Italians similarly shrug off the personal shenanigans of politicians that would surely precipitate resignations in shame north of the Alps.

ECONOMIST: Charlemagne

At the beginning of the 17th Century, the Palatinate Library in Heidelberg became the largest and most important collection of books and manuscripts north of the Alps.

BBC: A Point of View: Why didn't Harry Potter just use Google?

In Grossbasel, the Altstadt (Old Town) charms with its 15th- and 16th-century architecture, including many half-timbered houses, a common architectural style in the German-speaking areas (of both Switzerland and Germany) north of the Alps.

BBC: Undiscovered Basel

We settled in Verona, where the Alps peter out in the north Italian plain, a small, elegant, conservative city, unquestioningly Catholic and immensely proud of its huge Roman arena and frescoed Renaissance piazzas.

NEWYORKER: Booted

If Berliners do escape they either go farther, to the Alps and the Med, or they go north to the Mecklenburger Seeenplatte, which boasts over 1, 000 lakes for sailing, canoeing, cycling or touring by paddle-steamer.

ECONOMIST: Our former Frankfurt correspondent looks back

As things stood until recently, an unhealthy sort of system linked northern and southern Europe, with subsidies and tourist euros from the north helping to mask and preserve dysfunctional politics and sclerotic societies south of the Alps.

ECONOMIST: History��s most important sea