Little man in a big world, eight-year-old Calogero Amoroso shows off his double-breasted best for a wedding in Sciacca. Once known for its large families, Italy now has the industrialized world's lowest birthrate. Sicily's rate, though higher than that of the nation as a whole, has fallen by almost half since 1950. Sicilian women today have an average of 1.7 children.
—From "Italy Apart—Sicily," August 1995, National Geographic magazine
Trapped in the myth of her beauty, Venice beguiles and remains elusive. See why this city has held such sway over artists and romantics for centuries in this gallery.
Welcome to Rome! Once the heart of an empire that spread across all of Europe, the legacy of this ancient city lives on in spectacular ruins and enduring works of art.
Suspended between heaven and earth, Toledo—Spain's spiritual heart—still retains the same classic charm that lured the famous painter El Greco to the area in the 1570s.
Like one of Cézzane's impressionist paintings stirred to life by summer winds, Provence is a place where even the simplest of landscapes can turn suddenly sublime.
