Italy

Italy is a country shaped like a boot kicking a football across the Mediterranean, and it lives up to that dramatic silhouette. From the snow-capped Alps in the north to the sun-baked beaches of Sicily, this is a place where 3,000 years of civilization have left behind more art, architecture, and culinary tradition than most continents combined. It holds the record for the most UNESCO World Heritage Sites of any country on Earth.

The Italian approach to life revolves around quality - slow food, strong coffee, long conversations, and doing a few things extraordinarily well rather than many things quickly. Rome, Florence, Venice, and Naples each feel like separate countries with their own dialects, cuisines, and fierce local pride. Italy was a collection of independent city-states until 1861, and that regional identity still runs deep in everything from how pasta is shaped to which football club you support.