Tropea

Tropea is the ideal tourist town in southern Italy. Crumbling, rustic charm built on a cliff overlooking a sandy beach and the clear blue waters of the Mediterranean sea.

As you would expect, there are bars, restaurants and shops catering for the tourist trade and the town itself is very photogenic, if a little small.

The surprising thing for me was that the town, as pretty as it is, was ever considered for a UNESCO listing at all. There are very few sights of cultural significance, the Wikipedia entry doesn't list any, in fact.

In 2021, Tropea was voted, most beautiful village in Italy, which also surprised me. As I mentioned, it is charming and rustic in the way only Italian places can be, but put it on the Italian Riviera and you would probably give it a miss.