This sword isn't waiting for a king to pull it out. It was placed there by a saint.

A large grotto built in the 16th century amidst Florence's famous Boboli gardens.

Ruins of a 10th century church tucked away deep in a botanical garden.

Abandoned medieval hill town.

At the crypt of St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead you are left alone to ponder mortality among piles of skulls.

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.

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

As can be expected from a centuries old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.

Rome's semi-secret peephole vista is also a former Crusader stronghold.

According to the local folklore, the myriad colors of this lake are the result of a lovelorn wizard's blunder.

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

Hidden in an Italian forest is a completely homemade amusement park that has taken a lifetime to create.

The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.

The underground sanctuary of a mysterious ancient cult.

Venice's "Island of the Mad."

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

The middle finger of modernity.

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.

Architectureal fantasy quarter of Rome.

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

Stalactites and stalagmites in a beautifully lit cave.

Thousands of well-dressed mummies below a monastery.

Hundreds of lucky felines haunt the ruins where Caesar was murdered.