Tuscany, Italy (Photo: Peter Zelel/Vetta/Getty Images)Everything has beauty, according to Confucius, but not everyone sees it.
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Take even the glorious Taj Mahal, for example—deemed “breathtaking,” “stunning,” and “spectacular” by most TripAdvisor reviewers, but “overrated,” “uninteresting,” and “a disappointment” to others. Who can account for taste?
The most beautiful places in the world.
That’s exactly why attempting to narrow down the most gorgeous spots on the planet is no easy feat—and why we decided to turn to a handful of pros, who have come up with a collection of sumptuous, oft-surprising picks ranging from remote natural wonders to glittering cities:
Tuscany, Italy
“From Piemonte to Sicilia, each of Italy’s regions has its own magic, but hill-town-studded Tuscany (Toscana)—like the timeless location you’ve seen in Merchant-Ivory films—takes the prize,” said Patricia Schultz, author of the best-selling trip bible "1,000 Places to See Before You Die." “The showcase city of Florence is its zenith, but look just beyond the city walls to a painting-perfect campagna of rolling hills blanketed with Chianti vineyards and olive groves, ancient Etruscan sites and history-rich towns like Lucca, Siena, and San Gimignano." Along its less-visited coast, the added surprise of sandy beaches and a sprinkling of islands is a welcome sight (Napoleon spent years of exile on Elba), Schultz adds.
