San Francisco or “Frisco” is one of the most beautiful cities in the USA. Some people call it the “Paris of the Pacific”. Among the most densely populated cities in the country, San Francisco is part of the San Francisco Bay metropolitan area. The city is located at the tip of the San Francisco Peninsula, with the Pacific Ocean to the west, San Francisco Bay to the east, and the Golden Gate to the north. In 1776 the Spanish settled in this area and founded a mission for Saint Francis of Assisi. Yet the city developed when the so-called “forty-niners” (pioneers of 1849) arrived here in search of gold in the Sacramento river. In 1850 its population amounted to 30,000 people, ten years later to 60,000 and at the end of the 19th century to 400,000 people. In the terrible earthquake and fire of 1906 over 28,000 buildings were destroyed. The city was rebuilt, but another earthquake, in 1989, caused several damages. After the second World War, massive immigration, liberalizing attitudes and other factors gave rise to the Summer of Love and the gay rights movement. Today San Francisco is an international city with about 700,000 inhabitants. Half of them are first-or-second generation immigrants from Europe and above all from Asian countries. San Francisco’s Chinatown is the second largest Chinese community in the States.
Its landmarks include the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz Island, the cable cars, Chinatown, its steep rolling hills, and its eclectic mix of Victorian and modern architecture. The city is also known for its diverse, cosmopolitan population, including large and long-established Asian-American community.
ALCATRAZ
Once a military base, Alcatraz became a prison in 1933. Several of the most notorious criminals in history, including Al Capone, were imprisoned here. Since 1972 the island of Alcatraz has been a natural parkland. It is possible to take a tour of the prison as well.
CLIMATE
A quotation attributed to Mark Twain is "The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco." San Francisco's climate is characteristic of California’s Mediterranean climate with mild, wet winters and dry summers. The combination of cold ocean water and the high heat of the California mainland create the city's characteristic fog that can cover the western half of the city all day during spring and early summer.
