When a massive landslide hit one of the world's tallest dams it created a tragic environmental disaster.

This deconsecrated church has seen many uses, from a tobacco storehouse to a cinema.

A medieval, mosaic-lined baptistry built by a heretical Christian sect.

The pile of books behind the dignified writer gave the statue a most undignified nickname.

Psychoanalyst Carl Jung reported a paranormal experience after visiting this mosaic-lined Roman baptistry.

The 1,000-year-old abbey is the birthplace of modern musical notation.

An incredible mosaic-lined monument said to have held the remains of an ancient Roman empress.

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

This 6th-century church has the largest and best-preserved collection of Byzantine mosaics outside Constantinople.

According to tradition this is the oldest church in Venice, but its actual age is a mystery.

In the past, Renaissance sex workers were encouraged to entice customers on this bridge.

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

Centuries ago, red and white wine poured from the statue's breasts whenever a new Venetian ruler was elected.

This Roman statue is missing a limb from when the Venetians stole it from Constantinople during the Crusades.

The only museum with its curator—and her pets—buried inside.

Where Venice's gondolas go for a tune-up.

Originally a leper colony, the island is now an Armenian monastery that's home to an incredible manuscript library and eclectic museum.

Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.

A popular legend claims that the famous pizza was invented at a restaurant in this alley.

Italian poet Dante Alighieri is entombed in this small mausoleum in Ravenna, and his hometown of Florence has never been too happy about it.

An open-air museum in a mountain valley features works designed to blend in with—and disintegrate back into—their natural surroundings.

One of the world's oldest working clocks is curiously missing the Zodiac sign of Libra.

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

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