From rubble to splendour. How did a small area of Sicily devastated by earthquakes become one of the world's most magical places? The year zero is 1693. On 11 January, a devastating earthquake razed more than 2,000 years of Greek, Byzantine, Arab and Norman history to the ground. What followed was a glorious reconstruction that in just 50 years turned this area, and the Val di Noto in particular, into a treasure trove of refined beauty.

The new buildings had such a distinctive style that it needed a new terminology, late Sicilian Baroque, a UNESCO World Heritage Site that anyone should see at least once in a lifetime. See where? For starters, here are seven places to mark on your map.