Wander around the hotel lobby where a glass floor reveals excavations of the old medieval town; take a seat in an amphitheatre where animal dissections once took place; let yourself be moved by the sounds of the largest pipe organ, still used today to bring silent films to life; take a break in one of the few well-preserved Baroque vaults housing coffins fitted with windows; climb onto a bunker that contained anti-aircraft guns during the Second World War and accept a Russian soldier's invitation to admire it from within; take a dip in one of the most beautiful bathing spots built during Europe's Art Nouveau movement; enjoy a stroll under the Spree river; go see the very first computer (designed by a Berliner) or the first synthesizer of East Germany; scale the mountain of rubble where a Skiing World Cup race was held; station yourself at the peak of the artificial hill where aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal made his first attempts at flight; and grab a bite on the island in the Havel river where Werner von Braun launched his first rocket. Absent from the usual must-see lists despite residing in the heart of the bustling capital, fascinating historical treasures can be found all over Berlin's city centre and its large surrounding neighbourhoods. Take another look and discover the hidden gems eluding those who think they know Berlin inside out.

Autorentext
Born in 1986, Roberto Sassi is an urban sociologist. With Teresa Ciuffoletti, he is the author of the book Guida alla Berlino ribelle (Voland Edizioni, 2017) (Guide to rebellious Berlin, not yet translated). He regularly organises travel writing workshops and works with several journals, magazines among which the journal of the Goethe-Institut Italia, and websites. He lives in Prenzlauer Berg.

Klappentext

**Far from the madding crowds and the usual clichés, Berlin remains full of hidden treasures that can only be seen by locals and travellers who bother to wander off the beaten track.

An essential guide for those who thought they knew Berlin, or for those who wish to discover the city’s other side.**

An amphitheatre where animals were dissected, a sand dune hidden in a town centre, the oldest forgotten remains of the Berlin Wall in Pankow, the outstanding interior of an Expressionist church, a building which is a copy of the Farnese Palace in Rome, the remains of a camp for those in transit between the West and East, a concrete construction weighing 12,000 tonnes built to measure the solidity of the ground, a shining performance in the chapel of a cemetery, an unknown masterpiece of brutalist architecture, the man-made hill where the aviation pioneer Otto Lilienthal did his first test flights, a street that closes from 10pm to 6am to protect beavers …

Far from the madding crowds and the usual clichés, Berlin remains full of hidden treasures that can only be seen by locals and travellers who bother to wander off the beaten track.

An essential guide for those who thought they knew Berlin, or for those who wish to discover the city’s other side.