Avant garde house of Pierre Cardin on the Cote d’Azur.

An Orthodox church built by the Royal Family for the Russian community exiled to the French Riviera.

This massive blockhead sculpture hides an entire library.

This 16th-century monastery has been turned into a surrealist architecture compound.

A unique Tuscan hideaway acts as an art mecca as well as a hotel.

Ham is serious business at the Prosciutto Museum-Serious, delicious business.

An unusual house built using an iso-elastic membrane.

On rare days, this abandoned castle's gatekeepers open its doors, revealing the eye-popping splendor hidden inside.

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.

A lover's walk between hilltop towns, decorated with graffiti love notes.

These medieval skyscrapers dominate the skyline of this small Tuscan town.

A stunning bridge that appears as if it's lunging to the shore, and has a legend of a devilish architect.

Walk through a fairytale in Tuscany.

The first botanical garden, a feather in the cap of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

This private skyway is filled with art and was expanded explicitly so that Hitler could appreciate a river.

Art and armour fill every inch of this rich kid's Italian villa.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

This Italian stadium makes liberal use of fascist statuary to evoke classical sporting arenas.

A modern sliver of architecture in Roma.

Stone memorial that's said to predict the death of the pope and the site of the Cadaver Synod.

This ritzy Italian market is built around a statue of an unforgiven heretic who was burned for his belief in an endless universe.

This Roman arch marks the location of an ancient gate at one of the Seven Hills of Rome.