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

Natural cathedral designed by Italian artist Giuliano Mauri.

Abandoned medieval hill town.

Sitting on an Italian hilltop is this surreal fortress built by the mad inventor of electrohomeopathy.

2300-year-old Roman road connecting the empire.

This 16th-century monastery has been turned into a surrealist architecture compound.

As can be expected from a centuries old church built in a canal city, the undercroft of this house of worship is beautifully flooded.

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

Hidden in an Italian forest is a completely homemade amusement park that has taken a lifetime to create.

The glowing blue Nymphaeum of Emperor Tiberius.

According to the local folklore, the myriad colors of this lake are the result of a lovelorn wizard's blunder.

Renaissance villa and gardens complete with a tormented colossus.

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

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

This Venice bookstore has resigned itself to constant flooding by keeping its books in bathtubs and boats.

A small island less than half a mile from Venice is a forbidden island with a dark and twisted past.

A submerged archeological park still holds the wonders of a Roman Sodom.

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

A 16th-century horror show built in a lovely Italian garden.