Italian cave with exceptional acoustics and an unsavory history.

A madman's personal garden filled with 1,000 sculpted heads.

Haunting graffiti left by prisoners of the Spanish Inquisition.

This mosaic-lined medieval church was built by the world's first admiral and still holds mass in ancient Greek.

Why a column on the entrance is inscribed with a verse from the Quran is one of Sicily's many mysteries.

Behind medieval walls in a corner of bustling Palermo is a breathtaking former mosque once inhabited by a wolf-taming hermit.

Every inch of this chapel is covered in craftsmanship from across the world.

This triumphal 16th-century arched gateway leads to the oldest street in Palermo.

This Arabesque Italian castle was built with a primitive, if ingenious, air-conditioning system.

Thousands of well-dressed mummies below a monastery.

Abandoned village in Sicily built during the agricultural reforms of Mussolini.

A never-inhabited village that was built as part of Mussolini's agricultural reforms.

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

This futuristic airport terminal was abandoned for decades before reopening as a hotel—with a vintage plane of its own parked out back.

Make a tough dinner decision: Octopus wasabi roulette or bull penis?

This hidden library of physiological ephemera contains centuries worth of knowledge on the vim and viscera of the human body.

Built as a gift to the hottest tastemaker of the time, these hidden quarters remain an Art Deco showpiece.

An oasis of calm amid the chaos of the boardwalk, the museum traces the heritage of this beloved beachside amusement park.

A WWI fighter plane and turn-of-the-century penny candy shop are among the unexpected features of this Financial District building.

The first and only carousel with a lineup entirely of insects.

Hordes of precariously balanced stone figures crowd the shores of the Hudson River.

One of the most enjoyable bits of history at Coney Island and “the most romantic ride in the world.”

During the holidays, a vintage subway train whisks New Yorkers back in time.

Just your average Marie Antoinette–themed speakeasy in an abandoned 19th-century subway tunnel.