Tampa is a stunningly beautiful, warm, friendly, exciting, historic, culturally-rich, progressive city. Surrounded by beautiful, blue Bay waters, Tampa explodes with art, nightlife, sports, and a booming business climate. Tampa has a very metropolitan feel, and is the largest media market in Florida, even bigger than Miami.  It leads the nation in so many areas of growth and quality of life, they all cannot be listed, but here's a few of the most significant that speak to Tampa's prowess as an up-and-coming, international, cosmopolitan city. Tampa International Airport is a wonder of modern, efficient, aeronautic science that is consistently recognized as the nation's best airport and number 3 in the world. Tampa has a deep, rich history, and Ybor City is the largest historic district dating back to the late 1800s where Cuban cigar rollers worked by the tens of thousands to make Tampa the cigar capital of the world, and produced the most recognizable cigar of all time, the "Hav-A-Tampa." Tampa boasts some of the best restaurants in Florida, and Bern's Steak House is a global standout with the largest wine list of any restaurant anywhere on the globe. Moorish and Spanish design combine to form the spectacular University of Tampa which was originally H.B. Plant's riparian, architectural masterpiece known in the early 1900s as the luxurious, European-influenced Tampa Bay Hotel. The port of Tampa is top 5 in the nation and supplies the entire southeast with food, phosphorus, construction materials and more. USF is the ninth largest  university in the US, and was recently named one of the top 50 research universities in the country, joining the likes of Harvard, Yale, and Northwestern. The USF football, baseball, soccer, and basketball teams have quickly joined the ranks of the college elite. Wanna party? This town will rock your socks.  Tampa is home to the third largest parade in America, the 108 year old Gasparilla Pirate Invasion, which welcomes one million people in pirate garb. Known regionally as the big guava, Tampa is home to Guavaween and the Mama Guava stumble ~ a massive, debaucherous, Halloween street party. Luxury living is key in Tampa, and historic neighborhoods including Hyde Park and Seminole Heights offer walking tours of homes of distinction. New Tampa is a booming, exclusive neighborhood to the north where price tags for homes begin in the millions. Bayshore Boulevard is Tampa's showpiece, lined with multi-million dollar homes and bordered by the world's longest continuous sidewalk where the sexiest people run, walk and bike. Tampa's new Museum of Art is a stunning architectural gem that could sit in NYC and the first museum in Florida to exhibit Degas. Major corporations are discovering Tampa's power work force and prime business climate, opening headquarters and technology centers throughout the city. Tampa is considered one of the best sports and leisure cities in the US, home to world champions.  Professional football, baseball, hockey and arena sports are all located within the metro area, plus exceptional recreational and water activities cannot be matched. If you like to shop in style, Tampa offers high-end sophisticated stores at International Plaza, Westshore, Wiregrass, and Old Hyde Park Village.  And just a quick drive across the Bay, the world frolics on our powder-soft white sand beaches, recognized as some of the best and most beautiful in the world. Tampa really has little competition when you add it all up. When you want it all, you come to Tampa. Feel the BOOM!  ~ Charles Billi