The Bucket List

Four hours drifting past the karst peaks on the back of the 20-yuan note, with cormorant fishermen and water buffalo on the banks.

Gaudi’s hillside park of mosaic dragons, twisted stone colonnades and a serpentine bench overlooking Barcelona.

Paris’s 850-year-old Gothic cathedral, reopened after the 2019 fire with its spire and oak roof rebuilt by hand.

Benigni's bittersweet fable of a father shielding his son from the horror of a concentration camp

Step inside the best-preserved Roman building — a 2,000-year-old concrete dome open to the sky

Bite a sandwich of herb-roasted whole suckling pig, crackling and all, from a market van

Try true Ligurian basil pesto, pounded in a mortar, over trofie or trenette pasta

Split open a pouch of mozzarella to spill its molten stracciatella-and-cream centre

Have shavings of the world’s most prized truffle over fresh pasta or egg, in autumn in Piedmont

Shatter the crisp clam-shell layers of Naples’ ricotta-and-semolina breakfast pastry

Crack into a crisp fried shell piped with sweet ricotta — filled to order, never soggy

Spoon up tiny meat-filled pasta knots floating in clear capon broth — Emilia’s Christmas-table soul food

Eggs, pecorino, black pepper and crisp guanciale — and absolutely no cream

Three ingredients, total magic — pasta, pecorino and black pepper emulsified into a glossy Roman sauce

Share a colossal T-bone steak, charred rare over wood — Florence’s carnivore centrepiece

Dig into braised veal shank with gremolata — Milanese comfort food, marrow and all

Eat the real "bolognese" — slow ragù on fresh egg tagliatelle, never on spaghetti

Round off a meal with a fiery grape-pomace spirit — or stir it into your espresso as a caffè corretto

End a meal with an ice-cold shot of lemon liqueur made from the giant sfusato lemons of the coast

Drink the Black Rooster wine where it’s made — among vineyards and castles between Florence and Siena

Sip the "king of wines" among the UNESCO vineyard hills of Piedmont, ideally in white-truffle season

The source of Parmigiano-Reggiano and prosciutto di Parma — plus Correggio frescoes and an elegant old town

Sicily’s raucous capital — Arab-Norman mosaics, baroque decay, and the best street food in Italy

Fukuoka’s riverside yatai food stalls serve the original pork-bone ramen — creamy, rich and eaten elbow to elbow with strangers.

Four 18-metre presidential faces carved into a Black Hills granite cliff — best seen at the evening lighting ceremony.

Walk the 1883 suspension bridge’s wooden promenade from Brooklyn into Manhattan, with the skyline rising ahead through the Gothic stone towers.

Manhattan’s 340-hectare green heart — rowboats on the lake, Bethesda Fountain, Strawberry Fields and skyline views from Belvedere Castle.

Experience an authentic Finnish sauna, a tradition dating back thousands of years. Visit the Löyly sauna in Helsinki, a modern architectural marvel with a striking wooden exterior and direct access to the Baltic Sea for a refreshing dip. Alternatively, head to the traditional smoke sauna in Kuopio, where the gentle heat and aroma of smoked wood create a unique atmosphere. Finish with a jump into a frozen lake or roll in the snow for the full Finnish contrast experience, often followed by a round of 'löyly' (steam) thrown on the hot stones. This ritual is a cornerstone of Finnish culture, with over 3 million saunas in a country of 5.5 million people.

The only US territory south of the equator - rainforest ridges, empty beaches on Ofu, and Sunday singing in Pago Pago.