This is an HDR shot, meaning that I bracketed exposition by 2IL, with the middle shot being "correctly" exposed in matrix mode.
It should be done with a tripod but I didn't have one at that moment, so hand-held. It can work pretty well if focal length is short and speed high. Having a quick camera of course helps (it's a Nikon D50 here, so can probably be better). My point being, it's much better to do it with a tripod but not having one should never be a reason to miss a good HDR opportunity.
The HDR itself was processed in photomatix, with some tone mapping to add the effect. It was further enhanced in photoshop with simple layers & masks to get more contrast in the lower part while not burning the sky.

It was shot in the lovely city of Cividale del Friuli, in Italy, close to Trieste and Venice.

Very nice work Alexandre. I am pretty new to digital photography and really unsure of a lot of things - could you tell me what "bracketed exposition by 2IL" means?

Thanks Sher. Bracketing means taking several times the same picture with different parameters. Here the exposition is changed (actually the speed, because if aperture is modified, so is depth of field, which we don't want). So in this case, three photos were taken: one normally exposed, one with -2IL compensation, and one with +2IL compensation. It is an option of most DSLRs, and perhaps also some high-end compact cameras.
HDR then works by merging all the shots and keeping only the parts that are interesting. This is why I managed to have the sun almost in the frame while still keeping details of the sky and having a correctly exposed foreground.

I hope that helps, don't hesitate to ask if something is still unclear.

I've not tried HDR yet but your image makes the anxious to get out and give it a try.