Fortified medieval tower house with lovely roof garden.

The walls and streets of the ancient city are peppered with penises.

Over 100 towers were built in Bologna during the Middle Ages, but only 22 survive.

Thousand-year-old Viking runes adorn an ancient Greek lion at the entrance to the Venetian Arsenal.

Water and windows define this defensive Italian well.

A treasure trove of Renaissance-era funerary art in a Roman church built on top of Nero's grave.

A fake medieval village in the middle of Turin.

Europe’s oldest natural human mummy.

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

A dismembered holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary at the St. Dominic Basilica.

Renaissance hospital featuring a rotating door into which unwanted babies were dropped.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

This picturesque Umbrian city has a subterranean side that has long remained hidden.

More sculpture than building, this architecturally significant temple was built on the spot of Saint Peter's crucifixion.

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.

Filled with goldfish swimming in a shallow pool of sea water, this ancient crypt is more wishing well than burial site.

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.

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

Go inside to really appreciate this 500-year-old technological masterpiece.

A fairy tale castle in modern Rome.

Architectural monsters are devouring this palace's every door and window.

The engineering wonder and pleasure dome of a much-maligned emperor still holds undiscovered secrets.

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

The oldest operating pharmacy in the world features 800-year-old recipes.