There are two mythical songs from the time when San Francisco and California became a myth for the youth of the West. One of them has the name of the city and the other the name of the state that houses it to which it adds the word dream. San Francisco, California’s dream city, the cradle and goal of freedom, the most diverse and diverse city, probably, in the world. “If you go to San Francisco… you’ll find life and flowers on the streets”…Yes, this is what the rebellious American youth and around the world saw in San Francisco from the hippie movement and the anti-Vietnam War protests of the late last century. It seems that all that is a long way off… but university students and people of all backgrounds made San Francisco the epicenter of a huge cry to fight for equal opportunities and rights to change the planet.Today, there are traces of that scream and claim in San Francisco, and it’s still the freest city in America. A city, moreover, of great beauty, with the Hanging Bridge on its most famous bay in the world, and with places that a traveler, as happened to the one who performs this chronicle, that he can never forget.

San Francisco is an ongoing surprise. For its colorful, its variety of neighborhoods, its steep streets and its mythical trams, which, as we pointed out in another article,they are still the same models that circulated more than 100 years ago on its streets… though, logically, only design, not the same vehicles. Even if the state capital is Sacramento, we could say it really is San Francisco. In fact Sacramento is a few kilometers away and is a much smaller, beautiful city too, but less universal. And the other big Californian city, Los Angeles, is quite a distance south, although there is another mythical place: Hollywood.

But let’s go back to San Francisco, its streets, its neighborhoods… their freedom. Everything breathes freedom in San Francisco, starting with the University of Berkeley, also mythical, where began, as in Paris in Europe, the most important student movement of the twentieth century.

San Francisco is surrounded by small mountains and is located at the tip of a peninsula surrounded by the Pacific Ocean. Apart from the typical elements already mentioned, such as its famous Golden Gate,and the ancient victorian houses near the bay shore are many other attractions. A Singular building, already of the most modern period, is .the Transamerica Pyramid of the Financial District, its most characteristic skyscraper and a true architectural jewel because of its uniqueness.

In the bay, the island of Alcatraz is located, which was the safest and most impregnable prison in America, of which it was practically impossible to escape even though some film has rememored some of his escape attempts. Only one of them had real success throughout the twentieth century. It is now a tourist spot with ferry tours for visitors.

Although the city itself has only one million inhabitants, the entire Metropolitan Area of Bahia is home to more than seven million people and is one of the most prosperous areas in the United States, including the nearby Silicon Valley where the world’s leading technology research centers are, as well as the headquarters of the most prominent IT companies.

Crossing the Golden Gate we find immediately the small adjoining town of Sausalito, a place worth visiting because of the number of artists who live and work there, mainly painters and sculptors. There are also many craft workshops on site.

The History of San Francisco is full of facts engraved in the universal memory of Humanity. Founded in 1776 by Spanish settlers, it was a small town until 1848,already incorporated into the United States, as was all Alta California, formerly territory of Mexico (independent country of Spain twenty-five years earlier) when the gold rush attracted to California people from all over the country. Its growth and prosperity was only hampered by the earthquake of 1906 and the subsequent fire of the city that completely swept it, although it was quickly rebuilt and with greater splendor if possible.During World War II it was the main Base of Operations in the Pacific and the main base of U.S. Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbour in Hawaii.

And now the places you can’t miss in San Francisco; the world’s most steep street, Lombard Street, Twin Peaks Viewpoint Road, Union Square shopping area, in a business district, Chinatown, perhaps the world’s best known and most exotic Chinese neighborhood (to be an authentic Chinese city, with its shops, restaurants and typical buildings), the well-known Victorian houses, called Painted Ladies , in Alamo Park, The Mission District,with colonial buildings of the Hispanic era, perfectly preserved and also known for the Street art of its buildings and for NBA lovers visit the new stadium of Golden State Warriors, Chase Center; Haight Ashbury, the hippie neighborhood par excellence and Fisherman’s Wharf, the old fishing district where you can drink seafood at incredible prices and also enjoy in the evening various and typical musical shows. It is also essential to visit the Castro neighborhood, the birthplace of the LGTBI community of the United States, where you can visit the historic Twin Peaks bar between Market and Castro streets; Golden Gate Park, the most important in San Francisco (which is larger than New York’s Central Park with an area of more than 400 hectares), the City Council, a representation of the architecture of the Beaux Art dating from 1906 and whose dome is higher than that of the CapitolAnd, moreover, it bears an impressive resemblance to the “Invalides” of Paris or the Palace of Fine Arts, work of the architect Bernard Maybeck inspired by Greek-Roman classicism. We also recommend that you enjoy some of the tours proposed, such as visiting Yosemite National Park.

Finally, San Francisco is a city full of charm and diversity. one of the places in the world where the traveller will never find himself alone and bored.A city to live in… and dream.