Images from the NatGeo archive evoke the timeless atmosphere of coastal Italy
A night-time view of Santa Maria della Isola sanctuary, off the coast of Calabria in Southern Italy. Built in a Byzantine style, it was built in around the 4th Century and is connected to the mainland via a causeway.
A woman walks residential streets in Portofino, North-western Italy. The town, located on a peninsula south-east of Genoa, is famously picturesque; the iconic pastel colours of its houses are protected by law.
A fisherman rests on the beach at Peschici, in Italy's Foggia province. Located near the so-called 'heel' of Italy, the region faces the Adriatic, with the major port town of Bari nearby.
Manarola is one of the 'Cinque Terre' (five towns) on the Ligurian coast, south-east of Genoa. The region's mix of scenic charisma and cultural preservation earned it UNESCO World Heritage status.
A man rows his boat into the harbour at Portofino, north-west Italy. Italians have some of the longest average life expectancy in the world, with citizens expected to reach on average 82.7 years of age. Many believe this is down to the Mediterranean diet.
A view of Manarola, one of the 'Cinque Terra,' in 1963. Traditionally based around fishing, the proximity to the sea of such cliff-towns makes them vulnerable to weathering – yet many remain remarkably intact and sturdy.
A woman samples local grapes at a wine festival in Riomaggiore, 1961.
Vernazza is another of the Cinque Terra, protected by a sheltered bay and a robust harbour wall. Originally built as a fortified town, the Doria castle was built as a lookout for pirates.
Young people dressed for the evening congregate at the harbourside on the peninsula (once island) of Megaride, Naples. The castle in the background is the Castel Dell'Ovo, the oldest standing fortification in the city, on a site used for defensive purposes since the 6th century BC.
Statues – such as this dancing faun, and the god Pan – from Greek mythology stand above Positano, on the Amalfi Coast south of Naples. Legend has it the town was founded and carved by the sea god Poseidon.
Sunbathers relax beneath the buildings of 'vertical town' Positano, 1959. The glamour of Italy in the 1950s and 1960s transcended throughout the world, popularised by film and fashion, and leading to the period becoming known as Italy's 'Golden Age.'
Three fisherman regard an antique mariners' compass off the coast of Amalfi, 1959.
Astride scooters, young people watch the sunset over the bay of Naples near Sorrento. The popularity of scooters in Italy grew from a practical necessity (with narrow streets and little parking) to a style icon following the arrival of the Vespa in 1946.
'Pizzaiolo' load pizza into a wood-burning oven, Naples. What most of us now know as pizza evolved from Naples, where the local dish was popularised in the 19th century following the visit of Queen Margherita and King Umberto I. Today the queen and the region lend their names to the pizza varieties Napolitana and Magherita.
In Vietri, a port town just to the west of Salerno on the Amalfi Coast, a man and a woman sit astride a scooter in front of a ceramic tile mural. Multi-coloured ceramics have been a product of this region of the Italian coast since the 15th century.
Anchovy fishermen hold lamps by their boats as they cast off at night into the waters of the Amalfi coast, 1959.
