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

Nestled in the heart of Milan is a real wunderkammer of morbid curiosities.

The small peaceful island off the Venice tourist circuit is where the city began more than 1,500 years ago.

Two very green residential towers cleaning the air in one of Europe's most polluted cities.

This shining multicolored metro station deep under Naples is said to be the most beautiful in Europe.

Venice's island of the dead.

Walk through a fairytale in Tuscany.

A Milanese café entirely designed by the American director Wes Anderson.

One of the world’s smallest bars, just 13 square feet, is brimming with speakeasy flair.

These "anatomical machines" are only one of the many strange items in this Italian crypt.

Skulls from the plague of 1656 and World War II bombings are united by a cult dedicated to caring for the ancient dead.

An ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.

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

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.

This quaint Italian town keeps losing ground as the sides of its plateau slowly erode.

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.

A dreamlike medieval church dug into the tuff rock, with unusual carvings and possible traces of the Templar knights.

Gigantic mosaic sculptures of the figures on Tarot cards fill this colorful Tuscan garden.

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

These gutted monastery ruins still stand proudly in the middle of the Italian countryside.

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

A copy of the famous statue can be found in this Florence piazza, along with one of the most breathtaking views of the city below.

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