Generally the villages are not picturesque – comprising scatters of traffic-buffetted old cottages, four-storey modern flats and haciendas bristling with Juliet balconies and electric gates – but the wider rural<br />landscape still looks like Pinturrichio or Giovanni di Paulo. In the afternoon the low dazzling light makes the contours and woods glow; especially delightful in historic towns where the setting sun catches the west fronts of churches, accentuating the sculptural details.
