A dismembered holy head stares out from her beautiful reliquary at the St. Dominic Basilica.

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

These medieval skyscrapers dominate the skyline of this small Tuscan town.

Ancient snack bar of the Roman Empire re-opened.

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

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.

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

This private skyway is filled with art and was expanded explicitly so that Hitler could appreciate a river.

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

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

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

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

The doodles of a genius line the walls of a secret room under the Medici Chapel, where they were hidden for nearly 500 years.

The oldest operating pharmacy in the world features 800-year-old recipes.

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

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

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

Geothermal waterfalls in Tuscany.

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

The middle finger of modernity.

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

This community on a small Venetian island has taken to painting their houses in bright neon hues.

An Italian crevasse filled with abandoned buildings gives visitors a look at the world without humans.