St. Francesca Romana, patron saint of drivers, resides in the church she founded.

A burial vault located under Tiber Island in the middle of the Italian capital.

This historic recreationist school churns out warriors that may very well have had a fighting chance in Rome's pits of the day.

This curious, round temple is the oldest still-standing marble building in Rome.

The mystic whose incorrupt corpse still attracts the faithful.

A treasure trove of Renaissance-era funerary art in a Roman church built on top of Nero's grave.

A mysterious chasm in the heart of the ancient Roman Forum, the Lacus Curtius was once believed to be a gateway to hell.

This ancient Roman prison is decorated with an upside-down cross not as blasphemy but as saintly tribute.

One of seven Jewish catacombs in Rome and one of only two open to the public.

This large, circular tomb is the final resting place of the first emperor of Rome.

A hospital where antique dolls are given new life.

One of the most important yet well-hidden museums dedicated to the history of medicine.

A Nesting Doll of Churches.

One of several skulls claiming to belong to the beheaded St. John the Baptist is on display at this Roman church.

A collection of objects supposedly singed by the hands of souls in purgatory.

A forgotten "city of water" underneath the famous Trevi district.

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

The martyr's wax-enhanced skeletal remains lie preserved in a glass case in the Santa Maria della Vittoria in Rome.

The engineering wonder and pleasure dome of a much-maligned emperor still holds undiscovered secrets.

Architectural monsters are devouring this palace's every door and window.

At the crypt of St. Mary of Eulogies and the Dead you are left alone to ponder mortality among piles of skulls.

The only "Egyptian" pyramid in Europe and the legendary tomb of Remus.

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.