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Alto Adige residents must declare their first language: choices include Italian (26.5%), German (69%), and Ladin (4%). There is a German-speaking majority in over 100 of the 116 communes. Tourists can enjoy the two cultures.

Caldaro (Kaltern), population about 7500, annually attracts over 400,000 tourists. Its architecture combines Italian Renaissance and German Gothic elements as exemplified in the historic Church of Santa Caterina in the town center. The Caldero Lake claims to be the warmest in the Alps and is enjoyable from May to September. Visit the Provincial Wine Museum located in a princely manor.

The horticultural center of Naturno (Naturns), whose population is about five thousand, boasts the Seventh Century Church of San Procolo with frescoes among the oldest in the German-speaking world. Then drive west to Reinhold Messner’s Thirteenth Century Castel Juval. Messner was the first person to climb Mount Everest solo and the first to climb it without additional oxygen.

The capital Bolzano (Bozen), population about 100,000 people, many German speaking, but mostly Italian speakers. The South Tyrol Archeological Museum’s star attraction is Oetzi, the more than five thousand year old iceman discovered in Italy near the Austrian border in 1991. The Gothic Duomo (Cathedral) was built in the period from the Twelfth to Fourteenth Centuries. The city has many old churches, two main squares, and a beautiful promenade skirting vineyards on the edge of the city, and along the river in the middle of town.

Cortina d’Ampezzo is a rather posh winter resort. Cortina was supposed to host the 1944 Winter Olympics but because of World War II had to wait until 1956. Known as “The Pearl of the Dolomites,” it sits in a meadow about 4000 feet (1.2 kilometers) above sea level, surrounded by mountains. Cortina was the site of many popular films including The Pink Panther and For Your Eyes Only.

Alto Adige cuisine tends to be Austro-Tyrolean. Popular foods include wursts, cabbage dishes, dumplings, and potatoes. Pork is big, especially Speck, Austrian smoked ham. The San Leonardo, a blend of Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot, is said to be quite good but it does not come cheap.

This prominent style is very feminine, chic, sleek and sexy, thus very pleasing to the eye. It is dearest to those women, want to show off their skin and deserve so. This is a very revealing type of dress and is very popular among the young women. While wearing this dress, you have to follow some guidelines.

First very important thing associated with strapless dress is its fit. Just imagine your item is loose in fitting and you have to pull it up again and again in a public place, how cheap it will look. On the other hand, if it is too tight, it is going to look and feel uncomfortable. Its grip should be good enough to hold top of your bust firmly. Keep it loose enough through the hips and thighs to walk comfortably.

Second important thing is your bra that gives your dress a proper fit. Regular bras tend to slip with movement. Long-line strapless bra is a good solution. It extends till the waist and provides more structure to prevent slippage. You can also pin the bra to the inside of your dress to keep it in place.

It’s not possible to wear strapless dress in every place due to its revealing nature. Such places include church, religious ceremony, funeral etc. But still if you want to wear strapless dress only, wear it with wrap. You can wear blazer, cardigan, stole or shrug above it for hiding.

Do not wear many accessories with strapless dress as it may take away all the show of your dress. Strapless style is so gorgeous in it, that it does not need help of outside sources to enhance it. Thus keep the accessories light and simple. Simple pair of earrings and simple necklace with pendant hanging is enough for it.

Before purchasing a strapless dress wear it for trial and judge it from every angle. Walk around, sit, stand, bend over and lift your arms to make sure the dress fits properly and is comfortable. Definitely you don’t want your breasts to come spilling over the top.

Women with beautiful collarbones and lovely shoulders look dazzlingly beautiful in a strapless dress, highlighting the top of the body. The strapless dress is universally complimentary to most figures. There are different styles in strapless dress like full-length strapless dress, mini strapless dress, knee-length strapless dress, strapless skirt, ruffle strapless dress and so on. Thus women with sexy cleavage, gorgeous shoulders and beautiful collarbones are highly recommended to wear a strapless dress. But it does not look good on women having small busts, large arms, sloping shoulders and undefined collarbones. It makes your figure unappealing and uncomplimentary in it.

This fashionable and sexy style is popping up rapidly everywhere. It also keeps you cool and give you a stylish look in summers. With little accessories and the addition of various wraps it can transform you into a very versatile fashion piece. Just be sure to choose and wear them appropriately.

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Women are born beautiful. We, however, are not perfect. Admittedly, there are still some blemishes that we need to cover up, like a mole, a scar, a birthmark, a pimple, pockets of fat in our body, and other things like that. We are beautiful, but we are not perfect. And so we try to enhance our best features and hide the unflattering ones away.

A usual problem that most women have with their bodies is a bulging belly. Let’s face it: our bodies are made to retain fat for child-bearing purposes, and the fat is usually concentrated on our hips and bellies. There are so many workouts and diets out there that are designed to get rid of the fat in these areas, but it takes time and special effort to cheat the design of Mother Nature. Some of us have succeeded with flattening our bellies, while some have not.

Here are ways to hide that unsightly pocket of fat on your abdomen.

Tops: When choosing the right top, whether it is a blouse, a shirt or a tee, the one thing we have to remember is to avoid those with elastic waists, or those made from Lycra or any stretch fabric. They will only draw the eyes more to those unwanted curves on our torso rather than hide them.

We can also leave the last couple of buttons on our button-down shirts open. It is kind of sexy to look at, and it does not squeeze the belly too much. Also, avoid tucking your tops into your pants. Wearing jackets where the hem ends at the hips will also work wonders in hiding that bulge.

Pants: For slacks, the most flattering ones that will also hide the condition of our bellies are those made of tailored cotton. Zippers should also be at the side; zippers at the front only show unwanted bulge. For jeans, go for the long and lean ones, as well as the straight, narrow or slightly-tapered ones that create the illusion of length for the body.

Skirts: Stay far, far away from flimsy fabrics and pleated skirts . They will only make your pouch and curves more pronounced. Instead, try full skirts, mini-skirts or A-line skirts that can keep your belly in. Semi-stretchable denim skirts work well, too.

Belts. Keep your belts big, wide and chunky. Also, wear them slung around the hips instead of at the waist. Narrow belts will only make the bulge seem bigger.

Hiding your belly with clothes will work well, but if you really want the bulge to go away, do your exercise regularly and rigorously.

The period after 11th century was development and domination of Italian fashion. The development of art was as its peak. Great Italian artists such as Leonardo da Vinci gave one of their best masterpieces. The Italian fashion was also influenced by the art during that period. Great attention was paid to the extravagant dresses. The rich merchants with large amount of money at their disposal were ready to spend lavishly on the expensive clothing. They showed their power and status by competing by dressing extravagantly. Intricate designs with complex fashions were made. Just like modern fashion, no rich tradesman would wear dresses that were out of fashion.

There was increased consumption of highly fashionable cloths with greater stress to the quality of textile cloths. The demand in high quality cloth materials led to manufacture of fine fabrics.

The fabrics worn were patterned and had extremely expensive cloth materials such velvets and brocades. The men\’s garments were short and wide with long robes decorated with ribbons and jewels. Richly decorated hats of different shapes matched their costumes.

The Decline of Italian Fashion

The gothic style which is simpler style became popular in Italy and influenced Italian fashion. The dominance of Spanish fashion led to decline in Italian fashion. The spotlight moved from Italian fashion for next hundreds of years. For centuries, Italian fashion faded away in the world of fashions.

The Revival of Italian Fashion

Post World War II, the Italy exported accessory fashion items and leather goods. It was effort of Florentine Businessman Giovan Battista Giorgini who attempted to bring Italy in the global fashion world.

There was revival of Italian Fashion on 25th February 1951, when Giovan Battista Giorgini held a fashion show in Florence. Giorgini keeping in mind the international audience threw an extravagant party at his villa. He had invited buyers and journalists to cover the show. The models were noble men and women who wore extravagant Italian clothes in the ballroom. Giorgini wanted to show that these expensive clothes are worn by rich influential people with ease. The fashion show became overnight success. In July 1952, Giorgini again organized a fashion show with names such as Capucci, Valentino and Armani became instant success.

Till 1970s the fashion was especially for rich and famous people. With change in time, the Italian fashion concentrated and designed cloths for common man. In 1970s to 1980s, Milan became a fashion landmark and created current trends such as blue jeans and mini skirts which were affordable for common people. The most stylish and trendy dresses were available to common man at a low price.