Villa Altachiara is an exceptional home situated on the Promontory above Portofino, a stunning panoramic spots on the Tigullio Gulf.

The villa, one of the loveliest oasi of charm in the world, belonged to the late rich countess Francesca Vacca Agusta.

Surrounded on three sides by the beautiful Mediterranean Sea, Villa Altachiara perfumes by pine resin mingled with the aroma of the salt sea, flanked by the imperious wild beauty of the waves and the cliffs.

In late 2009, visitors flying into Barcelona will see what looks to be a giant windsail on the coast right next to the entrance to the Port of Barcelona.

Except this windsail is actually the W Hotel Barcelona scheduled to open on October 1, 2009.

The W Hotel Barcelona will be the second W to open in Europe (W Istanbul was the first). But like all Ws it will debut with a bang due to its location right at the foot of the Mediterranean Sea in a building designed by Spain’s most famous architect Ricardo Bofill.

The refined atmosphere of the lifestyle of Sicily’s noble 19th-century families, immortalized in Luchino Visconti’s film “il Gattopardo”, still arouses an authentic, unique charm.

Sicilian countryside, coast and islands are full of real gems that in the past were the Sicilian, noble families’ summer residences.

Today it is possible to live again this enchanted atmosphere suspended in time by going on a holiday in one of the wonderful Sicilian villas. Sicily offers a wide selection of dwellings, surrounded by nature or set on the sea front, that suit the most exigent guests.

Cleopatra’s palace sank long ago into the Mediterranean, but visitors to Alexandria, Egypt, may eventually view the complex’s remnants via the world’s first underwater museum.

A site for the museum has been proposed near the New Library of Alexandria, where the famed queen of Egypt is believed to have sheltered herself with her lover Marc Antony before taking her own life.

In early September the United Nations cultural agency, UNESCO, announced it is funding a team to determine if such a museum would damage the submerged artifacts.