During World War II, this rice mill became a Nazi concentration camp.

An open-air museum in a mountain valley features works designed to blend in with—and disintegrate back into—their natural surroundings.

A cave in southern Italy adorned with thousand-year-old Biblical frescoes existed in obscurity until fairly recently.

A 1,000-year-old church holds the bones of the Christian martyrs who died hiding inside it.

Crumbling ruins of the thermal baths that once attracted royals and aristocrats from throughout Europe.

142 ceramic steps become a mosaic once a year.

The mark of the Devil's horns on a marble column in Milan.

Largest necropolis in the Mediterranean.

This former fascist summer camp was abandoned for decades.

What looks like a link in Gondor's early warning system is actually a centuries-old Italian fortress.

Artist Diego Morlin's war between the natural and human worlds is a wanderer's delight.

A gorgeous medieval library where the books are kept in chains.

The top of society once luxuriated in this world-class hotel, which continues to impress, even in ruin.

The mountaintop inspiration for Umberto Eco's "The Name of the Rose."

On the coast of Sardinia, a once-great mining village is finding new life as a coastal resort town.

This natural gas vent certainly earns its name as the smallest volcano in Italy.

Fortified medieval tower house with lovely roof garden.

Southern Italy's spinning top village.

A collection of grotesques lines the walls of this Italian villa.

A madman's personal garden filled with 1,000 sculpted heads.

Italian poet Dante Alighieri is entombed in this small mausoleum in Ravenna, and his hometown of Florence has never been too happy about it.

The Pope’s secret escape route.

These delicate sand pyramids look like naturally occurring gothic spires.

Dramatic sea stacks adorn the coast of this small village on the Adriatic coast.