Casimiro de Abreu, Brazil

With a population of just 48,563, Casimiro de Abreu is hardly the bustling hub you might expect from a Brazilian city. The reality is a sleepy backwater where literary dreams often come to die - just ask Casimiro de Abreu himself, the short-lived Romantic poet who fled here to escape tuberculosis only to succumb at the tender age of 21. While he found some success publishing in newspapers, the constant bureaucratic headaches and his father's disapproval of his literary vocation suggest this is hardly an ideal destination for aspiring artists.