Salerno, Italy

Salerno sits on the Tyrrhenian Sea in southern Italy and is home to roughly 133,000 residents. The city hosted the Schola Medica Salernitana, the world's first medical school, founded around the 9th century. The 1075 Salerno Cathedral holds the marble pulpit above the tomb where Pope Gregory VII was buried in 1085. Above the city, the 8th-century Arechis Castle stands on the 300-meter Bonadies hill with panoramic views of the coastline. The 3-kilometer Trieste seafront promenade was rebuilt by the Bourbons, and in 1943 the Allied Operation Avalanche landings near the city brought 190,000 troops ashore.