More than 450 years ago, an Italian nun became the first woman to paint the iconic subject.

A copy of the famous statue can be found in this Florence piazza, along with one of the most breathtaking views of the city below.

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

The mummified relic of St. Antoninus.

Renaissance hospital featuring a rotating door into which unwanted babies were dropped.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

Historic fortifications form the boundary of Vatican City, but it’s not entirely surrounded by walls.

Breathtaking and huge 430 year old maps of Italy.

Hidden beneath the famous St. Peter's Basilica is a veritable city of the dead that may hold the remains of St. Peter himself.

This is the oldest Roman-made bridge in the city still existing in its original state.

The ruins of the largest gladiatorial school in Rome are largely hidden under modern streets.

This subterranean shrine beneath a bike rental store celebrates the iconic Italian scooter.

Inside this McDonald's you can dine on your Big Mac and fries next to a 2,500-year-old Roman wall.

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

A master of trompe-l'oeil creates a stunning, tourist-fooling dome out of a flat ceiling.

A Nessie-like monster supposedly lurks in this lake.

Prehistoric animals decorate this popular outdoor park.

The world's longest known cave system.

A Yale University president wears full samurai garb in one of America’s oldest cemeteries.

A humble air museum located in an original World War II aircraft factory.

Berthed at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston, "Old Ironsides" is the oldest commissioned warship still afloat.

The 5.5-mile ring of steel posts around the Capitol Building is one of the largest (and most uniform) of its kind in the world.

The tunnel under the Capitol Building where Congress takes out its trash.

The U.S. Navy’s preposterously detailed mini battleship took 77,000 hours to complete.