Romans decided this 16th-century "talking statue" was so ugly, they named it after a primate.

The Vatican's secret porn-festooned bathroom was painted in erotic murals by one of the greatest artists of the Renaissance.

A Nesting Doll of Churches.

Plaques on its facade commemorate the Tiber's most destructive deluges.

The first Russian Orthodox church in the Catholic city of Rome in almost a thousand years.

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

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

The mystic whose incorrupt corpse still attracts the faithful.

More sculpture than building, this architecturally significant temple was built on the spot of Saint Peter's crucifixion.

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

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

The skull of the patron saint of lovers lies in the Basilica di Santa Maria in Cosmedin—maybe.

The final resting place of the poets Shelley and Keats.

This hidden Art Nouveau courtyard is an opulent feast for the eyes.

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

Rome's semi-secret peephole vista is also a former Crusader stronghold.

An alchemist's "magic door" stands in the middle of a Roman park.

The crypts of Capuchin friars decorated with the bones of over 4,000 friars, including an entire "crypt of pelvises."

Some say this medieval church is where the poet Dante married his wife and also met the love of his life.

The graveyard is filled with beautiful funerary art and boasts breathtaking views of Florence.

Art and armour fill every inch of this rich kid's Italian villa.

The mummified relic of St. Antoninus.