12 of the Most Beautiful Paintings of Italy

Ippolito Caffi, Venice in the Snow

There is a reason people have flocked to la bel Paese as part of their Grand Tour in the nineteenth century and are still doing it today. Tourists gather en masse in hopes of discovering the romance, history and beauty of Italy. Blame the artists. That's right, the romantic movement in art filled the salons, galleries and the homes of the elite (who could actually afford a "Grand Tour" for a year or more) and in essence promoted the beauty of Italia.  Here are a dozen of what I consider the most beautiful and romantic of this type of painting... who wouldn't want to travel to Italy after seeing the grandeur?

Gulf of Naples by moonlight by Ajvazovskij

Ponte Rotto by Hubert Robert

River Beggers by Caneletto 1780

View of the canal channel from the Ponte San Marco, by Giuseppe Canella - 1834

Ragusa, Sicily by Emil Jakob Schindler

Fireworks in Naples by Oswald Achenbach

The Shipment, by Segantini Giovanni

View from the Ponte Vecchio in Florence over the Arno, by Palladini 1862

Rome and Castel Sant Angelo by Silvestr Fedosievich Shchedrin

The Bay of Naples by Aivazovsky 1841

Piazza San Marco, Venice by Canaletto