An abandoned building that once tightened a power line that stretched across Messina Strait.

The link between these two seemingly disparate themes is crucial to the history of this Tuscan hill town.

Tourists to the mountaintop Sicilian town often overlook its ancient fortifications.

Italy's "New Mountain" rose from the ground in a volcanic eruption in 1538.

Dynamite factory turned museum explores the history of explosives.

Built on a medieval synagogue, this church has a burial crypt, tunnel system, and Jewish ritual bath hiding deep underneath.

A rather vulgar example of the transition from Latin to the Italian vernacular.

A lonesome Moai stands in a small Italian town some 9,000 miles away from its Easter Island brethren.

Production site for handmade clay bricks.

A long-buried ancient ruin unearthed right in the middle of the city.

Skulls and skeletons are omnipresent in this church dedicated to souls trapped in purgatory.

Once an ancient Roman bath, now a hotbed of geothermal energy and a hub for energetic innovations.

A single column facing the sea is all that's left of one of the most important temples of Magna Graecia.

The abandoned ruins of a failed resort hide on this verdant, picture-perfect island.

Suffocating dogs was a common spectacle in the fumes of this noxious cave.

Something's missing between the arcades of the Palazzo della Ragione in "the city of the three withouts."

The sunlight passing through the opening of this huge cave system creates a magical effect.

Buried next to Pompeii, this lesser-known Roman villa was the opulent vacation home of Emperor Nero's wife.

This tiny islet has somehow housed an ancient temple, two monasteries, a church, a fortress, and a restaurant.

An abandoned bell tower in the middle of nowhere is the last testimony of a forgotten medieval village.

This skeletal, unfinished Gothic church once housed a miraculous masterpiece by Raphael.

There once was a man named Lear / Who found limericks so dear / His final resting space / Is an unusual place / Most people don’t know he’s here.

Old batteries and frog skeletons reside in this lakeside monument to Alessandro Volta.

This park on the outskirts of Rome boasts two ancient Roman aqueducts and a medieval tower.