Florence, Italy 

Despite initial appearances, Florence is no stuck-in-amber Renaissance city, but the fact hat it can seem that way speaks to how well-preserved and significant is from a historical and cultural perspective.

 

Rome, Italy

The city’s main attractions are famous not because of tourist hype, but because they really are that impressive – the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Capitoline Museums. No wonder it is known as the Eternal City.

 

Vienna, Austria

Western music as we know it would be unrecognizable without Austria’s capital, which nurtured talents of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Mahler; plus, local boys Schubert and Strauss. It is also the site of the Vienna Secssion, a revolutionary art movement founded in 1897 by luminaries like Gustav Klimt. Visitors today can see the fruits of that creativity in the city’s 100-odd museums – including the Belvedre and the Museum Moderner Kunst – and hear it at legendary opera houses such as the Staatsoper and Theater an der Wien.