This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.

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

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

This giant middle finger statue sends an unambiguous message to Italy's bankers.

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

A labyrinth of ancient tunnels hidden below the city holds the ruins of 2,500 years of history.

Five candy-colored villages on the Italian Riviera.

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

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

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

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

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

The middle finger of modernity.

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

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

Deceased nuns were placed on stone chairs to decompose, while the surviving nuns prayed near the lifeless bodies.