English writer Aldous Huxley penned an essay in 1925 claiming that “The Resurrection”, a fresco credited to Piero Della Francesca in Sansepolcro was the "greatest painting ever".

"We need no imagination to help us figure forth its beauty,'' Huxley wrote. "It stands there before us in entire and actual splendour, the greatest picture in the world.”

And thanks to obstinate insubordination by an English artillery officer, Thomas Clarke, you can still visit the painting today. Because in WWII Sansepolcro was ordered to be shelled in advance of an infantry strike on the German held town. Clarke, remembering the essay and the place of the painting, delayed his orders long enough for the Germans to flee the city.  He then radioed his commanders to tell them, thus negating the need for the barrage. A barrage that certainly would have leveled the building housing this beautiful fresco.