Forbes Magazine

har kåret verdens mest idylliske plasser å bo. Førsteplass går til den greske øyen Patmos, men så:

"Following Patmos at a close second on our list is Lucca, a medieval city within a city in the region of Tuscany, central Italy. It has "all the Tuscan charm of its neighbors Pisa and Tuscany but without the crowds," says Gillian Pearsall, marketing manager at Intrepid Travel. Tour busses are not the norm here: It's "blissfully cut off by its perfectly preserved Renaissance walls," says Schultz.

"This is a quiet, though classy town, with lawyers and housewives peddling the narrow cobblestone streets past thousand-year-old churches and made-in-Italy fashion boutiques," she says, adding that you can visit the outdoor antiques market every month to furnish your Tuscan farmhouse. The larger city of Florence is just 45 miles to the east; both the beach and skiing in Abetone are about an hour away, in opposite directions. Foreigners who buy into the area tend to be professionals from Britain or other parts of Europe, and some of the most sought-after properties are within the walls of the medieval city.

Our Experts:

Charles Smith, U.K. manager of Sotheby's International

Patricia Schultz, author of 1,000 Places To See Before You Die

Lucy White, editor of European titles for Rough Guides

Gillian Pearsall, marketing manager at Intrepid Travel

Several experts at County Homesearch

Amber Medkiff, Travcoa Travel director

An apartment in the epicenter can set you back between 300,000 and 500,000 euros ($428,700 and $714,320), depending on how much restoration needs to be done. It's difficult to find a house there, so a good entry point is to find a property within the walled city for the winter, where you could be sheltered from the cold and not worry about electricity outages. Though if you can find it, a house in the hills just outside the city for the spring and summer would be appealing, but prices range from 500,000 to 800,000 euros ($714,320 to $1.1 million).

Vincent suggests avoiding properties that are being sold by a wave of Brits who invested in the area in the '70s and '80s, and who are now seeking to cash in with high asking prices. A better bet would be a local who is selling an inherited house and isn't as desperate to create a nest egg for retirement."

Så har du bortimot 2 millioner dollar er det bare å slå til - før amerikanerne kommer.