"Things were very bad then, there was nothing to sell in any of the cafes, but Mr Diaz-Canel got them working again, " Santa Clara resident Antonio Valdes recalls.

BBC: Miguel Diaz-Canel: The man tipped to lead Cuba

For more than six centuries, the brilliantly frescoed walls of Florence's Basilica of Santa Croce functioned as what its current rector, Father Antonio Di Marcantonio, calls "medieval PowerPoint": scenes from the Bible and saints' lives illustrating the sermons that Franciscan friars preached to largely illiterate congregations.

WSJ: A Heavenly View From On High | Basilica of Santa Croce | Agnolo Gaddi | By Francis X. Rocca