Built to repay the sins of the father, this church is home to one of the most valuable works of Western art.

This old medieval prison tower has been a site of astronomical research for more than 250 years.

The incorrupt tongue of the patron saint of lost things is venerated in this basilica.

One of the largest squares in Europe contains an entire artificial island.

This Renaissance palace features a unique architectural design and is now home to the Ferrara National Art Gallery.

Time has been frozen at this station since the bombing in 1980—or so it was believed.

Legend has it this fountain built to symbolize the Pope’s power hides a strange secret concerning Neptune's manliness.

The remains of an ancient Roman city are hidden underneath Bologna's beautiful public library.

A large statue of Pope Gregory XIII in Bologna was disguised as Saint Petronius to avoid destruction.

The mummified relic of St. Antoninus.

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

A slightly creepy gallery of plaster cast models in the same museum as Michelangelo's David.

Memorials at a Florence railway station remember the citizens who were deported from Italy and sent to extermination camps.

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

Legend says this mysterious stone head belongs to a woman who was petrified by an alchemist.

The doodles of a genius line the walls of a secret room under the Medici Chapel, where they were hidden for nearly 500 years.

In Florence's great Duomo, a 26 foot fresco honors a mercenary famous for attacking Florence.

This strange bovine gargoyle is said to have been put in as a passive aggressive form of revenge.

A medieval weapon rumored to have been used by the brilliant poet himself.

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

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

The middle finger of modernity.

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

Drink wine handed out through a window as part of an age-old tradition.