Two stone columns flank the grand Venice square, but there were supposed to be three.

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

This palatial spiral staircase was so unusual the name "snail" was given to the noble family who built it.

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

A whale rib was used to advertise the store by the arch that offered exotic goods from far away.

Pilgrimage site for star-crossed lovers.

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

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.

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

The yawning maw of this pagan visage is said to bite off the hands of liars.

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

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."

Pompeii's less famous neighbor is still revealing her secrets.

Erotic art covers the walls of the largest ancient pleasure palace.

Ancient snack bar of the Roman Empire re-opened.

The last moments of the ill-fated Pompeiians, frozen forever in plaster.

Da Vinci's equestrian statue, 500 years in the making.

The once forbidden "secret cabinet" of erotic art from excavations of Pompeii and Herculaneum.

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

This bronze boar's snout has been rubbed to a golden sheen by visitors seeking good fortune.

Secret refuge and museum of the Duke of Florence.

Over 50 exquisite hand-painted Renaissance maps decorate a Medici storage room.

The tallest bronze seated statue of the Buddha in Japan.