Like startled doves, linens and underwear flap in the Mediterranean sun baking old Palermo's rugged Albergheria neighborhood. 'We get angry when it rains,' says a native Palermitan. 'It's an insult, and we take it personally.'
—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.
