into this category, and are exceptionally water absorbent. Brain tanned leathers are made by a process that uses emulsified oils, often those of animal brains such as deer, cattle. They are known for their softness and washability. Chamois leather also falls into the category of aldehyde tanning, and like brain tanning, produces a porous, chamois leather is made using marine oils that oxidize easily to produce the aldehydes that tan the leather to color it. Rose-tanned leather is a variation of oil tanning and brain tanning. Rose-tanned leather tanned leaves a powerful rose fragrance even years from when it is manufactured and it has been called the most valuable leather on earth, but this is mostly due to the high cost of rose otto and its labor-intensive tanning process
5.
Nicola Trussardi
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Nicola Trussardi was an Italian fashion designer and entrepreneur. He took over the Trussardi fashion line in 1970 and built the small glove-maker into an international brand and he also led the restoration of the Marino alla Scala in Milan. The Nicola Trussardi Foundation was named in his honor, Trussardi was born in Bergamo, Lombardy. In 1968 Trussardi graduated from the Catholic University of Milan in Commerce, in 1970 he started working in his familys glove-making business, which was founded in 1910 by his grandfather Dante Trussardi, following the death of his older brother. Near the end of the 1970s he took the business entirely after the death of his father. Trussardi turned it into a company that helped contribute to the popularity of the made-in-Italy label throughout the world. He expanded Trussardis product line beyond gloves to include luxury accessories, a few years later, Trussardi launched a line of leather jackets, the first step toward a ready-to-wear line which, by the 1980s, encompassed womenswear, menswear, sportswear and childrens wear. In 1985 the once small family business was now worth $182 million, Trussardi personally took on some of the special projects the company was hired to do, such as designing airplane and helicopter interiors. In 1988, Trussardi outfitted the Italian athletes competing in the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, then in 1989, Trussardi used his collection to protest both the deforestation of the worlds rainforests, and the use of real animal fur by his contemporaries. He used exclusively faux-fur, and included letters of protest against deforestation in the entrance bags given to the attendees of that years fashion shows, throughout his career, Trussardi spent time promoting the marketing phrase Made in Italy and Italian fashion in general. By the time of Trussardis death in 1999, his business was worth about $480 million and he was also a costume designer for play productions staged in both Europe and the United States. In 1996 Trussardi restored the Marino alla Scala, located beside the La Scala opera house in Milan and he originally purchased the building in 1989, and spent about $67 million over seven years to have the complex completed. During the construction, the government attempted to extort money from Trussardi through major fines. The property was built in 1876, and was restored by Dutch artists Ben Van Os. The first exhibition to be held in the gallery was a series of 105 sketches by Pablo Picasso, other projects included a specially fitted-out Mini, produced by Innocenti. The Nicola Trussardi Foundation is an institution for the promotion of contemporary art. Since 2003 the Foundation has decided to concentrate its resources on the realization of contemporary art events in the spaces of the city of Milano. In 2009 the foundation sponsored an art exhibition at the Venice Biennale curated by Daniel Birnbaum and it celebrated its tenth anniversary at the Venice Biennale as well in 2013
6.
Ready-to-wear
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Off-the-peg is sometimes used for items other than clothing such as handbags. Ready-to-wear has rather different connotations in the spheres of fashion and classic clothing, in the fashion industry, designers produce ready-to-wear clothing, intended to be worn without significant alteration because clothing made to standard sizes fits most people. They use standard patterns, factory equipment, and faster construction techniques to keep costs low, some fashion houses and fashion designers produce mass-produced and industrially manufactured ready-to-wear lines but others offer garments that are not unique but are produced in limited numbers. The Bread & Butter in Berlin is considered to be the worlds most important trade fair for ready-to-wear fashion, due to technological advances, military uniforms were the first ready-to-wear garments to be mass-produced during the War of 1812. Before, women would alter their previously styled clothing in order to stay up to date with fashion trends, the widespread adoption of ready-to wear clothing reflected a variety of factors including economic disparities, a desire for an independent fashion industry, and an increase in media attention. Another significant factor created by the industry was the US development of a style independent from Europe. Ready-to-wear also sparked new interests in health, beauty, and diet as manufactured clothing set specific, women of larger sizes had difficulties finding apparel in department stores, as most manufacturers maintained and sold the limited sizes across the nation. Overall ready-to-wear fashion exposed women to the newest styles and fashion trends, the ready-to-wear fashion revolution led to an expansion of the US fashion industry that made fashionable apparel accessible, cost effective, and commensurable. The construction of clothing is also held to a different standard than that of haute couture due to its industrial nature. High-end ready-to-wear lines are based upon a famous gown or other pattern that is then duplicated and advertised to raise the visibility of the designer. In high-end fashion, ready-to-wear collections are presented by fashion houses each season during a period known as Fashion Week. Smaller lines including the Cruise and Pre-Fall collections, which add to the value of a brand, are presented separately at the fashion designers discretion. Ready-to-wear fashion weeks occur separately and earlier than those of haute couture
7.
Perfume
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Perfume is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds, fixatives and solvents - used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces a pleasant scent. Ancient texts and archaeological excavations show the use of perfumes in some of the earliest human civilizations, the word perfume derives from the Latin perfumare, meaning to smoke through. Perfumery, as the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt, the worlds first-recorded chemist is considered a woman named Tapputi, a perfume maker mentioned in a cuneiform tablet from the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamia. She distilled flowers, oil, and calamus with other aromatics, then filtered, in India, perfume and perfumery existed in the Indus civilization. One of the earliest distillations of Ittar was mentioned in the Hindu Ayurvedic text Charaka Samhita and Sushruta Samhita, in 2004 –2005, archaeologists uncovered what are believed to be the worlds oldest surviving perfumes in Pyrgos, Cyprus. The perfumes date back more than 4,000 years and they were discovered in an ancient perfumery, a 4, 000-square-meter factory housing at least 60 stills, mixing bowls, funnels, and perfume bottles. In ancient times people used herbs and spices, such as almond, coriander, myrtle, conifer resin, the book also described 107 methods and recipes for perfume-making and perfume-making equipment, such as the alembic. The Persian chemist Ibn Sina introduced the process of extracting oils from flowers by means of distillation and he first experimented with the rose. Until his discovery, liquid perfumes consisted of mixtures of oil and crushed herbs or petals, rose water was more delicate, and immediately became popular. Both the raw ingredients and the technology significantly influenced western perfumery and scientific developments. The art of perfumery was known in western Europe from 1221, taking account the monks recipes of Santa Maria delle Vigne or Santa Maria Novella of Florence. In the east, the Hungarians produced in 1370 a perfume made of scented oils blended in an alcohol solution – best known as Hungary Water – at the behest of Queen Elizabeth of Hungary. The art of perfumery prospered in Renaissance Italy, and in the 16th century the personal perfumer to Catherine de Medici, Rene the Florentine and his laboratory was connected with her apartments by a secret passageway, so that no formulae could be stolen en route. Thanks to Rene, France quickly became one of the European centers of perfume, cultivation of flowers for their perfume essence, which had begun in the 14th century, grew into a major industry in the south of France. Between the 16th and 17th centuries, perfumes were used primarily by the wealthy to mask body odors resulting from infrequent bathing, partly due to this patronage, the perfume industry developed. In 1693, Italian barber Giovanni Paolo Feminis created a perfume water called Aqua Admirabilis, today best known as eau de cologne, by the 18th century the Grasse region of France, Sicily, and Calabria were growing aromatic plants to provide the growing perfume industry with raw materials. Even today, Italy and France remain the center of European perfume design, Perfume types reflect the concentration of aromatic compounds in a solvent, which in fine fragrance is typically ethanol or a mix of water and ethanol. Various sources differ considerably in the definitions of perfume types, the intensity and longevity of a perfume is based on the concentration, intensity and longevity of the aromatic compounds, or perfume oils, used
8.
Jeans
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Jeans are pants, a type of garment, typically made from denim or dungaree cloth. Prior to the Levi Strauss patented trousers, the blue jeans had been long in use for various garments. Originally designed for cowboys and miners, jeans became popular in the 1950s among teenagers, Jeans were a common fashion item in the 1960s Hippie subculture and they continued to be popular in the 1970s and 1980s youth subcultures of punk rock and heavy metal. Historic brands include Levis, Lee, and Wrangler, distressed jeans trousers have become increasingly fashionable, making pre-sale factory distressing a common feature in commercially sold jeans. In the 2010s, jeans are a popular article of casual dress around the world. They come in many styles and colors, however, blue jeans are particularly identified with American culture, especially the Old West. Research on the trade of jean fabric shows that it emerged in the cities of Genoa, Italy, gênes, the French word for Genoa, may be the origin of the word jeans. In Nimes, weavers tried to reproduce jean but instead developed a similar fabric that became known as denim, from de Nimes. Genoa’s jean was a fustian textile of medium quality and of reasonable cost, very similar to cotton corduroy for which Genoa was famous, nimes’s denim was coarser, considered higher quality and was used for over garments such as smocks or overalls. Nearly all Indigo, needed for dyeing, came from indigo bush plantations in India till the late 19th century and it was replaced by indigo synthesis methods developed in Germany. By the 17th century, jean was a crucial textile for working-class people in Northern Italy and this is seen in a series of genre paintings from around the 17th century attributed to an artist now named The Master of the Blue Jeans. The ten paintings depict impoverished scenes with lower-class figures wearing a fabric that looks like denim, the fabric would have been Genoese jean, which was cheaper. Genre painting came to prominence in late 16th century, and the subject matter in all ten paintings places them among others that portray similar scenes. Denim is not the only sturdy cotton fabric used for everything from working clothes to fashion items and this cloth was dungri in Hindi. Dungri was exported to England and used for manufacturing of cheap and it was rumored that men would carry dead dung beetles in their pocket for luck. In English, the word dungri became pronounced as dungaree, the importance of jean is also shown by the history of textile trade. Genoese sailors used jean to cover and protect their goods on the docks from the weather, during the Republic of Genoa, sailors exported jeans throughout Europe. Jean became popular in the United States when Levi Strauss & Co. s introduced blue jean overalls in 1873
9.
World War II
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World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the worlds countries—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing alliances, the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history, and directly involved more than 100 million people from over 30 countries. Marked by mass deaths of civilians, including the Holocaust and the bombing of industrial and population centres. These made World War II the deadliest conflict in human history, from late 1939 to early 1941, in a series of campaigns and treaties, Germany conquered or controlled much of continental Europe, and formed the Axis alliance with Italy and Japan. Under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union partitioned and annexed territories of their European neighbours, Poland, Finland, Romania and the Baltic states. In December 1941, Japan attacked the United States and European colonies in the Pacific Ocean, and quickly conquered much of the Western Pacific. The Axis advance halted in 1942 when Japan lost the critical Battle of Midway, near Hawaii, in 1944, the Western Allies invaded German-occupied France, while the Soviet Union regained all of its territorial losses and invaded Germany and its allies. During 1944 and 1945 the Japanese suffered major reverses in mainland Asia in South Central China and Burma, while the Allies crippled the Japanese Navy, thus ended the war in Asia, cementing the total victory of the Allies. World War II altered the political alignment and social structure of the world, the United Nations was established to foster international co-operation and prevent future conflicts. The victorious great powers—the United States, the Soviet Union, China, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union and the United States emerged as rival superpowers, setting the stage for the Cold War, which lasted for the next 46 years. Meanwhile, the influence of European great powers waned, while the decolonisation of Asia, most countries whose industries had been damaged moved towards economic recovery. Political integration, especially in Europe, emerged as an effort to end pre-war enmities, the start of the war in Europe is generally held to be 1 September 1939, beginning with the German invasion of Poland, Britain and France declared war on Germany two days later. The dates for the beginning of war in the Pacific include the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War on 7 July 1937, or even the Japanese invasion of Manchuria on 19 September 1931. Others follow the British historian A. J. P. Taylor, who held that the Sino-Japanese War and war in Europe and its colonies occurred simultaneously and this article uses the conventional dating. Other starting dates sometimes used for World War II include the Italian invasion of Abyssinia on 3 October 1935. The British historian Antony Beevor views the beginning of World War II as the Battles of Khalkhin Gol fought between Japan and the forces of Mongolia and the Soviet Union from May to September 1939, the exact date of the wars end is also not universally agreed upon. It was generally accepted at the time that the war ended with the armistice of 14 August 1945, rather than the formal surrender of Japan
10.
Beverly Hills
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Beverly Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, surrounded by the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood. By 2013, its population had grown to 34,658, sometimes referred to as 90210, one of its primary ZIP codes, it was home to many actors and celebrities throughout the 20th century. The city includes the Rodeo Drive shopping district and the Beverly Hills Oil Field, gaspar de Portolá arrived in the area that would later become Beverly Hills on August 3,1769, travelling along native trails which followed the present-day route of Wilshire Boulevard. The area was settled by Maria Rita Quinteros de Valdez and her husband in 1828 and they called their 4,500 acres of property the Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas. in 1854, she sold the ranch to Benjamin Davis Wilson and Henry Hancock. By the 1880s, the ranch had been subdivided into parcels of 75 acres and was being bought up by anglos from Los Angeles. Henry Hammel and Andrew H. Denker acquired most of it, at this point, the area was known as the Hammel and Denker Ranch. By 1888, Denker and Hammel were planning to build a town called Morocco on their holdings and they did not find enough to exploit commercially by the standards of the time, though. In 1906, therefore, they reorganized as the Rodeo Land and Water Company, renamed the property Beverly Hills, subdivided it, the development was named Beverly Hills after Beverly Farms in Beverly, Massachusetts and because of the hills in the area. The first house in the subdivision was built in 1907, although sales remained slow, Beverly Hills was one of many all-white planned communities started in the Los Angeles area around this time. Restrictive covenants prohibited non-whites from owning or renting property unless they were employed as servants by white residents and it was also forbidden to sell or rent property to Jews in Beverly Hills. Burton Green began construction on The Beverly Hills Hotel in 1911, the hotel was finished in 1912. The visitors drawn by the hotel were inclined to purchase land in Beverly Hills and that same year, the Rodeo Land and Water Company decided to separate its water business from its real estate business. The Beverly Hills Utility Commission was split off from the company and incorporated in September 1914, buying all of the utilities-related assets from the Rodeo Land. In 1919, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford bought land on Summit Drive and built a mansion, finished in 1921, the glamor associated with Fairbanks and Pickford as well as other movie stars who built mansions in the city contributed to its growing appeal. By the early 1920s the population of Beverly Hills had grown enough to make the water supply a political issue, in 1923 the usual solution, annexation to the city of Los Angeles, was proposed. There was considerable opposition to annexation among such famous residents as Pickford, Fairbanks, Will Rogers, the Beverly Hills Utility Commission, opposed to annexation as well, managed to force the city into a special election and the plan was defeated 337 to 507. In 1925, Beverly Hills approved an issue to buy 385 acres for a new campus for UCLA. The cities of Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Venice also issued bonds to pay for the new campus
11.
Atlanta
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Atlanta is the capital of and the most populous city in the U. S. state of Georgia, with an estimated 2015 population of 463,878. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, home to 5,710,795 people, Atlanta is the county seat of Fulton County, and a small portion of the city extends eastward into DeKalb County. In 1837, Atlanta was founded at the intersection of two lines, and the city rose from the ashes of the American Civil War to become a national center of commerce. Atlantas economy is considered diverse, with dominant sectors that include logistics, professional and business services, media operations, Atlanta has topographic features that include rolling hills and dense tree coverage. Revitalization of Atlantas neighborhoods, initially spurred by the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, has intensified in the 21st century, altering the demographics, politics. Prior to the arrival of European settlers in north Georgia, Creek Indians inhabited the area, standing Peachtree, a Creek village located where Peachtree Creek flows into the Chattahoochee River, was the closest Indian settlement to what is now Atlanta. As part of the removal of Native Americans from northern Georgia from 1802 to 1825, the Creek ceded the area in 1821. In 1836, the Georgia General Assembly voted to build the Western, the initial route was to run southward from Chattanooga to a terminus east of the Chattahoochee River, which would then be linked to Savannah. After engineers surveyed various possible locations for the terminus, the zero milepost was driven into the ground in what is now Five Points. A year later, the area around the milepost had developed into a settlement, first known as Terminus, and later as Thrasherville after a merchant who built homes. By 1842, the town had six buildings and 30 residents and was renamed Marthasville to honor the Governors daughter, later, J. Edgar Thomson, Chief Engineer of the Georgia Railroad, suggested the town be renamed Atlantica-Pacifica, which was shortened to Atlanta. The residents approved, and the town was incorporated as Atlanta on December 29,1847, by 1860, Atlantas population had grown to 9,554. During the American Civil War, the nexus of multiple railroads in Atlanta made the city a hub for the distribution of military supplies, in 1864, the Union Army moved southward following the capture of Chattanooga and began its invasion of north Georgia. On the next day, Mayor James Calhoun surrendered Atlanta to the Union Army, on November 11,1864, Sherman prepared for the Union Armys March to the Sea by ordering Atlanta to be burned to the ground, sparing only the citys churches and hospitals. After the Civil War ended in 1865, Atlanta was gradually rebuilt, due to the citys superior rail transportation network, the state capital was moved from Milledgeville to Atlanta in 1868. In the 1880 Census, Atlanta surpassed Savannah as Georgias largest city, by 1885, the founding of the Georgia School of Technology and the citys black colleges had established Atlanta as a center for higher education. In 1895, Atlanta hosted the Cotton States and International Exposition, during the first decades of the 20th century, Atlanta experienced a period of unprecedented growth. In three decades time, Atlantas population tripled as the city expanded to include nearby streetcar suburbs
12.
Miami
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Miami is a seaport city at the southeastern corner of the U. S. state of Florida and its Atlantic coast. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, Miamis metro area is the eighth-most populous, Miami is a major center, and a leader in finance, commerce, culture, media, entertainment, the arts, and international trade. In 2012, Miami was classified as an Alpha−World City in the World Cities Study Groups inventory, in 2010, Miami ranked seventh in the United States in terms of finance, commerce, culture, entertainment, fashion, education, and other sectors. It ranked 33rd among global cities, in 2008, Forbes magazine ranked Miami Americas Cleanest City, for its year-round good air quality, vast green spaces, clean drinking water, clean streets, and citywide recycling programs. According to a 2009 UBS study of 73 world cities, Miami was ranked as the richest city in the United States, Miami is nicknamed the Capital of Latin America and is the largest city with a Cuban-American plurality. Miami has the third tallest skyline in the U. S. with over 300 high-rises, Downtown Miami is home to the largest concentration of international banks in the United States, and many large national and international companies. The Civic Center is a center for hospitals, research institutes, medical centers. For more than two decades, the Port of Miami, known as the Cruise Capital of the World, has been the number one cruise port in the world. It accommodates some of the worlds largest cruise ships and operations, Metropolitan Miami is the major tourism hub in the American South, number two in the U. S. after New York City and number 13 in the world, including the popular destination of Miami Beach. The Miami area was inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous Native American tribes, the Tequestas occupied the area for a thousand years before encountering Europeans. An Indian village of hundreds of people dating to 500–600 B. C. was located at the mouth of the Miami River, in 1566 the explorer, Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, claimed it for Spain. A Spanish mission was constructed one year later in 1567, Spain and Great Britain successively controlled Florida, and Spain ceded it to the United States in 1821. In 1836, the US built Fort Dallas as part of its development of the Florida Territory and attempt to suppress, the Miami area subsequently became a site of fighting during the Second Seminole War. Miami is noted as the major city in the United States conceived by a woman, Julia Tuttle, a local citrus grower. The Miami area was known as Biscayne Bay Country in the early years of its growth. In the late 19th century, reports described the area as a promising wilderness, the area was also characterized as one of the finest building sites in Florida. The Great Freeze of 1894–95 hastened Miamis growth, as the crops of the Miami area were the ones in Florida that survived. Julia Tuttle subsequently convinced Henry Flagler, a tycoon, to expand his Florida East Coast Railway to the region
13.
San Francisco
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San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the cultural, commercial, and financial center of Northern California. It is the birthplace of the United Nations, the California Gold Rush of 1849 brought rapid growth, making it the largest city on the West Coast at the time. San Francisco became a consolidated city-county in 1856, after three-quarters of the city was destroyed by the 1906 earthquake and fire, San Francisco was quickly rebuilt, hosting the Panama-Pacific International Exposition nine years later. In World War II, San Francisco was a port of embarkation for service members shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Politically, the city votes strongly along liberal Democratic Party lines, San Francisco is also the headquarters of five major banking institutions and various other companies such as Levi Strauss & Co. Dolby, Airbnb, Weebly, Pacific Gas and Electric Company, Yelp, Pinterest, Twitter, Uber, Lyft, Mozilla, Wikimedia Foundation, as of 2016, San Francisco is ranked high on world liveability rankings. The earliest archaeological evidence of habitation of the territory of the city of San Francisco dates to 3000 BC. Upon independence from Spain in 1821, the became part of Mexico. Under Mexican rule, the system gradually ended, and its lands became privatized. In 1835, Englishman William Richardson erected the first independent homestead, together with Alcalde Francisco de Haro, he laid out a street plan for the expanded settlement, and the town, named Yerba Buena, began to attract American settlers. Commodore John D. Sloat claimed California for the United States on July 7,1846, during the Mexican–American War, montgomery arrived to claim Yerba Buena two days later. Yerba Buena was renamed San Francisco on January 30 of the next year, despite its attractive location as a port and naval base, San Francisco was still a small settlement with inhospitable geography. The California Gold Rush brought a flood of treasure seekers, with their sourdough bread in tow, prospectors accumulated in San Francisco over rival Benicia, raising the population from 1,000 in 1848 to 25,000 by December 1849. The promise of fabulous riches was so strong that crews on arriving vessels deserted and rushed off to the gold fields, leaving behind a forest of masts in San Francisco harbor. Some of these approximately 500 abandoned ships were used at times as storeships, saloons and hotels, many were left to rot, by 1851 the harbor was extended out into the bay by wharves while buildings were erected on piles among the ships. By 1870 Yerba Buena Cove had been filled to create new land, buried ships are occasionally exposed when foundations are dug for new buildings. California was quickly granted statehood in 1850 and the U. S. military built Fort Point at the Golden Gate, silver discoveries, including the Comstock Lode in Nevada in 1859, further drove rapid population growth. With hordes of fortune seekers streaming through the city, lawlessness was common, and the Barbary Coast section of town gained notoriety as a haven for criminals, prostitution, entrepreneurs sought to capitalize on the wealth generated by the Gold Rush
14.
Bloomingdales
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Bloomingdales is a luxury department store owned by Macys, Inc. Brothers Joseph and Lyman G. Bloomingdale founded Bloomingdales in 1861, the pair were sons of Benjamin Bloomingdale, a Bavarian-born salesman who had lived in North Carolina and Kansas, and settled in New York City. In 1872, the Bloomingdale brothers opened their first store at 938 Third Avenue, at the time the East Side was a working class neighborhood with shanty towns, garbage dumps, and stockyards. Most of their customers and competitors were in the Upper West Side, within a few years after opening the store, the Metropolitan Museum of Art opened, the new St. These additions brought to the East Side wealthy customers, who built brownstones that surrounded the new park, the store moved in 1886 to its current location on 59th Street and Lexington Avenue. It was designed with large glass display windows and large merchandising areas. Many of these products were European imports, by the start of the 20th century, Bloomingdales growth had greatly increased, facilitated by its convenient location at a hub of New York Citys horse-drawn trolley system. Offerings at the time included ladies stockings at 10¢ a pair, $10 mens wool suits, the slogan appeared on billboards and on 5,000 free beach umbrellas which were offered to street vendors and delivery cart drivers. The popular upper class shopping area moved downtown along Sixth Avenue to between 14th and 23rd Streets, in 1913, the 59th Street Station of the Lexington Avenue subway was constructed in Bloomingdales basement, further reinforcing the All Cars Transfer to Bloomingdales slogan, and business recovered. By the 1920s, the covered the whole city block. In 1930, Bloomingdales moved to a new location off of Lexington, the building, which had grown to encompass the entire block, had an eleven-story addition and was completely redesigned by architects Starrett & van Vleck in the Art Deco style. In 1949, Bloomingdales opened its first branch store in Fresh Meadows, subsequently, Bloomingdales built a full line store in White Plains combining its Eastchester and New Rochelle stores. The same year Bloomingdales joined Federated Department Stores, now Macys, in 1961, all over in the US the company started using designer shopping bags to promote its Esprit de France exhibit. The design, by artist Jonah Kinigstein, was based on French tarot cards in dramatic shades of red, black, in 1973, the iconic Brown Bag appeared. These were designed by Massimo Vignelli, who designed the current store typeface. Fashion designer Michaele Vollbracht designed one of the shopping bags in red, black, and white of a formally dressed man on one side. Other artists who have designed shopping bags were fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez, in 1969, Bloomingdales two branch stores opened in Garden City, New York on Long Island, and Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Bloomingdales opened home furnishing stores on the East Coast using products from the home furnishings department
15.
Luciano Pavarotti
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Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian operatic tenor who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. As one of the Three Tenors, Pavarotti became well known for his televised concerts, Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others. He died from cancer on 6 September 2007. Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker. Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money, according to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943, for the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming. After abandoning the dream of becoming a goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven years in vocal training. Pavarottis earliest musical influences were his fathers recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day – Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa, at around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir. He was interested in pursuing a career as a football goalkeeper. He subsequently taught in a school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out. Recognising the risk involved, his father gave his consent only reluctantly, Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without remuneration. According to conductor Richard Bonynge, Pavarotti never learned to read music and he later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer. At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni, like Pavarotti, Freni was destined to operatic greatness, they were to share the stage many times and make memorable recordings together. During his years of study, Pavarotti held part-time jobs in order to sustain himself – first as an elementary school teacher. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns, when a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a disastrous concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision, Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making his debut as Rodolfo in La bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April 1961. He made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera in the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as Rodolfo, while generally successful, Pavarottis early roles did not immediately propel him into the stardom that he would later enjoy
16.
Piazza del Duomo, Milan
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Piazza del Duomo is the main piazza of Milan, Italy. It is named after, and dominated by, the Milan Cathedral, the piazza marks the center of the city, both in a geographic sense and because of its importance from an artistic, cultural, and social point of view. The origins of Piazza del Duomo can be traced back to the vision of Azzone Visconti, the piazza was named after the arengario, i. e. the seat of the local government. None of the buildings of Piazza dellArengario has survived. Azzones successor Gian Galeazzo Visconti further enlarged the piazza, ordering the demolition of the bishops house and the baptistery San Giovanni alle Fonti. In the following decades, nevertheless, the piazza did not develop much, in 1458, Pope Pius II granted Francesco Sforza and the Veneranda fabbrica del Duomo di Milano the authorization to demolish Santa Tecla to create a larger square that would fit the Duomos majesty. Somewhat preposterously, the basilica was rebuilt in the following years. In the 19th century, architect Giulio Beccaria was hired by Ferdinand I of Austria to redesign the piazza again, a major twist in the piazzas evolution came about after the Second Italian War of Independence. In 1860, the government of the city proclaimed the intention to redesign the piazza. Several architectural design competitions followed, whereby the plan of the new piazza gradually took place, the restructuring was eventually commissioned to architect Giuseppe Mengoni, and the works began in 1865. Mengonis work, in any case, was not hitchless, the company that was responsible for the works, City of Milan Improvements Company of London, eventually experienced financial problems, so that the government of Milan had to take charge. Part of the area of the Galleria was sold to private owners, when Mengoni died in 1877, only one of the arches, the one at the entrance of the Galleria, was completed, the construction of second arch was abandoned. Mengoni actually died in Piazza del Duomo, falling from a scaffolding while he was supervising the works, in 1896, the statue of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy was inaugurated in the centre of the piazza. This marked the completion of the restructuring initiated by the city authorities in 1860, the Arengario had the main purpose of letting the local podestà make speeches to the population, it now houses a museum on 20th-century art
17.
La Scala
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La Scala is an opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was known as the Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala. The premiere performance was Antonio Salieris Europa riconosciuta, most of Italys greatest operatic artists, and many of the finest singers from around the world, have appeared at La Scala during the past 200 years. The theatre is regarded as one of the opera and ballet theatres in the world and is home to the La Scala Theatre Chorus, La Scala Theatre Ballet. The theatre also has a school, known as the La Scala Theatre Academy. La Scalas season traditionally opens on 7 December, Saint Ambroses Day, all performances must end before midnight, and long operas start earlier in the evening when necessary. La Scala also hosts the Accademia dArti e Mestieri dello Spettacolo and its goal is to train a new generation of young musicians, technical staff, and dancers. A fire destroyed the theatre, the Teatro Regio Ducale, on 25 February 1776. The neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini produced a design but it was rejected by Count Firmian. A second plan was accepted in 1776 by Empress Maria Theresa, the new theatre was built on the former location of the church of Santa Maria alla Scala, from which the theatre gets its name. The church was deconsecrated and demolished, and over a period of two years the theatre was completed by Pietro Marliani, Pietro Nosetti and Antonio and Giuseppe Fe. The theatre had a total of 3,000 or so seats organized into 678 pit-stalls and its stage is one of the largest in Italy. Building expenses were covered by the sale of palchi, which were decorated by their owners. La Scala soon became the preeminent meeting place for noble and wealthy Milanese people, in the tradition of the times, the platea had no chairs and spectators watched the shows standing up. The orchestra was in sight, as the golfo mistico had not yet been built. Above the boxes, La Scala has a gallery—called the loggione—where the less wealthy can watch the performances, the gallery is typically crowded with the most critical opera aficionados, known as the loggionisti, who can be ecstatic or merciless towards singers perceived successes or failures. As with most of the theatres at that time, La Scala was also a casino, conditions in the auditorium, too, could be frustrating for the opera lover, as Mary Shelley discovered in September 1840, At the Opera they were giving Otto Nicolais Templario. La Scala was originally illuminated with 84 oil lamps mounted on the palcoscenico, to prevent the risks of fire, several rooms were filled with hundreds of water buckets
18.
Brindisi
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Brindisi is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Historically, the city has played an important role in trade and culture, due to its position on the Italian Peninsula. The city remains a port for trade with Greece and the Middle East. Brindisis most flourishing industries include agriculture, chemical works, and the generation of electricity, Brindisi is situated on a natural harbor, that penetrates deeply into the Adriatic coast of Apulia. Within the arms of the harbor islands are Pedagne, a tiny archipelago, currently not open. The entire municipality is part of the Brindisi Plain, characterized by agricultural uses of its land. It is located in the part of the Salento plains, about 40 kilometres from the Itria Valley. Not far from the city is the Natural Marine Reserve of the World Wide Fund for Nature of Torre Guaceto, the Ionian Sea is about 45 kilometres away. The development of agriculture, has caused an increase in the use of water resulting in an increase of indiscriminate use. There are several traditions concerning its founders, one of them claims that it was founded by the legendary hero Diomedes, Brindisi was an Ancient Greek settlement predating the Roman expansion. The Latin name Brundisium comes from the Greek Brentesion meaning deers head, in 267 BC it was conquered by the Romans. Herodotus spoke of the Mycenaean origin for these populations, the necropolis of Tor Pisana returned Corinthian jars in the first half of the 7th century BC. The Brindisi Messapia certainly entertained strong business relationships with the side of the Adriatic. After the Punic Wars it became a center of Roman naval power. In the Social War it received Roman citizenship, and was made a port by Sulla. It suffered, however, from a siege conducted by Caesar in 49 BC and was attacked in 42 and 40 BC. The poet Pacuvius was born here about 220 BC, and here the famous poet Virgil died in 19 BC. Under the Romans, Brundisium – a large city in its day with some 100,000 inhabitants – was a port, the chief point of embarkation for Greece
19.
Bangkok
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Bangkok is the capital and most populous city of Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep. The city occupies 1,568.7 square kilometres in the Chao Phraya River delta in Central Thailand, over 14 million people live within the surrounding Bangkok Metropolitan Region, making Bangkok an extreme primate city, significantly dwarfing Thailands other urban centres in terms of importance. Bangkok was at the heart of the modernization of Siam—later renamed Thailand—during the late 19th century, the city grew rapidly during the 1960s through the 1980s and now exerts a significant impact on Thailands politics, economy, education, media and modern society. The Asian investment boom in the 1980s and 1990s led many multinational corporations to locate their headquarters in Bangkok. The city is now a regional force in finance and business. It is a hub for transport and health care, and has emerged as a regional centre for the arts, fashion. The city is known for its vibrant street life and cultural landmarks. The historic Grand Palace and Buddhist temples including Wat Arun and Wat Pho stand in contrast with other tourist attractions such as the scenes of Khaosan Road. Bangkok is among the top tourist destinations. It is named the most visited city in MasterCards Global Destination Cities Index, Bangkoks rapid growth amidst little urban planning and regulation has resulted in a haphazard cityscape and inadequate infrastructure systems. The city has turned to public transport in an attempt to solve this major problem. Five rapid transit lines are now in operation, with more systems under construction or planned by the national government and the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration. The history of Bangkok dates at least back to the early 15th century, because of its strategic location near the mouth of the river, the town gradually increased in importance. Bangkok initially served as a customs outpost with forts on both sides of the river, and became the site of a siege in 1688 in which the French were expelled from Siam. After the fall of Ayutthaya to the Burmese Empire in 1767, the newly declared King Taksin established his capital at the town, in 1782, King Phutthayotfa Chulalok succeeded Taksin, moved the capital to the eastern banks Rattanakosin Island, thus founding the Rattanakosin Kingdom. The City Pillar was erected on 21 April, which is regarded as the date of foundation of the present city, Bangkoks economy gradually expanded through busy international trade, first with China, then with Western merchants returning in the early-to-mid 19th century. As the capital, Bangkok was the centre of Siams modernization as it faced pressure from Western powers in the late 19th century, Bangkok became the centre stage for power struggles between the military and political elite as the country abolished absolute monarchy in 1932
20.
Hong Kong
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Hong Kong, officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China, is an autonomous territory on the Pearl River Delta of East Asia. Macau lies across the delta to the west, and the Chinese province of Guangdong borders the territory to the north. With a total area of 1,106 square kilometres. Hong Kong was later occupied by Japan during World War II until British control resumed in 1945, under the principle of one country, two systems, Hong Kong maintains a separate political and economic system from China. Except in military defence and foreign affairs, Hong Kong maintains its independent executive, legislative, in addition, Hong Kong develops relations directly with foreign states and international organisations in a broad range of appropriate fields. Hong Kong is one of the worlds most significant financial centres, with the highest Financial Development Index score and consistently ranks as the worlds most competitive and freest economic entity. As the worlds 8th largest trading entity, its legal tender, Hong Kongs tertiary sector dominated economy is characterised by simple taxation with a competitive level of corporate tax and supported by its independent judiciary system. However, while Hong Kong has one of the highest per capita incomes in the world and it has a very high Human Development Index ranking and the worlds longest life expectancy. Over 90% of the population use of well-developed public transportation. Seasonal air pollution with origins from neighbouring areas of Mainland China. Hong Kong was officially recorded in the 1842 Treaty of Nanking to encompass the entirety of the island, before 1842, the name referred to a small inlet—now Aberdeen Harbour —between Aberdeen Island and the southern coast of Hong Kong Island. Aberdeen was a point of contact between British sailors and local fishermen. Detailed and accurate romanisation systems for Cantonese were available and in use at the time, fragrance may refer to the sweet taste of the harbours fresh water estuarine influx of the Pearl River or to the incense from factories lining the coast of northern Kowloon. The incense was stored near Aberdeen Harbour for export before Hong Kong developed Victoria Harbour, the name had often been written as the single word Hongkong until the government adopted the current form in 1926. Nevertheless, a number of century-old institutions still retain the form, such as the Hongkong Post, Hongkong Electric. As of 1997, its name is the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the Peoples Republic of China. This is the title as mentioned in the Hong Kong Basic Law. Hong Kong has carried many nicknames, the most famous among those is the Pearl of the Orient, which reflected the impressive nightscape of the citys light decorations on the skyscrapers along both sides of the Victoria Harbour
21.
Seoul
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The Seoul Capital Area houses up to half of the countrys population of 50.22 million people with 678,102 international residents. Situated on the Han River, Seouls history stretches back more than two years when it was founded in 18 BCE by Baekje, one of the Three Kingdoms of Korea. It continued as the capital of Korea under the Joseon Dynasty, the Seoul Capital Area contains five UNESCO World Heritage Sites, Changdeok Palace, Hwaseong Fortress, Jongmyo Shrine, Namhansanseong and the Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty. Seoul is surrounded by mountains, the tallest being Mt. Bukhan, in 2015, it was rated Asias most livable city with the second highest quality of life globally by Arcadis. In 2014, the citys GDP per capita of $39,786 was comparable to that of France and Finland. Ranked sixth in the Global Power City Index and Global Financial Centres Index, Seoul is the worlds most wired city and ranked first in technology readiness by PwCs Cities of Opportunity report. It is served by the KTX high-speed rail and the Seoul Subway, providing 4G LTE, WiFi, Seoul is connected via AREX to Incheon International Airport, rated the worlds best airport nine years in a row by Airports Council International. Lotte World Tower, a 556-metre supertall skyscraper with 123 floors, has built in Seoul and become the OECDs tallest in 2016. Its Lotte Cinema houses the worlds largest cinema screen, Seouls COEX Mall is the worlds largest underground shopping mall. Seoul hosted the 1986 Asian Games,1988 Summer Olympics,2002 FIFA World Cup, the Miss Universe 1980 pageant, a UNESCO City of Design, Seoul was named the 2010 World Design Capital. The city has known in the past by the names Wirye-seong, Hanju. During Japans annexation in Korea, Hanseong was renamed to Keijō by the Imperial authorities to prevent confusion with the hanja 漢, in reality, the ancient name of Seoul, Hanseong, originally had the meaning of big or vast. Its current name originated from the Korean word meaning city, which is believed to be derived from the word Seorabeol, which originally referred to Gyeongju. Unlike most place names in Korea, Seoul has no corresponding hanja, on January 18,2005, Seoul government officially changed its official Chinese language name to Shouer from the historic Hancheng, of which use is becoming less common. Settlement of the Han River area, where present-day Seoul is located, Seoul is first recorded as Wiryeseong, the capital of Baekje in the northeastern Seoul area. There are several city walls remaining in the area date from this time. Pungnaptoseong, a wall just outside Seoul, is widely believed to have been at the main Wiryeseong site. As the Three Kingdoms competed for this region, control passed from Baekje to Goguryeo in the 5th century
22.
Modena, Italy
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Modena is a city and comune on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy. One of Ferraris cars, the 360 Modena, was named after the town itself, the University of Modena, founded in 1175 and expanded by Francesco II dEste in 1686, has traditional strengths in economics, medicine and law and is the second oldest athenaeum in Italy. Italian military officers are trained at the Military Academy of Modena, the Biblioteca Estense houses historical volumes and 3,000 manuscripts. The Cathedral of Modena, the Torre della Ghirlandina and Piazza Grande are a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1997, Modena is also known in culinary circles for its production of balsamic vinegar. Modena lies on the Pianura Padana, and is bounded by the two rivers Secchia and Panaro, both affluents of the Po River and their presence is symbolized by the Two Rivers Fountain in the citys center, by Giuseppe Graziosi. The city is connected to the Panaro by the Naviglio channel, the Apennines begin some 10 kilometres from the city, to the south. The commune is divided into four circoscrizioni and these are, Centro storico Crocetta Buon Pastore San Faustino Modena has a humid subtropical climate, with an average annual precipitation of 809 millimetres. Summers are warm and winters are chilly and wetter, with the possibility of snowfall and this climate is described by the Köppen climate classification as Cfa. From 1945 to 1992, Modena had a consecutive series of Communist mayors. From the 1990s, the city has been governed by center-left coalitions, at the April 2006 elections, the city of Modena gave about 50% of its votes to the Democratic Party. The legislative body of the municipality is the City Council which is composed by 35 members elected every five years, Modenas executive body is the City Committee composed by 9 assessors, the deputy-mayor and the mayor. The current mayor of Modena is Giancarlo Muzzarelli, member of the Democratic Party of Italy, the territory around Modena was inhabited by the Villanovans in the Iron Age, and later by Ligurian tribes, Etruscans, and the Gaulish Boii. Livy described it as a fortified citadel where Roman magistrates took shelter, the outcome of the siege is not known, but the city was most likely abandoned after Hannibals arrival. Mutina was refounded as a Roman colony in 183 BC, to be used as a base by Marcus Aemilius Lepidus. In the 1st century BC Mutina was besieged twice, the first siege was by Pompey in 78 BC, when Mutina was defended by Marcus Junius Brutus. The city eventually surrendered out of hunger, and Brutus fled, in the civil war following Caesars assassination, the city was besieged again, this time by Mark Antony, in 44 BC, and defended by Decimus Junius Brutus. Octavian relieved the city with the help of the Senate, cicero called it Mutina splendidissima in his Philippics. It is said that Mutina was never sacked by Attila, for a dense fog hid it, as of December 2008, Italian researchers have discovered the pottery center where the oil lamps that lit the ancient Roman empire were made
23.
Fendi
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Fendi is an Italian luxury fashion house whose specialities include fur, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, fragrances, eyewear, timepieces and accessories. Founded in 1925 in Rome, Fendi is renowned for its fur and fur accessories, Fendi is also well known for its leather goods such as Baguette, 2jours, Peekaboo or Pequin handbags. The house of Fendi was launched in 1925 by Adele and Edoardo Fendi as a fur and leather shop in Via del Plebiscito, since 1946, the five sisters of second generation started entering the company and bought new wave of enthusiasm. Karl Lagerfeld joined Fendi in 1965 and became the Creative Director for Fur, silvia Venturini Fendi, daughter of Anna, joined in 1994 and is the Creative Director for Accessories and Mens lines. Since 2001, Fendi became a luxury fashion brand and member of LVMH group. In 2014, Fendi started making plans to use drones to show its catwalk fashions, Fendi invested more than 2 million euros to help restore the Trevi Fountain in Rome designed by Nicola Salvi in 18th century. The restoration works started June 2014, “It’s about tying us with a city that makes millions of people dream, ” Fendi CEO Pietro Beccari said. Official homepage Fendi – brand and company profile at Fashion Model Directory
24.
Jean-Luc Godard
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Jean-Luc Godard is a French-Swiss film director, screenwriter and film critic. He is often identified with the 1960s French film movement La Nouvelle Vague, as a result of such argument, he and like-minded critics started to make their own films. Many of Godards films challenge the conventions of traditional Hollywood in addition to French cinema, along with showing knowledge of film history through homages and references, several of his films expressed his political views, he was an avid reader of existential and Marxist philosophy. Since the New Wave, his politics have been less radical and his recent films are about representation and human conflict from a humanist. In a 2002 Sight & Sound poll, Godard ranked third in the critics top-ten directors of all time and he is said to have created one of the largest bodies of critical analysis of any filmmaker since the mid-twentieth century. He and his work have been central to narrative theory and have challenged both commercial narrative cinema norms and film criticisms vocabulary, in 2010, Godard was awarded an Academy Honorary Award, but did not attend the award ceremony. Jean-Luc Godard was born on 3 December 1930 in the 7th arrondissement of Paris, the son of Odile and Paul Godard and his wealthy parents came from Protestant families of Franco–Swiss descent, and his mother was the daughter of Julien Monod, a founder of the Banque Paribas. She was the great-granddaughter of theologian Adolphe Monod, relatives on his mothers side include also composer Jacques-Louis Monod, naturalist Théodore Monod and pastor Frédéric Monod. Four years after Jean-Lucs birth, his father moved the family to Switzerland, at the outbreak of the Second World War, Godard was in France and returned to Switzerland with difficulty. He spent most of the war in Switzerland, although his family made trips to his grandfathers estate on the French side of Lake Geneva. Godard attended school in Nyon, Switzerland, in 1946, he went to study at the Lycée Buffon in Paris and, through family connections, mixed with members of its cultural elite. He lodged with the writer Jean Schlumberger, having failed his baccalaureate exam in 1948 he returned to Switzerland. He studied in Lausanne and lived with his parents, whose marriage was breaking up and he spent time in Geneva also with a group that included another film fanatic, Roland Tolmatchoff, and the extreme rightist philosopher Jean Parvulesco. His older sister Rachel encouraged him to paint, which he did, after time spent at a boarding school in Thonon to prepare for the retest, which he passed, he returned to Paris in 1949. He registered for a certificate in anthropology at the University of Paris and he got involved with the young group of film critics at the ciné-clubs that started the New Wave. Godard originally held only French citizenship, then in 1953, he became a citizen of Gland, canton of Vaud, Switzerland, in Paris, in the Latin Quarter just prior to 1950, ciné-clubs were gaining prominence. Godard began attending these clubs - the Cinémathèque, the CCQL, Work and Culture ciné Club, at these clubs he met fellow film enthusiasts including Jacques Rivette, Claude Chabrol, and François Truffaut. Godard was part of a generation for whom cinema took on a special importance and he has said, In the 1950s cinema was as important as bread—but it isnt the case any more
25.
Denim
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Denim is a sturdy cotton warp-faced textile in which the weft passes under two or more warp threads. This twill weaving produces a diagonal ribbing that distinguishes it from cotton duck, the most common denim is indigo denim, in which the warp thread is dyed, while the weft thread is left white. As a result of the warp-faced twill weaving, one side of the textile is dominated by the warp threads. This causes blue jeans to be white on the inside, the indigo dyeing process, in which the core of the warp threads remains white, creates denims signature fading characteristics. The name denim derives from French serge de Nîmes, meaning serge from Nîmes, denim was traditionally colored blue with indigo dye to make blue jeans, although jean formerly denoted a different, lighter, cotton fabric. The contemporary use of the word comes from the French word for Genoa, Italy. Denim has been used in the USA since the mid 19th century, denim initially gained popularity in 1873 when Jacob W. Davis, a tailor from Nevada, manufactured the first pair of “rivet-reinforced” denim pants. His concept for making reinforced jeans was inspired when a female customer requested a pair of durable, when Davis was about to finish making the denim jeans, he saw some copper rivets lying on a table and used the rivets to fasten the pockets. At this time, clothes for Western labourers, such as teamsters, surveyors, soon, the popularity of denim jeans began to spread rapidly and Davis was overwhelmed with requests. He soon sold 200 pairs to workers in need of heavy work clothing, nevertheless, because of the production capacity in his small shop, Davis was struggling to keep up with the demand. He then wrote a proposal to the dry goods wholesaler Levi Strauss & Co. that had been supplying Davis with bolts of denim fabric. Davis’s proposal was “to patent the design of the rivet-reinforced denim pant, with Davis listed as inventor, in exchange for certain rights of manufacture”. Levi Strauss & Co. was so impressed by the possibilities for profit in the manufacture of the garment that they then hired Davis to be in charge of the mass-production in San Francisco, dry or raw denim is denim that is not washed after having been dyed during production. Over time, dry denim will usually fade, which is considered desirable by some people, during the process of wear, fading will usually occur on those parts of the article that receive the most stress. On a pair of jeans, this includes the upper thighs, the ankles, after being made into an article of clothing, most denim articles are washed to make them softer and to reduce or eliminate shrinkage. In addition to being washed, washed denim is sometimes artificially distressed to produce a worn look, much of the appeal of artificially distressed denim is that it resembles dry denim which has faded. In jeans made from dry denim, such fading is affected by the body of the person who wears them and this process creates what many enthusiasts feel to be a look more natural than artificially distressed denim. To facilitate the natural distressing process, some wearers of dry denim will abstain from washing their jeans for more than six months, most dry denim is made with 100% cotton and comes from several different countries
26.
Juventus Football Club
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Juventus Football Club S. p. A. colloquially known as Juve, is a professional Italian association football club based in Turin, Piedmont. The clubs fan base is larger than any other Italian football club and is one of the largest worldwide, support for Juventus is widespread throughout the country and abroad, mainly in countries with a significant presence of Italian immigrants. Juventus is the most successful club in Italian football and one of the most awarded globally, Juventus were founded as Sport-Club Juventus in late 1897 by pupils from the Massimo DAzeglio Lyceum school in Turin, but were renamed as Foot-Ball Club Juventus two years later. The club joined the Italian Football Championship during 1900, during this period the team wore a pink and black kit. Juventus first won the championship in 1905 while playing at their Velodrome Umberto I ground. By this time the colours had changed to black and white stripes. There was a split at the club in 1906, after some of the staff considered moving Juve out of Turin, President Alfred Dick was unhappy with this and left with some prominent players to found FBC Torino which in turn spawned the Derby della Mole. Juventus spent much of this period steadily rebuilding after the split, fiat owner Edoardo Agnelli gained control of the club in 1923, and built a new stadium. This helped the club to its second scudetto in the 1925–26 season beating Alba Roma with a score of 12–1. With star players such as Raimundo Orsi, Luigi Bertolini, Giovanni Ferrari, Juventus moved to the Stadio Comunale, but for the rest of the 1930s and the majority of the 1940s they were unable to recapture championship dominance. After the Second World War, Gianni Agnelli was appointed honorary president, the club added two more league championships to its name in the 1949–50 and 1951–52 seasons, the latter of which was under the management of Englishman Jesse Carver. Two new strikers were signed during 1957–58, Welshman John Charles and Italo-Argentine Omar Sívori and that season saw Juventus awarded with the Golden Star for Sport Excellence to wear on their shirts after becoming the first Italian side to win ten league titles. In the same season, Sívori became the first ever player at the club to win the European Footballer of the Year, the following season they beat Fiorentina to complete their first league and cup double, winning Serie A and Coppa Italia. Boniperti retired in 1961 as the top scorer at the club, with 182 goals in all competitions. During the rest of the decade, the won the league just once more in 1966–67, The 1970s, however. Under former player Čestmír Vycpálek, they won the scudetto in 1971–72 and 1972–73, with such as Roberto Bettega, Franco Causio. During the rest of the decade, they won the league twice more, the Trapattoni era was highly successful in the 1980s, the club started the decade off well, winning the league title three more times by 1984. This meant Juventus had won 20 Italian league titles and were allowed to add a golden star to their shirt
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Michelin stars
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Michelin Guides are a series of guide books published by the French company Michelin for more than a century. The acquisition or loss of a star can have effects on the success of a restaurant. Michelin also publishes a series of guides to countries. In 1900, fewer than 3,000 cars graced the roads of France, four years later, in 1904, the brothers published a guide to Belgium similar to the Michelin Guide. The brothers subsequently introduced guides for Algeria and Tunisia, the Alps and the Rhine, Germany, Spain, and Portugal, the British Isles, in 1909, the Michelin Guide for France saw its first English-language version published. During the First World War, publication of the guide was suspended, after the war, revised editions of the guide continued to be given away until 1920. The companys website recounts the story that André Michelin, visiting a tire merchant, based on the principle that man only truly respects what he pays for, the brothers decided to charge a price for the guide, which was about 750 francs or $2.15 in 1954. They also made changes, notably, listing restaurants by specific categories, the debut of hotel listings. In 1926, the guide began to award stars for fine dining establishments, initially, there was only a single star awarded. Then, in 1931, the hierarchy of zero, one, finally, In 1936, the criteria for the starred rankings were published, A very good restaurant in its category, Excellent cooking, worth a detour, Exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey. In 1931 the cover of the guide was changed from blue to red, publication of the annual guide resumed on 16 May 1945, a week after VE Day. The first Michelin Guide to Italy was published in 1956 and it awarded no stars in the first edition. In 1974, the first guide to Britain since 1931 was published, in November 2005 Michelin produced its first American guide, concentrating on New York, covering 500 restaurants in the citys five boroughs and 50 hotels. In 2007 a Tokyo Michelin Guide was launched, in the same year the guide introduced a magazine, Étoile. In 2008 a Hong Kong and Macau volume was added to the list of Michelin Guides, the Michelin website in 2013 notes that the guide is published in 14 editions covering 23 countries and sold in nearly 90 countries. In 2008 the German restaurateur Juliane Caspar was appointed editor-in-chief of the French edition of the guide and she had previously been responsible for the Michelin guides to Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. She became the first woman and first non-French national to occupy the French position, Red Guides have historically listed many more restaurants than rival guides have done, relying on an extensive system of symbols to describe each establishment in as little as two lines. Reviews of starred restaurants also include two to three culinary specialities, recently, short summaries have been added to enhance descriptions of many establishments
28.
Teatro alla Scala
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La Scala is an opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was known as the Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala. The premiere performance was Antonio Salieris Europa riconosciuta, most of Italys greatest operatic artists, and many of the finest singers from around the world, have appeared at La Scala during the past 200 years. The theatre is regarded as one of the opera and ballet theatres in the world and is home to the La Scala Theatre Chorus, La Scala Theatre Ballet. The theatre also has a school, known as the La Scala Theatre Academy. La Scalas season traditionally opens on 7 December, Saint Ambroses Day, all performances must end before midnight, and long operas start earlier in the evening when necessary. La Scala also hosts the Accademia dArti e Mestieri dello Spettacolo and its goal is to train a new generation of young musicians, technical staff, and dancers. A fire destroyed the theatre, the Teatro Regio Ducale, on 25 February 1776. The neoclassical architect Giuseppe Piermarini produced a design but it was rejected by Count Firmian. A second plan was accepted in 1776 by Empress Maria Theresa, the new theatre was built on the former location of the church of Santa Maria alla Scala, from which the theatre gets its name. The church was deconsecrated and demolished, and over a period of two years the theatre was completed by Pietro Marliani, Pietro Nosetti and Antonio and Giuseppe Fe. The theatre had a total of 3,000 or so seats organized into 678 pit-stalls and its stage is one of the largest in Italy. Building expenses were covered by the sale of palchi, which were decorated by their owners. La Scala soon became the preeminent meeting place for noble and wealthy Milanese people, in the tradition of the times, the platea had no chairs and spectators watched the shows standing up. The orchestra was in sight, as the golfo mistico had not yet been built. Above the boxes, La Scala has a gallery—called the loggione—where the less wealthy can watch the performances, the gallery is typically crowded with the most critical opera aficionados, known as the loggionisti, who can be ecstatic or merciless towards singers perceived successes or failures. As with most of the theatres at that time, La Scala was also a casino, conditions in the auditorium, too, could be frustrating for the opera lover, as Mary Shelley discovered in September 1840, At the Opera they were giving Otto Nicolais Templario. La Scala was originally illuminated with 84 oil lamps mounted on the palcoscenico, to prevent the risks of fire, several rooms were filled with hundreds of water buckets
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William Wegman (photographer)
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William Wegman is an American artist best known for creating series of compositions involving dogs, primarily his own Weimaraners in various costumes and poses. Wegman originally intended to pursue a career as a painter and he received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Massachusetts College of Art in 1965 and a Master of Fine Arts degree in painting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1967. By the early 70s, Wegmans work was being exhibited in museums, while he was in Long Beach Wegman got his dog, Man Ray, with whom he began a long and fruitful collaboration. Man Ray, known in the art world and beyond for his endearing deadpan presence, became a figure in Wegmans photographs. In 1982, Man Ray died, and was named Man of the Year by the Village Voice and it was not until 1986 that Wegman got a new dog, Fay Ray, and another collaboration began marked by Wegmans extensive use of the Polaroid 20 x 24 camera. He appeared on The Colbert Report in 2010, Wegman is the author of numerous books for children, including the New York Times bestseller Puppies. His latest childrens book, Flo & Wendell, is published with Dial Books for Young Readers and his work has also been a popular success, and have appeared in books, advertisements, films, as well as on television programs like Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live. The show, entitled William Wegman, Funney/Strange, explored 40 years of his work in all mediums and he is represented by Marc Selwyn Fine Art in Los Angeles and Sperone/Westwater in New York City. Flock and Mooselook, Maine Turnpike Authority murals Photographic murals installed in northbound and southbound Kennebunk Service Plazas in Kennebunk, acadia, Maine Turnpike Authority murals Photographic mural installed at the West Gardiner Service Plaza in West Gardiner, Maine. Ready and Howdy, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Art in Transit Program LEnfant Plaza Metro Station, Fay Ray starred in segments like Old McFay Counts to 40. In February 1996, descendants Battina, Crooky, Chundo, Wegman told Entertainment Weekly, They are only maybe 30 seconds at a time. The rest of the time sitting around, rather blasé about life. Segments include, Old McFay Counts to 40 - Old McFay counts 40 lemons, some limes, Dog Alphabet - The dogs form all the letters of the alphabet and some of the letters they make get their own sketches. Featured Dog Letters - A, B, E, H, J, K, L, M, P, T, V, W and X Dog Numbers - The dogs form the numbers 1 to 9 then count backwards from 9 to 0. Texts by Martin Filler, Amy Hempel, Susan Orlean, Bob Elliott, Robert Krulwich, texts by Kevin Salatino, Diana Tuite, and Wegman. Texts by Joan Simon and Wegman, how Do You Get to MOMAQNS. Text by Wegman and Ingrid Sischy, field Guide to North America and to Other Regions, French-language edition, Le Havre, France, Editions Flux,2004. Translation by Heather Allen and Pierre Guislain, William Wegman, Paintings, Drawings, Photographs, Videotapes
30.
Lardini
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Lardini Srl is an Italian fashion house founded in 1978. The company was founded by the Lardini family in 1978 and it is famous for manufacturing mens tailoring for brands Dolce & Gabbana, Salvatore Ferragamo, Versace, Valentino, Etro and Burberry. Lardini produces a ready to wear tailoring line, which is retailed at its showroom in Milan, luigi Lardini is its current creative director, his garments can be distinguished by a signature lapel flower constructed from wool. The company produces 1,600 garments per day at its headquarters in Filottrano and it exports 60% of its annual production. Since 1978 Lardini has opened four boutiques, Milan, Moscow, Baku, Lardini garments are also sold in Genoa and Chiavari. Lardini ready to mens suits retail at between €1,500 to €3,000. Made to measure suits can cost more than €3,000, brioni Kiton Armani Canali Corneliani Bottega Veneta Brunello Cucinelli Made in Italy
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Corneliani
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Corneliani is an Italian menswear manufacturer best known for its suits and sportcoats. Its revenue in 2015 was €110 million, in June 2016, Arab investment group Investcorp acquired a majority stake in Corneliani for an enterprise value of about $100 million. The family-owned firm stretches back to the 1930s when Alfredo Corneliani, set up a business making raincoats and coats. Alfredos sons Claudio and Carlalberto later set up Corneliani S. p. A. in Mantua in 1958, in 1985 the company set up Corneliani USA Inc. in New York to distribute its ranges throughout the US and Canada. In 1997 Corneliani opened its store in Via Montenapoleone, in Milan. In 2005 Corneliani received the Leonardo Prize for Quality, awarded by the President of Italy to Italian companies which promote Italian-made goods, in 2008 Corneliani opened a mono-brand boutique on London’s New Bond Street. In 2012 Corneliani Shanghai Ltd was founded and in 2013 a directly-owned flagship store in Shanghai was opened, in 1991 Carlalberto Corneliani, Group President, was awarded the Cavaliere del Lavoro honour for captains of industry by the President of Italy. Official website Corneliani runway photos in Vogue Brioni Kiton Armani Bottega Veneta Brunello Cucinelli Made in Italy Ermenegildo Zegna
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Isaia
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Isaia is an Italian menswear brand founded in Naples in 1920. The brand is recognized by its tiny red coral logo, which is a charm in Naples. It has monobrand stores in Naples, Baku, Beverly Hills, Capri, Ekaterinburg, Hong Kong, Kiev, Macao, Milan, Moscow, New York City, St. Petersburg, and Tokyo. Its brother brand is Eidos, launched in 2013 by ISAIA Napoli Creative Director Antonio K. Ciongoli, Isaia was founded in Naples by Enrico Isaia, who opened a fabric store for Neapolitan tailors, and later a small atelier next to the store. Enrico Isaia died at age 84 on 7 March 2017, in Naples, its believed that red coral sprang from mythical origins. As the legend goes, the Greek hero Perseus killed the Gorgon Medusa and wanted to deliver her head as a present to the King of Seriphos. On his way home, he saw the beautiful Andromeda chained to a rock, wanting to save her life, he killed the beast and then sat on the bank of the water to wash his hands. When he set the sack with Medusa’s head besides him, her blood dripped into the water, for this, Neapolitans consider red coral a sign of good luck, and they use it in everything from pendants to religious ornaments to jewelry. Lardini Boglioli Corneliani Ermenegildo Zegna Brunello Cucinelli Kiton
