These gutted monastery ruins still stand proudly in the middle of the Italian countryside.

The first botanical garden, a feather in the cap of the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Fortified medieval tower house with lovely roof garden.

A small window on Via Piella offers a lovely and rare peek at Bologna's lost canals.

In the world's oldest university is a stunning 17th century anatomical theater carved from spruce.

Filled with goldfish swimming in a shallow pool of sea water, this ancient crypt is more wishing well than burial site.

Castle and secret tunnel withstood a siege until its owner was killed by the Holy Roman Empire, while sitting on the toilet.

A miniature train-ride through Slovenia's largest cave system.

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

An extensive collection of reliquaries containing the bones of saints housed in the largest Catholic church in Venice.

Massive galleon from a box-office bomb docked in Genoa.

When this funny little building went up in the 19th century, most people thought it would simply fall over.

A fake medieval village in the middle of Turin.

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.

A medieval fresco which reminds visitors that death will come for us all.

Two very green residential towers cleaning the air in one of Europe's most polluted cities.

Small on the outside, big on the inside, this church is an astonishing act of visual deception.

An ossuary built in 1210 to collect bones from the Ospedale Maggiore of Milan.

Milan's duomo is covered in beautiful carving including a curious "dinosaur-like" beast.

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

The mark of the Devil's horns on a marble column in Milan.